What Makes Comedy Funny? Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

WHAT MAKES COMEDY FUNNY - PART 2

A Multi-Part Series by America’s Funnyman, Artie Bremer

Why Is Bob Newhart Funny?

Well, here we are again, kiddies in that class of classes trying to teach exactly what it is that makes comedy funny so that you can go out and be funny little munchkins, too.

The focus of today's class is Bob Newhart, one of the funniest men ever to have existed in America and one of the most popular comedians to have ever sold a record album.

You know what he and Guns N' Roses have in common? I'll bet you can't guess.

It took decades, but Guns N' Roses broke Bob Newhart's record for having two albums on the chart at the #1 and #2 positions. Newhart had his seminal classics "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart" and "The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back!" at back to back peak positions on the charts in the very early 60's and then when Guns N' Roses released "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II," they both came to those positions as well.

What a tour that would be? Can you imagine Axl Rose opening for Bob Newhart? That would be far too funny for me to enjoy without having to sit down!

Anyway, I believe the best way to analyze Bob Newhart is to look at his four television shows.

Now, now, before you get in a huff and start telling me I should be analyzing his extensive film work (which includes a now classic role in Mike Nichols' "Catch-22"), remember, most Americans know Bob Newhart for: "The Bob Newhart Show," "Newhart," "Bob," or "George and Leo." That's why we are going to discuss those.

 

"The Bob Newhart Show" (1972-1978)

Despite being the basis for an incredibly popular drinking game entitled 'Hi, Bob,' "The Bob Newhart Show" has retained its popularity throughout the years especially after being consistently run in syndication every year since they first premiered.

On the show, Bob Newhart plays a psychiatrist (HAHAHA - are you laughing already???) who shares an office with a wacky dentist and a wacky receptionist. He is surrounded every day by absolute lunatics who come into his office seeking treatment and goes home at the end of the day to his beautiful wife, played by Suzanne Pleshette.

We are looking dead-solid at the secret of Newhart's success. Why is he so popular? Why has he endured?

Because of the Newhart formula.

If you take the character Bob plays in many of his sketches, the quiet normal, unassuming fellow who's life depends on "keeping it together" as he really likes his quiet, normal life and then surround him by maniacs, you've got a winner. Just to make sure the audience likes him, however, give him a beautiful wife.

Why a beautiful wife, you ask, dear reader?

It is the oldest trick in the teleplaywright's handbook. If you want the audience to like/sympathize with your hero, make a beautiful woman who could obviously have anybody she chose love your hero. That way, we know as an audience that no matter what this hero does, there's something good in him that made her fall in love with him, so of course, we play right along.

"The Bob Newhart Show" was almost immediately an immense success with the audiences, though the critics never really liked it. Yes, maybe the show had a formula and maybe the show was sometimes repetitive, but it was something people could relate to. That's the key.

People felt trapped in their lives as if they were just going along trying to do what's best, but they were surrounded on all sides by lunatics. Hence, "The Bob Newhart Show."

 

"Newhart" (1982-1990)

This one is my personal favorite because again, it took the Bob Newhart formula for success and ran with it, making an extraordinarily funny television show with the help of some amazing co-stars, most notably Tom Poston who played the handyman, George and Peter Scolari, the producer of Bob's character's (named Dick Loudon in this show) weekly local show.

The set-up was that Dick Loudon and his beautiful wife (again, another beautiful wife this time played by Mary Frann) had moved to Vermont and had a small country inn. There, they employed a spoiled rich girl named Stephanie as a maid and George as a handyman.

What followed was a number of seasons of absolute hilarity as Dick simply wanted to run his inn, write his how-to books, and host his television show. He would be perfectly happy if nothing but that ever happened. Of course, it wouldn't be a television show without lotsa conflict, so of course nothing ever goes right.

The townspeople are the patients in this one as they are all completely bonkers in one way or another. They drive Dick half-crazy in almost every episode (especially those featuring the fan favorite, backwoods brothers: Larry, Daryl, and Daryl) and only his wife can bring him back down into normalcy. Now that's comedy.

This show was the favorite of many "quality" television groups and there's a reason why. It did not have a vicious bone in its body, lasted for many, many years and was perfectly suited for children.

The final episode, where Dick wakes up back in bed with Suzanne Pleshette and realizes that the entire 8 season show was all a dream and he really is Dr. Bob Hartley is an absolute classic.

 

"Bob" (1992-1994)

Lightning strikes twice but not three times and certainly didn't in the case of "Bob," the Bob Newhart show nobody saw where he plays a cartoonist named Bob McKay at a greeting card company who also draws a cartoon dog character named "Mad Dog."

This show was awful and I'm still not sure why Bob Newhart did it. I enjoy seeing him do absolutely anything at all, but by deviating from the Bob Newhart formula and putting him in something like "The Drew Carey Show" or "NewsRadio" just doesn't work. At all.

 

"George and Leo" (1997-1998)

This was the last time we saw Bob Newhart on television in a regular show and it wasn't pretty.

The networks tried to re-make "The Odd Couple" and failed miserably by pairing Bob Newhart (playing George Stoody) as a book store owner who has a recently married son. The daughter-in-law's father is Leo, played by Judd Hirsch, who is a multiple-time loser who is on the lam from the mob for ripping off casino money.

See, here's where the networks screwed up again - Bob can't be the straight man to one guy who chews scenery the whole time. That's not why Bob Newhart is funny. He needs to be the center of the problems, the eye of the hurricane - he can't go sharing billing with someone and have audiences expecting his schtick to work.

Leo consistently made Bob look like a fuddy-duddy and we didn't want to laugh AT Bob Newhart, we want to laugh WITH Bob Newhart. So, the show failed.

 

The Future

What have we learned?

By not exploring Newhart's observational humor via his early stand-up routines, we are ignoring Bob Newhart the writer. He has about 20 bits and has been doing the same 20 bits for forty years.

If you don't believe me, check out the CD that was released a few years ago of him re-doing his classic bits. I think it was released by Nick at Nite, actually. Same stuff as before, but still just as funny.

Bob Newhart is a lion in American Comedic Letters and will remain there for years to come. Hopefully, his appearances as a guest on shows like "The Simpsons" or "Murphy Brown" or on various commercials will continue and the picture tube will always have room for his smiling visage.

I might add, Bob recently agreed to be in a golf film with "Frasier" funnyman, Kelsey Grammer, another king of the small screen.

Bob Newhart has always had lots of money and has seen working as an actor as something that he does when he's not on the golf course. C'est la vie.

It makes one wonder what kind of hilarity we would have now if Bob Newhart, the king of comedy, did as much acting as someone like Whit Bissell or Kevin J O'Connor.

Part 3 of the series....

Why Is Reader's Digest the Source of All Humor in America?