Bob Newhart’s Memorable 2013 Visit to the Sioux Falls Area

If someone ever creates a Mount Rushmore for comedy, Bob Newhart’s likeness should be one of the first carved into the monument.

News of his passing at age 94 came in Thursday afternoon (July 18) and while he lived a long and very productive life, he is still gone too soon. Bob’s legendary career began in stand-up comedy and transitioned into two of the most iconic sitcoms of all-time The Bob Newhart Show (1972-78) and Newhart (1982-90).

To this generation of TV viewers, he’s best known as Arthur Jefferies (aka Professor Proton) in six episodes of The Big Bang Theory. Moviegoers remember his role as Papa Elf in the 2003 Christmas film, Elf.

More than ten years ago, local Bob Newhart fans got the experience of a lifetime when their hero came to Grand Falls Casino & Golf Resort in Larchwood for a night of his iconic stand-up.

In the days before that appearance I was fortunate enough to have a phone conversation with Bob about his career and his upcoming show in Iowa. I remember a few things about that interview:

• I was as nervous as I’d ever been talking to anyone.
• Bob didn’t have a host of handlers that I had to deal with. He actually answered the phone himself when I called.
• He could not have been any nicer and easier to talk to.
• Even though it was never part of the arrangement, Bob insisted that my wife Vicki and I come backstage and visit with him in his dressing room the night of the show. It was one of the best nights of my life.

RIP Bob (1929-2024)

Here is my story from nearly 11 years ago, talking with Bob about his incredible career:

(NOTE: This story was originally published October 13, 2013) 

He’s been making people laugh for more than 50 years, and now he’s coming our way. Bob Newhart will be on stage at Grand Falls Casino in Larchwood, on Saturday night at 8:00 PM, all part of Grand Falls’ Comedy Weekend.

Bob has an unmistakable style that’s been a part of classic comedy for more than five decades, but he told me certain things have changed in comedy since he first started:

And while some comedians have made a living doing a healthy amount of political humor over the years, it’s never been a big part of Bob’s shows. He says that was a decision he made years ago – and he’s stuck to it:

Bob Newhart burst onto the national scene in 1960 with the release of his album ‘The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart’. That album, featuring classic bits like ‘Driving Instructor’ and ‘Merchandising the Wright Brothers’, went to #1 on the charts and earned Bob a Grammy for ‘Best New Artist’ in 1961.

The premise of all of the material on that record was a series of one-sided conversations, requiring the audience to use their collective imaginations to fill in the blanks. Nobody else was doing that kind of humor at the time, but Bob didn’t see the risk:

Bob’s next stop was television.

So did he seek out a TV career, or did TV find him?

Armed with the lessons of that first TV experience, Bob was ready the next time TV came calling – and it did in 1972,

Producer Grant Tinker and his wife, Mary Tyler Moore, asked Bob to star in a show about a Chicago psychologist. That show eventually became ‘The Bob Newhart Show’ and ran for six seasons on CBS.

Bob says the success of that show, and later his second sitcom ‘Newhart’, was built on the strength of the cast, not just him trying to hog the spotlight as the star of the show:

After four years away from TV, Bob decided it was time to try another show, and in 1982 ‘Newhart’ made its debut on CBS. And while Bob was a household name and a proven sitcom performer by then, there was no guarantee that audiences would accept him as a Vermont innkeeper, rather than a Chicago shrink.

So did that make doing show number two easier or harder?

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the success of those two shows was a lack of Emmys for either. Bob says a number of factors played a part in the Emmy drought, but he finally got his this year, winning for ‘Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series’ for his recurring role on ‘The Big Bang Theory’:

But Bob admits, it’s not the awards that give him the greatest satisfaction, it’s the impact he’s had on people over the years:

Bob turned 84 last month and says he’s seen a lot over the years, from magical times with Johnny Carson, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin, to his successes on television.

One thing he says hasn’t changed over the years is his definition of success:

No Bob, we were the lucky ones. Thanks for all the laughs!