Question: What do comedian Bob Newhart and baseball greats Babe Ruth and Tom Seaver all have in common?
Answer: Their first name. It is “George Robert Newhart, George Thomas Seaver, And George Herman Ruth.
That only comes to mind because Bob Newhart died recently, age 94. His wife of 60 years, Ginny, died in April or 2023, and I felt that loneliness might play a part. For whatever reason, I was a big fan of Newhart and all of his life’s work, and yes, I was around for the comedy albums he did in the 60s. I was 10 when the first one appeared.
Newhart had a stutter, and when he first appeared on his own TV show, it was suggested by someone – director or producer – that he work to get rid of his … not exactly stutter … but a delayed approach to speaking. He answered no way, that his stutter allowed him to afford a mansion in Beverly Hills.
Below is an outtake from one of my favorite episodes of Newhart, where he played psychologist Robert Hartley. Watch closely as he treads the line between talking to the ventriloquist and the dummy.
Piece of Mindful 
I recall Bob was introducing his driving instructor bit that involved teaching a woman to drive- this was in his later years at a live venue, and a woman in the audience protested and he calmly explained he’d been doing this bit for more than thirty years and it was way too late to change it now. That got applause from the crowd. I imagine most people find revisionism an insult to their intelligence.
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How does someone contact you?
I don’t see a link to do so.
I’ve corresponded with you once or twice back in 2017 about my friends involvement in the fake Sutherland Springs, Texas church massacre.
Please advise how to do so.
Thanks
kind regards,
Jack
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mpthct@proton.me
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I was waiting for what happened next. The ending was hilarious.
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I don’t think they could write Bob interreacting with a dummy. So they ended it there.
Did you catch the look the dummy shot at Bob when he used the word “Dummy”?
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