All About Bob

Bob Newhart reclaims prime time

With his trademark stammer and understated style, Bob Newhart has reigned as the king of the sitcom for two decades. This month, as his latest series, George & Leo, goes on the air, GEORGE WAYNE catches up with Newhart to explore the buttoneddown world of Bob.

George Wayne: Aren't you a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

Bob Newhart: Well, my sister is a Catholic nun, so that would come as some surprise to her, to hear that I was Mormon. I'd hate to really find out through Vanity Fair that I'm a Mormon.

G.W. Or maybe you 're a Scientologist? What do y think of the Scientologists, Bob? Do you think it's cult?

B.N. You know, I don't get into religion. If people believe in it and it works for them, fine. I don't have enough information to say whether it is or isn't.

G.W. Tell us about your new CBS TV show George & Leo. What makes it so special?

B.N. I think the chemistry between Judd Hirsch and myself. I enjoy what he does, and he enjoys what I do.

It's fun to watch him work and break up. And then he breaks up when I work. And it's also the great writing. It's so ephemeral, so hard to find.

G.W. Does Johnny Carson ever invite the Bob Newharts over to his home in Malibu?

B.N. Well, we had a beach house in Malibu, and when we did, we saw him all the time. But we don't see him as much as we used to.

G.W. I find it interesting that you were once an advertising copywriter. Did you create any famous jingles?

B.N. Oh my God no! I never got to that level. I was a copywriter locally in Chicago for a commercial/film studio.

I was never with a Leo Burnett.

G.W. Another benchmark Bob Newhart moment is the fact that his was the first comedy album to ever go to No. 1 on the charts.

B.N. You've done your research.

My daughter's husband is in the music business, and she called me up and told me that I had the No. 1

album for the longest of anybody. And that Axl Rose and Guns N' Roses had broken my record. I said, "Well, at least it happened to a friend. If you've got to have a record broken, at least it's by Axl."

G.W. Which comic strikes a particular funny bone for you? B.N. I almost hate to say it, because I hate to exclude anybody, but in a general way there are clones and there are originals. I think Seinfeld is an original. I think Garry Shandling is an original, and obviously Letterman and Leno. G.W. That's quite an under statedly funny performance of yours as Mr. Halliwell in the movie In & Out. Was it the first movie script that fell into your lap in a long time, Bob?

B.N. [Stammers.] Well, George, they aren't exactly beating down the doors. I don't have a stack of scripts piled up in the living room here. But I haven't done a movie in a long time, and I wanted to work with Kevin Kline and Tom Selleck.

G.W. Are any of your four children homosexual, Bob?

B.N. [Laughs nervously.] I don't want to get into that. From Scientology to this? Would you really expect me to answer that?

G.W. Well, you know what, Bob, G. W. will take you all over the map, darling.

B.N. Well, none, none of them have confided that in me.

G.W. If it weren't for Bob Newhart's trademark stammer, he wouldn't be quite so famous. That Newhart stammer is quite unique.

B.N. Somebody once asked me if it was a puton, if I came up with it. I said, "It's not like I reviewed comedians and said, 'Hey, there's no one doing a stammer out there.' " It's just my natural way of speaking. I suppose I have a certain retardation that accounts for it. G.W. Well, it obviously endears you to John Q. Public.

B.N. Well, now that I am aware of it, I may lose it. And it will be your fault, George.

G.W. No, keep the stammer, Mr. Newhart. And best of luck with your fabulous new TV show!