I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This! -- Bob Newhart

I've been a Bob Newhart fan for more years than I like to think about. I remember watching him doing some of his routines on TV in the early Sixties, like "The Driving Instructor". I was aware of his best-selling, award-winning album, THE BUTTON-DOWN MIND OF BOB NEWHART, although I never owned a copy. (The first comedy album I ever bought, for what it's worth, was by the Smothers Brothers.) In the Seventies I was a big fan of THE BOB NEWHART SHOW, watching all the episodes when they were new and then watching them again in reruns until I had most of them pretty well memorized. I liked his other long-running TV show, NEWHART, too.

So it stands to reason that I would enjoy this book, and I did. It's not hilariously funny all the way through, although I laughed a lot. There's also quite a bit of autobiography to go along with the comedy, including some interesting behind-the-scenes material about Newhart's record albums, his TV series, and some of the movies in which he appeared, such as HELL IS FOR HEROES and CATCH-22. On a personal level, he talks about his long friendship with Don Rickles and doesn't shy from naming names in his comments on some of his fellow comedians, although he's certainly never mean about what he says. Plus you get the full texts, as they were originally written, of some of his most famous comedy routines. All in all, this is a fine book, and if you've ever enjoyed any of Newhart's work before, I think you'll enjoy reading it as I did.