Bob Newhart at the Wilbur Theatre 10/6/12

We had a lot of nostalgic fun last night seeing Bob Newhart at the Wilbur Theatre. When I was a kid, "Newhart" was my favorite TV show. I watched it religiously, and even had my parents bring me to the Waybury Inn in Middlebury, Vermont, where exteriors of the show were filmed. Seeing props from the show and autographed pictures of the cast there motivated me to write to the cast. They all responded with personally inscribed autographed pictures (well, all responded except for Peter Scolari. Not sure what he had against me.) I was thrilled, and especially humbled that the legendary Bob Newhart himself took the time to respond to a 13 year old fan.

Bob Newhart at the Wilbur Theatre 10/6/12

Almost 25 years later, when I heard that he would be doing a comedy show at the Wilbur Theatre, I had to buy tickets. He did not disappoint. At 83 years old, he was as deadpan as ever, telling jokes which spanned from the present day (Clint Eastwood stealing his schtick at the Republican National Convention a few weeks ago) to classic routines like The Driving Instructor. He bantered with the audience and said that he gets his material from all of us, and that we ought to just cut him out as the middle man and pay each other directly when we do something amusing.

He capped off the night with a video which included clips of a fictionalized family history as well as early appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Dean Martin Show." It also included clips from "The Bob Newhart Show" and the final gag of the "Newhart" finale.

The crowd loved him and called him back for an encore. It was a very entertaining show and we are very glad that we decided to go. I felt like I was 13 again.

My Bob Newhart Autograph circa 1989