Bob Newhart

In the late 1950’s, when comics like Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, and Nichols & May were storming club stages across the country, turning stand-up on its head, a mumbling, unassuming accountant from Chicago was supplementing his income by writing and performing comedy bits for local radio. His tapes made their way to Warner Brothers, who propped Newhart on a stage to do his routines before a live audience for the very first time. It was in the Tidelands Club in Houston, and the recording, released in 1960 as The Button-Down Mind, sold over 1.5 million copies. Newhart received a Grammy for Album of the Year and Best New Artist. His follow-up albums led to success in two sitcoms, portraying the same character—that mumbling, stammering, basset hound-eyed Everyman—throughout his career. We can only hope routines like “The Introduction of Tobacco to Civilization,” “Driving Instructor,” and “The Man Who Looked Like Hitler” are in the line-up when Newhart picks up the mike again and stammers live at Orchestra Hall.