I like Bob Newhart. The man is a treasure. It is wonderful he is 90 or almost 90 and is still with us.

But is he similar to his TV personna? I wonder somewhat how the guy got famous in the first place. Just uh, the way, uh, the way he talked.

To me, there was this certain shyness about the guy and dont know if it was real or just an act. He just always came across to me as this almost shy man who at a party would stand in the back and not talk to anyone unless someone talked to him. Most of his characterizations of him was just a soft spoken guy who somewhat tripped over his words when he was talking.

One joke I make about Bob is an imaginary talk to Emily before he leaves for work. "Uh, Emily?" Emily "Yes, Bob?" Bob "Would you, as in you and me, uh, tonight, would like, if you want to have coitous this evening?" Emily "Sure, Bob, I would like that." Bob "Well that's, uh, good, be home at 5:00."

On his most famous show, he would have crazy characters like Mr Carlson as patients, and Bob would almost be too shy to talk to them. "Well yes, um, Mr Carlson, tell us how you feel."

The time where Newhart was hilarious was when he was pissed off at someone and go full bore. There is a comedy routine where he plays a therapist and a woman talks about her problems and Newhart is tired of her BS and just goes off with hilarious results. Sort of the same with Big Bang Theory, he plays the same shy, un assuming character until he gets so mad at Sheldon, he lets him have it.

I think this is Newhart's real life persona and his comedy which makes it somewhat strange that him and Don Rickles were best friends in real life. Off stage and private is different but cannot help that Rickles had a very dominant personality and Newhart more passive andfed off each other until if they ever had an argument got really mad and told Rickles to take a long walk off a short pier (and long time friends have arguments).

So was Newhart, Newhart, or was that a on stage act we saw?

I agree that Mr. Newhart is a superb comedian and actor, a true American treasure.

I was fortunate enough to see him perform at Carnegie Hall in the mid-1990s. Mr. Newhart had everyone in stitches with his great routine about a night security guard at the Empire State Building and who just happens to be on duty for the very first time on the same night that the mighty King Kong escapes from that Broadway theater, and Kong is then climbing up the side of that great NYC building with Fay Wray hanging on for dear life: “Hello, boss, this is Ralph on the 50th floor and I just spotted this huge gorilla climbing up the building towards me with a gorgeous blond hanging onto him. Just what should I do?”

Mr. Newhart also did this very wry comparison on how people remember important events in their lives differently in Chicago (Mr. Newhart’s home town) from how they remember them in Los Angeles, where he has worked and lived for many years: “In Chicago,” he related, “two men could be standing in a back yard, and one guy might say to the other guy, “We put that work shed in the back yard, when little Susie was born and we planted an apple tree back there right around when little Davey was born.’”

As opposed to two guys standing in a Los Angeles back yard and one guy says to the other one, “I installed that pool right after I divorced Marilyn and I installed that satellite dish right after I divorced Ramona.”

At the show, when Mr. Newhart was first introduced, they played “The Bob Newhart Show” theme song and as he exited the stage to a rousing standing ovation from the audience, they played the “Newhart” theme song. It was a truly memorable evening seeing one of our nation’s greatest comedians perform in person.

I wonder somewhat how the guy got famous in the first place. Just uh, the way, uh, the way he talked.

I think that there was a little period right around 1960 where there was a niche for cerebral comedy. You had Stan Freberg on the radio, Alan Sherman records, Woody Allen and George Carlin in nightclubs. i think Newhart's deadpan fit in pretty well with those.

The stammering was most likely an act, but other than that, off-camera Newhart was probably the same as his TV persona.

I never tire of Bob's humor - one of a kind -

one of my fav lines he used "That Would Be Me"

He must have some incredible stories from his circle of friends !