I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This!: and Other Things That Strike Me as Funny

4.2 | 1,586 ratings

Price: 12.96

Last update: 12-23-2024

About this item

That stammer. Those basset-hound eyes. That bone-dry wit. There has never been another comedian like Bob Newhart. In this, his first audiobook ever, Newhart gives us his brilliant and bemused twist on a multitude of topics, including flying, the trials of a family holiday in a Winnebago, and more serious subjects, such as golf. And, of course, there are side-splittingly funny stories from his life and career. Who else has a drinking game named after him? ("Hi, Bob!")

This isn't a memoir like most memoirs. It's an audiobook only Bob Newhart could have conceived, with his unique worldview and irrepressibly wry humor. Oh, and there's a fair bit of plain silliness, too.

Diane Marie Shatto

Highly Recommended

Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2024

I am a late comer to Bob Newhart, but started watching full seasons of his sitcoms lately. Bob Newhart is my favorite comedian of all time. He is true to life and as steady and sweet as his characters as this book seems to show. I guess that is why he is a classic: because he is genuine, and that is rare. He has been married to the same women for 46 years and that just made realize how genuine a man he must be- the real deal. I always wondered how people become comedians. I think I understand now. Bob is so deadpan that he might have been joking in his book when he said ‘we just never grew up…we see things as kids do…’ but I think there might be truth to that. I think many of us go through a stage where we are unintentionally funny and people around us think we are hysterical because they think we are being funny in purpose. Because we know the secret (that we aren’t) it makes us so uncomfortable that we change all those things so that people aren’t laughing at us anymore. Yet as we mature we then regret it because we realize that we had qualities that came against a situation to make people laugh and instead of being puzzled we should have continued to be ourselves and laugh at the situation that was created. Anyway maybe that’s one aspect of why there are such few comedians: as Bob says in his book most people grow up, comedians don’t. One thing to watch out for: if you haven’t watched all his sitcoms there are spoilers in this book, big spoilers, which I won’t rename here. I wish he would have given a spoiler alert headline because I’m in the middle of watching his Sitcom Newhart now- but I still look forward to his ending. One last thing, this book is not I guess meant to be any sort of comedy book. It’s a straight book of stringed together stories that give a picture of his work life and glimpses of his private life but in no way is he a comedian on paper. He’ll tell a story and the punchline is in no way what you are expecting. I guess that’s humor in itself to build up to a nonexistent punch line. Anyway, I did enjoy this book and it made me want to watch other stuff of his. I hope he’ll write more books in the future.

Tom Goodrick

Good Humor and Insight into Comedy Business

Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2013

This book will be enjoyed mostly by people who followed Newhart's career from the stand up appearances on the variety shows of the 1950's and 1960's through the situation comedies in later years. I remember when I was in high school in the late 1950's, we would get together before school and try to remember all the Newhart jokes we'd heard the night before on the Sullivan show or a similar variety show. This book is an easy and pleasant read. I used it as a break between murder mysteries. A number of things surprised me. I thought once you made it to several appearances on Ed Sullivan's show, you had made it to the Top. But that was not completely true. in Bob's case. It may have been because his humor was a little complex or cerebral. He told about ordinary events except he focused on things that were very funny if you looked at them a certain way. He would find that way of looking and bring it to your attention. Newhart studied the guys who did dead-pan comedy the best - Jack Benny, George Burns, etc. But he did not create a special persona to be a comedian. He did his presentation in a very natural way. Yet one of his best friends has been Don Nichols who has always shown his special super-grouch type of character.

Bob has lived a very complete life, all while performing regularly as a comedian. He started out single, performing at night shows while going to school to become an accountant and then working day jobs as an accountant, then doing more comedy and less accounting work. Then he married the daughter of an actor. They had kids and raised them while he worked regularly in Las Vegas and did two long-running TV shows. Now he enjoys life spoiling his grandchildren. A very pleasant book about a very pleasant guy - just what I needed to get away from those murders.

Alan Terpsma

Bob Newhart had a great life story to tell

Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2024

Really a great read. Bob tells everything he knows about comedy and everything about thousands of other things that makes this a very entertaining read

S. Hammel

ENJOYABLE, BUT SLIGHT.

Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2006

I've recently rediscovered THE BOB NEWHART SHOW on DVD and it more than stands up to my memory of it being one of the funniest TV comedies of the '70s. I was also a fan of NEWHART in the '80s and Bob's deadpan performance at this year's Emmys made me laugh out loud. So the release of Newhart's autobiography dovetailed nicely with my renewed interest in Mr. Newhart and I was especially curious to read his recollections of his years on television.

So I was disappointed that Bob breezes by THE BOB NEWHART SHOW in a few pages, much of that spent recounting a few favorite scenes. (Some of which are rather sloppily recollected; in one case reassigning a punchline actually given by Marcia Wallace as Carol to himself.) NEWHART merits even less mention, dwelling almost entirely on its famous last episode. And I seemed to have liked his under-rated 90s sitcom BOB more than Bob himself!

I REALLY SHOULDN'T BE DOING THIS is less an autiobiography than a series of loosely organized anecdotes, interspersed with bits from Newhart's comedy monologues. And while I especially enjoyed reading about how he began his career, stories of his last few decades were often familiar from other sources.

The writing approximates Newhart's droll, deadpan performing style. And therein is the rub. One is reminded of how much of Newhart's hilarity is in his flawless timing and performance. Many of the humorous stories here feel flat and even strained as written-word. And the recounted comedy monologues while clever, also suffer in written form.

The book is certainly enjoyable and readable, but it's autobiographical slightness was a let-down. And since Newhart'ss main goal seemed to be to present a series of humorous vignettes from his life, I wish I had found it funnier.

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