IN THE LONG RUN IT WAS WORTH THE READ BUT OVERALL I FOUND IT NOT THAT FUNNY. THE PARTS I ENJOYED THE MOST WERE THE QUIPS THAT HE MENTIONED THROUGHOUT FROM OTHER FAMOUS COMEDIANS AND PERFORMERS. HE GIVES US AN IDEA OF HOW HE GOT STARTED AND WHAT HE WENT THROUGH TO BE SUCCESSFUL AS A STAND-UP COMEDIAN AND LATER A FAMOUS TV PERSONALITY. HIS SELF-EFFACING HUMOR IS CERTAINLY ENDEARING AND MAKES READING ABOUT HIS LIFE THAT MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE.

Audiobook narrated by comedian/actor Bob Newhart. Very enjoyable, funny book, with equal parts actor's memoir and jokes from his routines.

Newhart brings back some of funniest sit com material from the 1970's and adds some insights about how the material was created.

In chapter 3, "I Almost Had a Real Career", he tells us the story while making a joke about the work of making a joke. He makes laughs out of some of the assumptions about careers, including on p. 37 that the army assessment, matched to his college degree, made him ready to go to officer school.

Fortunately he also lets us see some of the funniest material he did in stand up comedy, including his many telephone calls by famous people. The best was the phone call he created on Abe Lincoln talking to a speech writer. (pp. 56-57)

About midway in the book, he gives us an insight why his Saturday night tv show maintained high ratings (p. 135) and then tells us about the things that were wrong about the setting of the show (p. 139).

He has just one complaint: Why didn't the TV show get nominated for an Emmy award (p. 140).

He also gives us some insight about his roles in movies, especially the way he created humor in wars.

One of the best read comes in Chapter 11, "The Science of Humor." The title is a joke. He begins with "I'm not a fan of books that examine humor in a scientific fashion."

The book is especially good in talking about the theme--humor--without any mention of the gossip of the entertainment world.

It was the perfect book to end my reading for 2019.

I did this one as an audiobook when I saw that Bob narrated it himself.

I was sad to hear about his passing, as he is an all-time favorite comedian of mine. What I loved about this was that it wasn't a full-on autobiography, but a telling of some of his favorite moments, experiences, and random rabbit trails. It played out like I was sitting there listening to him reminisce. If you're a fan of Bob Newhart, it's worth it.

Very enjoyable short read, organized as a bunch of chapters on different subjects but all focusing on Newhart's recollections on his life in comedy.

It was great to learn of Newhart's background and his opinions of comedians.
I have a collection of quotes from the book saved in Ellen/books/authors/Bob Newhart. He admired George Gobel, Bob and Ray, and found Jack Benny to be the best. He points out that comedians are programmed to pick up oddities- e.g., Minister of Tourism of Afghanistan.

If you are a FAN of Bob Newhart, you will enjoy this book!

I still recall watching Bob's TV series and frequent guest host appearances on the Tonight Show back in the day and always enjoyed his witty, dry sense of humor. Luckily, that same personality comes through in this book. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is b/c there were a few places in the book that seemed dry/unfunny, but most of it was very interesting and kept me turning pages. I thoroughly enjoyed the behind-the-scenes stuff, such as the story about Buddy Hackett introducing him to his wife, and his close friendships with Don Rickles, Johnny Carson, etc. He also included personal stories about balancing his hectic road schedule with his family life (which is very admirable), how his wife came up with the final episode of his second Bob Newhart TV show (just brilliant!), etc. Overall, I give it 2 thumbs up and think it is a "must read" if you are a Bob Newhart fan (like me)!

The first book ever from an icon of American comedy -- a hilarious combination of stories from his career and observations about lifeThat stammer. Those basset-hound eyes. That bone-dry wit. There has never been another comedian like Bob Newhart. His comedy albums, movies, and two hit television series have made him a national treasure and placed him firmly in the pantheon of comedy legends. Who else has a drinking game named after him? And now, at last, Newhart puts his brilliant and hysterical world view on paper.Never a punch-line comic, always more of a storyteller, he tells anecdotes from throughout his life and career, including his beginnings as an accountant and the groundbreaking success of his comedy albums and The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart, which gave him fifteen years on primetime television. And he also gives his wry, comedic twist to a multitude of topics, including golf, drinking, and family holidays.Today, Newhart appears on Desperate Housewives, in hit movies such as Elf, and in theaters around the country. Reruns of his shows air constantly on Nick at Nite -- have recently been released with great success for the first time ever on DVD. With this book, Bob Newhart gives his millions of fans a first ever opportunity to sample his unique brand of humor -- including excerpts from some of his classic routines -- on the printed page.Bob Newhart is one of America's best-loved comedians. His career highlights include The Bob Newhart Show, Newhart, and ten major films including Catch-22, Legally Blonde 2, and Elf. He guest hosted The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson 87 times and morerecently earned an Emmy nomination for a guest-starring role on ER. He has been married to Virginia Quinn since 1963; they have four children and several grandchildren. He lives in Southern California.
I became a Bob Newhart fan in the 80's when I discovered the Newhart show. I love his deadpan delivery and was happy that he read this book on CD. I was very surprised to hear him say that he was a drinker and a smoker and best friends with Don Rickles. I guess I projected his tv image on his real person. Any Bob Newhart fan would enjoy this. This is headed back to Bookczuk.

Bob Newhart has been a fixture in comedy for lo these many years. From his best-selling comedy albums in the sixties, to his two long-running sit-coms, to his current penchant for character roles in comedy movies, he has been ever-present on the Hollywood scene as the wry long-suffering accountant (or dentist or innkeeper).

In I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This! (which is a punchline for a joke), Bob talks about his early years, how he gave up accounting for comedy, his marriage, and his career--all with his characteristic deadpan humor. I have always been a fan, so I enjoyed it very much.

Things I learned from this book:
1. Bob has been married for 40 years to the same woman, which I really admire.
2. Bob had two top-selling comedy albums in the 1960s.
3. Bob is, underneath it all, a subversive person, and believes all comedians are.

I can recommend this book to the Bob Newhart fan. And who isn't?

I'm guessing the audio version with Newhart doing the reading is preferable to the book. After all, Newhart's unique delivery is at least half of what makes him funny.

If you're a fan of Newhart, you'll probably learn some new things about his career and where his comedy comes from - few folks probably realize that while he still lived with his parents he had the #1 and #2 albums on the Billboard charts. But he's not a great writer, and at times his point of view seems behind the times and not as profound as he imagines. I grew up listening to his albums and watching his t.v. shows, so I'm happy to understand him a little better. At least he didn't hire a ghost writer to do everything.

I've always been a fan of Bob Newhart, ever since getting hooked on The Bob Newhart Show back in the 1970s, and subsequently tracking down his Grammy-winning Button Down Mind of Bob Newhart comedy album(s). So...when this autobiography/memoir appeared back in 2006, I couldn't pass it up. Bob's book is a very entertaining read, filled with lots of recollections of high points in his comedy career, but after finishing it my first feeling is that the book didn't really add up to much. It's very light-weight as biographies go, and even fairly weightless in comparison to other similar humor books. While a lot of page space is taken up with his earlier comedy career in standup, and his first real breakthrough on television (The Bob Newhart Show), his later hit, Newhart, although long-running and tremendously popular, only gets a few pages -- about the casting and about the unforgettable final episode. And his two lesser-know shows, Bob, and George and Leo get less than a paragraph combined. The book came out before he became involved in the recent series of made-for-TV-movies about The Librarian, in which he has a major role. Overall, although this book is a fun read, I don't know that I'd recommend it for anyone but a die-hard Bob Newhart fan, and even then if you're a big fan you've probably heard most of the stories he tells already, in his many talk-show appearances. On the other hand, it will bring back fond memories of seeing him chatting with Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show! Originally reviewed for my local library's website: http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/depts...