We are a deeply divided country, as we keep hearing, but there’s one thing we can all agree on – Bob Newhart was a national treasure, and one of the most talented and original comedy stars who ever lived.
Newhart who died on Thursday (July 18) at age 94, starred in two long-running sitcoms, The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart, that entertained America for a combined 14 years (and will probably run endlessly in reruns). The former was part of a CBS Saturday night lineup in 1973-74 that is universally hailed as perhaps the most solid single-night lineup in TV history: All in the Family, M*A*S*H, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show and The Carol Burnett Show. Now, that’s a schedule worth staying home for on Saturday nights – and millions of Americans did just that.
Newhart had a wonderfully dry sense of humor and comic timing that put him up there with such masters as Jack Benny, Bea Arthur and Betty White. Johnny Carson once told his Tonight Show audience of Newhart’s first visit to Carson’s vast (and perhaps just a bit over-the-top) home in Malibu. Newhart looked around and dryly inquired, “Uh, where’s the gift shop?”
With Newhart’s death, just four lead artists who topped the Billboard 200 (which started in March 1956) before The Beatles’ explosive arrival in 1964 are still living – romantic balladeer Johnny Mathis, who is 88; Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey of the folk-pop trio Peter, Paul & Mary, who are both 86; and Motown legend Stevie Wonder, who is 74.
Here are seven times Newhart made Billboard and awards history.
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The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart Made Billboard 200 History
The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart was the first comedy album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It first topped the chart on July 25, 1960, and remained on top for 14 weeks. That still constitutes the record for the longest stay on top for a comedy album. (Vaughn Meader’s The First Family is in second place, with 12 weeks on top in 1962.)
Here’s a lesser-known fact: The Button-Down Mind… was also the first live album to top the chart. The set was recorded live at The Tidelands Club in Houston, Texas. Newhart initially wanted to title the album The Most Celebrated New Comedian Since Attila (The Hun), but settled for that line being plastered on the album cover, above the title.
The back cover of the album featured two blurbs that have proven to be spot-on. Playboy tabbed Newhart “the best new comedian of the decade.” Irv Kupcinet raved “Tabbed for stardom. Bob Newhart, one of the brightest and most original comedians on the scene today. For a refreshing look at humor, fix your gaze on this up-and-comer.”
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Newhart Also Had the Second Comedy Album to Reach No. 1
The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back! hit No. 1 on Jan. 9, 1961 — just four weeks after its predecessor logged its 14th and final week on top.
The third comedy album to reach No. 1, in case you’re wondering, was Allan Sherman’s My Son, The Folk Singer in December 1962.
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He Had the First Comedy Album to Win a Grammy for Album of the Year
The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart won album of the year at the Grammy ceremony in 1961, beating albums by iconic performers Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Harry Belafonte, among others. It was the first comedy album to win album of the year. Meader’s The First Family was the second (and to date, still the most recent), two years later.
Newhart also won best comedy performance – spoken word that year, but weirdly it wasn’t for the same album: It was for his follow-up album, The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back!
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He Was the Only Non-Musical Artist to Win a Grammy for Best New Artist
Newhart won best new artist at that same ceremony in 1961, beating opera legend Leontyne Price (who went on to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in 1989), South African singer Miriam Makeba, the folk group The Brothers Four and 20-year old pop star Joanie Sommers.
(Some might say Milli Vanilli, who won the award in 1990 before it was revoked following a lip-synching scandal, was a “non-musical artist,” but that seems harsh.)
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He Was 83 When He Won His First Primetime Emmy
Newhart won his first and only Emmy in competition in 2013 – outstanding guest actor in a comedy series, for his guest role as Arthur Jeffries/Professor Proton on The Big Bang Theory. He had previously been nominated for outstanding writing achievement in comedy for the first Bob Newhart Show (on NBC, 1962), three times for his role on Newhart (where he played a Vermont innkeeper), a guest shot on ER and a role on a TNT movie, The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice.
Yep, Newhart wasn’t nominated once for his role on the classic The Bob Newhart Show, where he played a psychiatrist in Chicago, married to Suzanne Pleshette. Hard to imagine.
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He Was Inducted Into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1993
He was in the ninth class of inductees, along with host and producer Dick Clark, news anchor John Chancellor, talk show king Phil Donahue, game show producer Mark Goodson, daytime drama writer and producer Agnes Nixon and Dragnet star and creator Jack Webb.
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He Received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2002
Those gathered to honor Newhart included Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, The Smothers Brothers, Don Rickles, Tim Conway, Bernie Mac, Jane Curtin, Fred Willard, Julia Sweeney and Steven Wright.