Bob Newhart has just died at the age of 94.
When I was nine years old I had a toothache and felt crummy, and since it was Sunday in Lawrence, KS there wasn't a dentist around. I had to wait. My Dad, trying to cheer me up, asked me if I had ever heard of Bob Newhart. He put on The Button Down Mind of Bob Newhart, and gosh it was funny. I listened to all of them: The Cruise of the USS Codfish, The Kruschev Landing Rehearsal (which Dad just referenced in a phone conversation last month), and this one below: the Driving Instructor sketch. It only runs about eight minutes and it's great. This was all before he had his television shows. Anyway, I loved the comedy, and as far as I recall, but that night, I had no toothache after all those laughs.
And in 2007 I had the opportunity to see him live and in person at Brooklyn College where he performed, among other new and old segments, his Driving Instructor bit and the crowd laughed loudly, like they all did on the 1960 record album. Here it is if you don't know it.
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