Laugh Track: Over 50 Years of Bob Newhart

Very few comedians have had the mainstream success that Bob Newhart has attained. He has managed to have not one, but two successful sitcoms, a variety show, a slew of number one comedy albums and a career in stand up that has spanned over 50 years.

Though most comedians start out young, Bob Newhart started stand up later in life, when he was 29. According to his first album The Button Down Mind of Bob Newhart, he worked as a clerk for the unemployment office until he realized he could make the same amount of money from unemployment but he “only had to come into the office one day a week to collect it.”

He happened to hit the scene at the right time, and a record deal within a year of starting to perform meant immediate success. Around the same time he started performing, Warner Bros. Records launched giving Newhart just the jump he needed. His first album, the previously mentioned The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart was released in 1960 and quickly became the number one album on the Billboard chart.

The album introduced Newhart’s style to the public: a stammering, lovable screw up much different than the manic, quick styles of Redd Foxx and other comedians of the era. He told long stories, often in character, his acute timing and signature stammer endearing him to the public.

The Button-Down Mind went on to win two Grammy Awards, including Best Album and Best New Artist (the first time a comedian won the award). The follow up album, The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back was released the same year and also became a number one hit. It was the first time that anyone had both the number one and two spots on the Billboard charts, something that wouldn’t be repeated until 1990 by Guns ‘n Roses. It won the Best Comedy Album at the Grammys, bringing Newhart’s total number of wins at the 1961 Grammys to three.

But this was just the beginning of his success. Throughout the rest of the 1960s, Newhart released a stream of successful albums. He also had a critically aclaimed variety show that only lasted the 1961 season before being cancelled.

His success at stand up finally translated to television with The Bob Newhart Show in 1972. The show lasted six seasons before Newhart pulled the plug on the show. Although the show never won any Emmy awards, it was wildly succesful. After taking a few years off, Newhart returned to television with Newhart, which lasted for eight seasons. The last episode of the show eneded with Newhart waking up in the bed from his old series, with his old wife next to him and he remarks, “Honey, I just had the strangest dream.”

Since Newhart went off the air, Bob Newhart has kept busy. He has released several stand up albums and starred in another short-lived show called George and Leo with Judd Hircsh.

Newhart’s distinct style has influenced dozens of prominent comeidans and can even be felt in spoken-word acts like Henry Rollins.