Oh, Bob

Jul 20

2 min read

Image: Comedic actor Bob Newhart in a tuxedo, seated and talking on a phone. — Getty image of Bob Newhart at the 58h Annual Primetime Emmys

Y'all. We lost a consummate comedic storyteller this week. Bob Newhart left this mortal plane on July 18, 2024. He was 94 years young.

My first core memory of Bob Newhart is Bernard, the timid mouse counterpart to Eva Gabor's mouse Bianca, in the 1977 Disney animated film, The Rescuers. I loved that movie.

His series Newhart was a staple of television-watching in my house.

He had a late-career surge as a character actor in films like Elf and Horrible Bosses, and on television like The Big Bang Theory.

There are a lot of storytelling lessons from Bob Newhart's prolific six-decade career.

Below are four of my personal takeaways:

Grant your supporting characters some main character energy: Newhart often played the "straight man" character among a cast of oddballs and misfits. This included his portrayals of psychologist Dr. Bob Hartley in The Bob Newhart Show, innkeeper Dick Loudon in Newhart; and Professor Proton in The Big Bang Theory, for which he earned an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 2013. In the modern holiday classic Elf, Newhart's calming fatherly presence as Papa Elf coupled with Will Ferrell's frenetic Buddy the Elf never ceases to make me laugh.
Build perspective and just enough tension for the audience's imagination to take flight. Newhart's record, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart, scored him a Grammy in 1961 for Best Album of the Year. Newhart's one-sided conversations left audiences guessing what was said by imaginary characters in ridiculous situations.
Play! I admired Bob Newhart's willingness to simply play along. If you haven't seen his involvement with the skit at the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards hosted by Conan O'Brien, watch it here. It's still one of the funniest things I've ever watched. His face told a story in seconds.
Write it scared. Your story will connect with someone. I remember a story about how Newhart was nervous about guest-starring on The Big Bang Theory. He thought modern audiences wouldn't remember or know who he was, and how touched he was when he walked onto the show's stage to thunderous applause and a standing ovation.