tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley.tonight, a conversation with one of this country's most beloved comics, bob newhart. after seven nominations, he won his first award. album and the button- down mind of bob newhart is still the best-selling comedy album of all time. other sitcoms are judged by that standard.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: his television career goes back more than five decades with the bob newhart show and of course, newhart. he got eminem and nations but no statue. his guest star role in the big bang. resulted in his first emmy win,

long overdue. and a standing ovation from the emmy audience. take a look. >> thank you. i am going to need a little more time because this is my seventh shot at this. ?avis: what took so long ago >> there were always better people in the category then me.

tavis: i think the voters tend , somee some sort of bias sort of issue with comedians. i think of jerry seinfeld who, unless i'm wrong, never 11. i think of bob newhart, bill cosby. a lot of comedic giants that somehow never graced that stage in that capacity. maybe they don't see you guys is acting, maybe you are just seen as bob newhart. >> we took the persona of the standup world and transferred it. if i can exclude myself, in the case of bill and jerry, they just made it look too easy. what do you make of the

fact that there might be some disrespect ofnt the craft. that it isn't as easy as it looks. >> i think that is part of it. i am not classically trained like bill and jerry. i never studied acting. likes a comedian, it is inherent in what you do. you just watch equal and that is where you get your humor from. the most difficult thing, when you became successful. when i had the record album that one album of the year, you are cut off from the source of your material. your material was everyday

people and you had to work at it. i going to a city and people stop me and say, you sure look like him. i say i have been told that. tavis: how did you process all of those years? you are a giant, you are a comedic giant. how did you process all those years? do you take that personally? took it personally. i was serious when i said -- i lost to jack lightman, tony randall, michael j fox twice. and they are very good people.

at one point, i stopped putting nominations so i can just sit at home and watch the emmys and say, i would've one. -- won. [laughter] i would have walked away, no question about it. let me take the funny and tweak it just a little bit because your comment makes me think of something and my staff around here knows this. some years ago, after winning a few awards for this show, i stopped submitting my name. i don't let the staff submit the show for anything. -- reason is, i have a thing

it might be arrogant or hubris, but i have a thing about people judging what we do. i think we do the best show that we can do and once we have done that, that's it. if they like it, they do and if they don't, we will try to do better tomorrow. but there is something about waiting for the judgment of others when you know you have done your best work. i don't need them to tell me that what i am trying to do is to get to the humanity of the person i am talking to and if you judge your success by accolades, it stifles you or forces you to do things you otherwise wouldn't do because you're trying to win the adoration of other people. >> i wish i had thought of that. i will use that. yours is funnier and the punchline comes a lot quicker. i was the standup, for 12

years before i went to the bob newhart show. you know you have done a good show or not and you have known if you've done am glad show. people will be applauding and you know, that was not my best. who taught you the appreciation for silence? >> yes. -- jack, inhing now his radio program for years, he was very cheap. he is walking in the park and the guy jumps out of the bushes and says, your money or your life. and he this long pause says, your money or your life?

jack says, i'm thinking. [laughter] the say it is one of longest laughs in radio ever. tavis: what is the greatest lesson? what has been the lifelong youon, the takeaway for having been such a successful comedian all these years? i suspect whatever you have learned on stage, you have used in every other aspect of your life. >> i just found that i like to make people laugh. and then go home to a normal life. there are arguments. i think i am normal at home. my wife might disagree.

but we have a great time, my wife and i. comedians marriages, my wife and , we wereentioned married 50 years in january. catholic. we went to this priest and we wanted to get married. they said what do you do? i have a television show and my wife said that she is an extra in movies and he said, i can't marry you. why not? your marriages never last. i tried to contact him on our 50th anniversary so that he could attend. but i'm not sure he is even a

priest anymore. i know we are still married. a beautiful thing watching you that night. i don't want to say you were emotional, but you were fall -- full and you deserved to be. your wife was in the audience and there was a story behind the health challenges you have been going through. >> about four or five years ago, she had liver cancer. and she was put on a list. she was quite low on the list. ucla, a woman came in much larger than my wife.

it was not big enough for her. said, tell me and jenny to get to ucla, we have a liver for her. and she was getting her hair done or something. i said you had better get home, they have a liver. we weren't expecting it, it was out of the blue and she was beginning to show signs of things shutting down. this was about 5:00, i took her right away. they put her right in the operating room. i was in the waiting room and the doctor called and said we are putting the good liver in. , and shefour years ago

made a remarkable recovery. part and parcel of her being there and the standing ovation that just got to me. tavis: as it should. your answer to the previous question begs the obvious. what is the secret for 50 years of wedded bliss? it is funny because comedians tend to have the longest marriages. jack benny, mary livingston, jenny and i, don rickles. there is something about laughter. it is laughter and the longevity of a marriage. we will be in a really heated

argument and i will say something and then i'll think to myself, i remember that line, that was a great line. i can't write it down now, but i have got to remember it. and then will both look at each other, and the fight is over. tavis: that is funny. how warped my thinking is, as you are telling your story, i was thinking of a wonderful documentary that i saw that you were part of about the life and times of richard pryor. and i was laughing because there , wife couple of lines number five and wife number seven. >> there are exceptions.

one of the greatest ever and he could not stay married to one person. i raise that because i was moved by the profundity of what you had to say about the artistic thiss of richard pryor and is bob newhart talking about prior. tell me about your respect for his craft. >> he is just huge. i may have mentioned, i am not sure. i received an award from the kennedy center. and pryor was the very first to receive it. which to me, was very what marke because twain was doing at the turn-of- the-century, talking about life talking aboutr,

life in the inner city. they were doing the same thing. as a comedian, the language doesn't bother me at all. , they werethe words directed at me very often. cheated,ld feel describing life in the inner is not lifearn it in the inner city. i never found it offensive. i think my bone is just a piece of genius. award and the comedy he turned to me, in a wheelchair we went to and commercial and came back. i handed him the lifetime achievement award, and he looks

up at me and says, i stole your album. i stole your album and you're into. i walked into a record store and put it in my jacket. richard, i will quote you for an album. he said, give me a quote. he was just brilliant. he was above comedy. take me back to the days where comedy albums actually work. tell me what was happening in the country that allowed you to put this stuff on vinyl and after all these years, still the best-selling comedy album in the history of records.

>> a lot of things happened in the 50's. on.t of things were going and in the 60s, there was a sea change in comedy. it went from take my wife, please, or i will burn a hole in the code, or if you get the tiger out of here, i will. [laughter] it became conceptual. johnny winters, they just paid tribute to. tavis: it was an amazing job.

change, and a sea we were just expressing ourselves the best way we knew how about what was going on in the world. and what was wrong with the world. we didn't all get together, it just all happened at the same time. >> these are challenging times. >> i did a blink in, which is maybe one of the most revered presidents. wasn't the brightest bulb in the room. that was kind of a departure. but we were attacking sacred krause -- sacred cows. have said that

you laugh not to cry, and that was what we were doing. tavis: that was the case for prior. but the exact opposite of your life. there is almost a consensus that part of what makes the great comedians great is a troubled life. icons, are one of the and your life was not like that. comedy comes from that sort of darkness and you did not have there was some hurt in my life. referred ae just better relationship with my father that i had. i just like making people laugh. it is my favorite thing. be a: how did you learn to

great storyteller? when you think of the greats, you think of this capacity to be brilliant at storytelling. i love comedy shows. when i am on the road, if there is a music concert, i will try to get there. i love those kinds of venues. clubs,, you go to comedy and a guy gets up and a woman gets up and tells the joke, you see the punchline coming. they're good at cracking jokes but not good at telling stories. how did you perfect that? >> all i can think of is that i always watched the sullivan show and steve allen. i would watch the comedians and i would study them. i wonder why he used that word

rather than -- i was a student of comedy. i would watch great storytellers like danny thomas, sam levinson. guess by osmosis, from watching them and appreciating them, i know comedians like steve martin that if you put a gun to his four head that they could not tell you a joke. another art form. tavis: one that you perfected. what did you make of the fact way to this and he was the big bang theory. a successful show, obviously. re, he and i talked

over the years. to dold call and want me the show and for one reason or another i didn't. i am readyhe said for the annual turndown. i said, i will tell you what. do you shoot in front of an audience? i don't know how to do a one camera show where you come and do the . he said, yes. do big i would like to bang theory because i think it is the best written show. like it to be a recurring part, not just a one- shot. he said, you got it. they sent me the script. the cast was unbelievable. i only worked with jim parsons and kaylee.

they threw themselves on the sword for me. they wanted it to work. they kept throwing me hanging curveball than i kept swinging at them. you are too modest. when you looked out at that audience, what did you take from that standing ovation? is your peers. they are saying you're pretty good. the creative arts award, they were about to hand me the emmy. i was about to have an enemy in my house and my wife would have to hide it because she doesn't

-- ive in ostentatious think we found a place in the attic where no one will find it. and then the standing ovation from your peers, that is as high a compliment as you can get in this business. it was a wonderful and gorgeous night. tavis: long overdue and well- deserved. you come back any time. bob newhart, after all these years, that is our show for tonight. until next time, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with the former mayor of new york. that is next time, we will see you then.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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