Bob Newhart talks about the famous “Newhart” ending and his entry into “The Big Bang Theory”

In 2019 Remember was on the red carpet at a gala hosted by the Paley Center for Media honoring Bob Newhart, who died last week at the age of 94. The sitcom star, who was a master of dry comedy, was honored along with Lily Tomlin (Laugh), Carol Burnett (The Carol Burnett Show), Carl Reiner (The Dick Van Dyke Show) and Norman Lear (Everyone in the family, Maude, The Jeffersons, Good times) at “The Paley Honors: A Special Tribute to Television’s Comedy Legends” in Beverly Hills, California, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

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On both The Bob Newhart Showwhich ran from 1972 to 1978 on CBS, and later Newhartwhich ran from 1982 to 1990, and in his many stand-up performances, Grammy winner Newhart impressed with his precise, unparalleled comedic timing. Both Newhart and the characters he played were presented with a situation, and the audience was already laughing as he and his characters processed what was going on. Even before he spoke, viewers knew he was going to say something both sincere and brilliant. The delay he took only made the success even better.

“It’s something you ‘hear’ in your head,” Newhart said Remember about the time it took him to make his observations. “People have compared me to Jack Benny over the years. They say I have that timing, but you can’t teach timing.”

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While Newhart didn’t win any Emmys for his work on the sitcoms that bore his name, he did take home the long-overdue gold in the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series category in 2013 for his guest appearance as Arthur Jeffries, aka Professor Proton, in The big Bang Theory.

“When (series creator) Chuck Lorre asked me to do the show, he asked me if I had any special requests,” Newhart said. It turned out that Lorre had already done everything necessary when The big Bang Theory was a multi-camera show. “I said it has to be done in front of a live audience. The single-camera shows don’t work (for me)” (although Newhart later voiced Professor Proton for some episodes of Young Sheldon).

Famous Newhart His wife Ginny thought up the ending

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Bob Newhart will be remembered for his performances, his sitcoms, his albums and his guest appearances. Newhart will go down in history as one of the most memorable finals of all time, if Newhart‘s “Dick Loudon” woke up as Dr. Bob Hartley in bed next to his former TV wife Suzanne Pleshette, aka Emily, from The Bob Newhart Show.

The psychiatrist recounted his dream life as a restaurateur in Vermont, prompting Emily to remark that there would be no more Japanese food for her husband late at night!

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In return, Bob joked to Emily that maybe she should start wearing more sweaters – a trademark of Joanna, the TV woman Mary Frann, in NewhartThe finale was an instant classic, as well as being unexpected and a huge nod to Newhart’s previous series – and Bob and Emily. Did the scene leave a bad taste in Frann’s mouth?

“Mary and I never really talked about it,” Newhart mused, noting that the idea of ​​having Bob and Emily in the Newhart The finale was the idea of ​​his wife Ginny. “CBS and I were discussing (when and how the show should end). Ginny said, ‘You know…'” Newhart says Pleshette was at a party when Ginny came up with the idea. “We told her about it and she said, ‘I’m going to fly in from Timbuktu to do it!'”