A tribute to comedy legend Bob Newhart (1929-2024)

livemint.com:

The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart. The great Bob Newhart passed away last week at the age of 94, and the soft-spoken performer left a massive impact on comedy — and on television finales. This is a salute.

Newhart’s debut comedy album, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart (1960) was a seismic success, quickly displacing Elvis Presley from the top spot on the Billboard 200. The album’s genius lay in Newhart’s unique approach: one-sided conversations with pauses that invited the listener to imagine the other half. The aforementioned Abraham Lincoln sketch — lovingly referenced in The Marvelous Mrs Maisel — in which a bumbling marketing guy advises the president on his public image the night before the Gettysburg Address, exemplified Newhart's knack for finding offbeat yet strangely relatable humour.

It became the first comedy album to win a Grammy for Album of the Year (beating Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra on its way) and established Newhart as a master of deadpan laughs. His style was understated, his delivery impeccable. At a time when stand-up comedy was dominated by louder, boisterous personalities, Newhart’s soft-spoken, stammering delivery was a breath of fresh air.

He wasn’t just telling jokes; he was crafting meticulous, character-driven narratives. This carried over into Newhart’s first sitcom, The Bob Newhart Show (1972). Newhart played Dr Robert Hartley, a psychologist navigating the quirks of his patients and the eccentricities of his colleagues and friends.

The show was groundbreaking for its time, addressing issues of mental health with humour and sensitivity. Storylines were bold, tackling topics like group therapy, phobias, and marital counselling with a light but respectful touch. One iconic episode