By DAVID W. WERSINGERACCENT EDITOR
Yes, Bob Newhart really does, well, you know, he, he really does, uh, stammer.
The legendary comedian, star of two beloved TV series, Grammy and Peabody award winner, was once told by a producer to reduce the stammering to save time. Newhart replied, "That stammer bought me a house in Beverly Hills," although he told the News-Journal in a December interview "you'll have to clean (the rest of the quote) up a bit" for publication.
Newhart will bring his iconic humor to the Peabody tonight, and prior to the show he chatted with The News-Journal about his early career, Frank Sinatra and Larry, Darryl and Darryl.
My wife told me I shouldn't do it, but "Hi, Bob."
(laughs) I hope I'm not remembered for "Hi, Bob," (the drinking game that grew out of "The Bob Newhart Show") and that's it. I've probably caused more hangovers on college campuses...
Do you condone the "Hi, Bob" drinking game?
Well, I'm ambivalent about it. I hope that in colleges that they stay in the dorms after they play. But there must be some affection for the (TV) show that they would sit and wait for "Hi, Bob" to keep recurring.
You shot right out of the box in the early '60s with "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart," which won a Grammy for Album of the Year, and you won a Spoken Word Grammy for its follow-up, and a Peabody for a short-lived NBC variety show.
They were heady times and I'm not sure I was really prepared for it. (The first album) beat out (Harry) Belafonte, the cast for "Sound of Music," Sinatra... I heard later that apparently he was not too thrilled that he had been beaten by a comedy record for album of the year (laughs). It never took a lot to upset Frank. A bird, the wind... that could set him off for days.
Did that early success put a lot of pressure on you for the rest of your career?
Yeah, cause I kind of had to learn how to be a stand-up when I was playing the main rooms. Usually guys knock around for years and years. I was just thrust out on that stage and didn't really know how to handle it.
Let's talk about "The Stammer."
Well, as you can tell, I, I really stammer. I have my own explanation for it. (People who stammer are) so highly intelligent that, that, that the mind is just bombarded with all these ideas and, and that's why we stammer. Now, I've not found any scientific material to, to back that up. That's just my own private theory about, about, uh, stammering.
"The Bob Newhart Show," ran from 1972 to 1978 and is considered a classic. Did you have a sense at the time how important your first sitcom would become?
Well, I, I did to a certain extent. As far as the numbers were concerned, you know, there were only three networks -- and there were barely three because ABC was half a network at that time -- and we were getting Super Bowl numbers, it was crazy.
To this day, if we're in a Chinese restaurant and somebody orders Moo Goo Gai Pan, we still laugh ("The Bob Newhart Show" episode "Over the River and Through the Woods,"dealt with Bob and his buddies over-imbibing on Thanksgiving and ordering way too much Moo Goo Gai Pan from a Chinese restaurant.)
There's an interesting story with the Moo Goo, uh, Moo, Moo Goo Gai Pan joke (laughs) -- I'm doing it right now. I did a routine when I first started out called "The Retirement Party," which is where a guy is retiring after 50 years and, and they give him a watch. And he gets up, and he's, he's bombed, you know and he proceeds to disclose all the secrets, how he hated the job and so on. (So when I did this routine) I had to instantly become drunk, I had to find some way of going from dead sober to absolutely bombed. So I had some practice (for that episode) and people would say, "Well you know who does the best drunk in show business, it's Newhart," which I took as a compliment. That episode is probably the most quoted of "Bob Newhart" shows.
Your second sitcom, "Newhart," debuted in 1982, also to critical and commercial success. Can you pick a favorite of the two sitcoms or is it like picking a favorite child?
I suppose, probably a bare majority of the people that I run into, probably prefer the first (sitcom) over the second one. But you're right, it's like choosing children. They both were enjoyable times in my life, it allowed me to be home with the family instead of on the road. . So I have a soft spot for both of them.
The finale of "Newhart" was chosen by TV Guide as the best ending ever for a series. In it, Bob Hartley from "The Bob Newhart Show," wakes up in bed with his wife, Emily, played by Suzanne Pleshette. Eight years of "Newhart" had been nothing more than dream brought on by Japanese food.
It was actually my wife's idea. She said, "You ought to end on dream sequence..." because there were so many inexplicable things in "Newhart," like the maid (Stephanie) was an heiress, the way Michael talked (in alliteration) and George (played by Tom Poston) never really understood what I was saying... and then you had (brothers) Larry, Darryl and Darryl, that I always felt were right out of "Deliverance.." there was a lot of intermarriage that produced Larry, Darryl and Darryl. And what the hell they were doing in Vermont with these West Virginia accents?
What can fans expect at the Peabody show?
New stuff, there will probably be one or two of the old (recorded) routines, because people seem to insist on that. They come to hear "The Driving Instructor," or "Sir Walter Raleigh" or "Submarine Commander." I always throw in an oldie. And then, then the rest is just observations on this, this crazy planet we inhabit.
If You Go
WHO: Comedian Bob Newhart
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. tonight
WHERE: Peabody Auditorium, 600 Auditorium Blvd., Daytona Beac
TICKETS: $35-$70; tickets available at Peabody Auditorium box office or ticketmaster.com
INFORMATION: 386-671-3462; 800-745-3000
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