This evening, superstar publicist Jeff Abraham and I went down to the new Grammy Museum in downtown Los Angeles for An Evening With Bob Newhart. The museum has been doing these events with important folks in the recording industry and Mr. Newhart was the first honoree in the category of Comedy, as opposed to Music. A loving and respectful audience turned out to hear him interviewed and he closed by favoring us with one of his earliest routines — the one about the submarine commander briefing his crew. Gosh, he's a funny man.
Let's see what I can recall that will translate to this format. Someone in the audience asked him who his favorite comedian was. He immediately said, "Well, this is not to get back to Rickles…" His answer was Peter Sellers and he explained why — because he never seemed like he was trying to be funny — and then did a suprisingly good impression of Sellers in one of the Pink Panther movies.
He talked about his early days as an accountant and how his first, best-selling album came to be. He was writing and performing his little monologues in and around Chicago, occasionally on local TV. Disc jockey Dan Sorkin became familiar with his material and recommended him to Warner Brothers Records, which was then a new, struggling company. The execs there liked what they heard and said, "We'll record an album next time you play a night club." Newhart had to inform him he'd never played a night club and had no plans to start. Because of their offer though, he began to look for one that would take him in.
That took several months. Finally, on his first such date, they recorded The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart, which became one of the best-selling albums of all time…not one of the best-selling comedy albums. One of the best-selling albums, period. It not only put Newhart on the map…it put Warner Brothers Records there, as well.
From there, it was on to more records and to TV. Asked which of his two long-running sitcoms he preferred, he said he couldn't pick. He discussed the wonders of Suzanne Pleshette and the odd trio of Larry, Darryl and Darryl. He talked about being best friends with Don Rickles. He told funny stories about appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show. Answering a question from an up-and-coming stand-up comedian in the audience, he spoke of the plain, old-fashioned bravery involved in getting up in front of an audience that you have to make laugh. It was all quite wonderful. But then you'd figure two hours with Bob Newhart would be, right?