Has there ever been a more unlikely TV star than Bob Newhart?
He got a phenomenal amount of mileage out of a bemused expression, flawless comic timing, and, of course, that trademark stammer. In his comedy, Newhart invariably took his time. Not for him the lightning riposte. His unhurried approach was to let the absurdity of a situation settle in around him, and when the dust settled, there was Bob, perplexed but not defeated.
A baby-boomer favorite who entered the pantheon of sitcom legends long ago, Newhart died Thursday at 94. His path from standup comedian to small-screen stardom has been trod by the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Cosby, Ray Romano, Larry David, and Roseanne Barr.
When I interviewed Newhart in Pasadena in the late 1990s, I found him to be every bit the amiable Everyman he played on TV; every bit as unassuming and dry-witted as you’d expect him to be.
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Sometimes when you have an encounter with a celebrity you discover that you have a bit of an emotional investment in the experience. You do your job as a journalist, you ask whatever questions need to be asked and go where the story takes you, but a small part of you doesn’t want to be disillusioned. As my interview with Newhart began, a little voice in a corner of my subconscious piped up: “I hope this guy doesn’t turn out to be a jerk.” (A similar little voice made itself known when I interviewed Dick Van Dyke, another entertainer beloved by baby boomers, that same day. He was a delight.)
Newhart was not a jerk. The man matched the image.
Not that I had any tough questions for him that day. I wanted to get his take on the turmoil that was engulfing a certain sitcom — it might have been “Roseanne” — as it approached the end of its run. Newhart gave a deliberate, thoughtful answer to my query that concluded with a spot-on insight that should be kept in mind by writers, producers, and actors: He said the final season of a TV sitcom often determines how it is remembered by posterity.
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Well, he ought to know. His “Newhart” (1982-90), in which he played a writer who ran a Vermont inn with his wife Joanna (Mary Frann), concluded with one of the most inspired finales in television history.
That out-of-left-field denouement was an ingenious sight gag that relied on our knowledge of his earlier hit sitcom, “The Bob Newhart Show” (1972-78), where he played a psychologist married to a teacher, Emily, portrayed by Suzanne Pleshette. Today, a successful series feels the pressure to craft a series finale as memorable as the one “Newhart” came up with (and, earlier, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”)
Newhart’s persona and “The Bob Newhart Show” so permeated the culture in the 1970s that a drinking game arose on college campuses, in which students would watch the series and consume booze whenever a character greeted Newhart with “Hi, Bob.”
Newhart’s comedy is still a touchstone, evident in “For All Mankind,” a superb alternative history of the space program that was recently renewed for a fifth season by Apple TV+. As astronauts move about their spacecraft, they greet one another with “Hi, Bob.” It’s a heartening bit of evidence that Bob Newhart’s influence lives on.
“The Bob Newhart Show” is available on Amazon Prime and Apple TV+. “Newhart” is streaming on Amazon Prime.
Don Aucoin can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @GlobeAucoin.