Comedy comes from lots of places, most of them not funny - anger, grief, self-loathing...Bob Newhart may be unique, in that his humour seems to come from geniality. True, there's a note of frustration in there sometimes, but often it stems from the other person's refusal to be as genial as him. Whether playing a befuddled psychologist in the Bob Newhart Show or a perennially put-upon inn-keeper in Newhart, the greatest pleasure in watching him comes from wondering when he'll reach the end of his fuse.
On night club stages, in recordings, on television or in the movies, Bob Newhart's geniality has been entertaining audiences for more than 40 years. Quoth David Hyde Pierce, 'The only difference between Bob Newhart onstage and Bob Newhart offstage – is that there is no stage.'
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