Bob Newhart, Comedy Icon, Dies at 94

Bob Newhart, Comedy Icon, Dies at 94: On Thursday, Bob Newhart, a gentle but sharply satirical comedian whose 1970s and 1980s television series “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Newhart” were huge hits, passed away in Los Angeles. He was 94.

Jerry Digney, Newhart’s publicist, claims that he succumbed to a series of brief illnesses before passing away.

Additionally, Newhart is well-known to younger viewers thanks to his roles as Papa Elf in the 2003 Christmas classic “Elf,” his appearances as a guest star on “The Big Bang Theory,” for which he won his sole Emmy in 2013, and his most recent appearances in three episodes of “Young Sheldon.”

“For years I begged Bob to appear on one of my shows,” Chuck Lorre, creator of “The Big Bang Theory,” said in a statement in honor of Newhart. He never accepted. He agreed, though, with two conditions after watching “The Big Bang Theory.” One: His character needed to watch a lot of episodes. Another two: He wanted to win an Emmy. Both were accomplished. I had the chance to work with a well-known comedian. a skilled craftsperson who is also a gentle and kind person. I got to call him a friend, which was even better. How blessed am I?

Prior to his success on television, Newhart’s comedy albums, which took a novel approach to observational humor at the time, were extremely popular. He ruled television for more than two decades, first on “The Bob Newhart Show” as a confused Chicago psychologist and then on “Newhart” as a similarly unsuccessful New England innkeeper. He received three consecutive nominations for actor in a comedy from 1985 to 1987. CBS produced both shows, which ran for 16 years between 1972 and 1990. They went over well.

Many were surprised when he won his first Emmy for a guest appearance on “The Big Bang Theory” in 2013. He was in six episodes of the popular sitcom.

In 1960, when his recordings of comedy monologues became bestsellers, Newhart established a new form of comedy. The new style was founded on psychology and observation, not vaudeville or the Borscht Belt. His work served as a model for later, wackier comics creators like Steve Martin. Not only was Newhart subversive in his subject matter, but he also delivered it in a stammering, sarcastic manner. Both in the urban and rural areas, he struck a chord.

“The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart,” his first comedy album, debuted at the top of the Billboard charts. His first two albums debuted at the top of the charts and saved Warner Bros. Records, which was struggling at the time. 1 and 2 spots simultaneously, a feat that Guns N’ Roses had previously only accomplished with a pair of discs in 1991.

Bob Newhart, Comedy Icon, Dies at 94: The path that George Robert Newhart, who was born in Oak Park, Illinois, took to become an entertainer was not the same as others. He majored in business at Loyola University in Chicago. He graduated in 1952 and enlisted in the United States Army. After completing his military service two years later, he attempted to enroll in Loyola’s law school, but he was unsuccessful in 1956. After that, he worked odd jobs and performed for an Oak Park stock company.

Newhart and a friend, Ed Gallagher, recorded some of their conversations and attempted to sell them to radio stations. Newhart’s monologues were noticed by Chicago DJ Dan Sorkin, who offered him his first radio job, which lasted only five weeks, despite the fact that the tapes did not sell.

But Sorkin introduced him to Warner Bros. Records president James Conkling, who booked him for performances at Houston’s Tidelands nightclub and recorded them. The 1960 live album “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart” became an instant hit following “The Button Down Mind Strikes Back” and “Behind the Button-Down Mind.”

In addition to boffo sales, “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart” earned Newhart three Grammy Awards in 1961: He won the award for best new artist and was nominated for comedy performance (spoken word), and his album was named album of the year for the first time.

In a 2007 NPR report on the album’s success, Conan O’Brien referred to Newhart’s work as “premise comedy,” in which he elaborated on a scenario. The effect as a whole is funny, even though each line by itself is funny. Jerry Seinfeld is one comedian who employs a strategy that is very similar.

“There was a change that was going on, of which I was part of,” Newhart told Guy MacPherson of the Comedy Couch blog in 2006. Shelley Berman, Mort Sahl, myself, Johnny Winters, and Lenny Bruce were all present, as were Mike and Elaine (Nichols and May). We weren’t making fun of “take my wife, please” in any way. We were not engaging in “pranks”; We were filming short scenes. Consequently, comedy evolved. To put it another way, we didn’t all form a cabal and say, “Let’s change comedy.” Rather, it was simply our method of finding the funny things in the world.

Because of his immensely popular recordings, Newhart made guest appearances on “The Gary Moore Show” and “The Jack Paar Show.” Nevertheless, Newhart gave a number of one-night shows all over the country, culminating in 1961 at Carnegie Hall. That sold-out performance made it possible for him to make his movie debut in the comedy “Hell Is for Heroes” by Paramount.

Newhart made several appearances in Las Vegas prior to his successful sitcoms, including “Hot Millions,” “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever,” “Catch-22,” and “Cold Turkey.”

He made another attempt at series television in 1992-1993 with CBS’s “Bob,” which was less successful, and in 1997-1998 with CBS’s “George and Leo,” which also starred Judd Hirsch.

In later years, Newhart received nominations for his roles as a blind librarian on the television series “ER” in 2003 and “The Curse of the Judas Chalice” in 2008.

Newhart hosted episodes of “Saturday Night Live” between the years 1980 and 1995; voiced himself on an episode of “The Simpsons” in 1996; appeared in 17 episodes of “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson” from 1966 to 1992 as a guest host, as well as five episodes of the Leno version from 1998 to 2009; appeared in the role of himself in a 2002 episode of “Everybody Loves Raymond”; and took part in a large-scale gag at the 2006 Emmy Awards, which Conan O’Brien hosted before presenting the comedy series award with him.

Newhart also made a few big-screen appearances in his later years, including “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde (2003) and Elf (2003).

The comedian, who was now in his 70s, continued to perform standup comedy about 30 nights per year as of 2006. He was delighted to find that his 1960s content had not changed. “Off the Record,” Newhart’s first comedy special for Showtime, debuted in 1995.

Bob Newhart, Comedy Icon, Dies at 94: “The audience was primarily 35 to 40 years old,” Newhart stated, according to MacPherson of the Comedy Couch blog. I used some of the original songs from the first and second albums once more, and it worked just as well as it did the first time. The material is probably still relevant today because the Abe Lincoln routine is probably more relevant today than it was forty years ago.

His 2006 book “I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This” was a mix of memories and humor.

Newhart was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 1993. The second Mark Twain Prize for Humor was given to the comedian by the Kennedy Center in 2002. In 2007, the Library of Congress selected “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart” as one of 25 entries for the National Recording Registry.

He lost Ginny last year. His children are Robert Jr., Timothy, Courtney, and Jennifer, as well as ten grandchildren.