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

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.

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.

The late Bob Newhart was a comedic treasure, and his book “I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This” shows why he was such a great storyteller too. Full of amusing stories about his career and friends and struggles in show business, along with excerpts from his monologues and comedy albums, you get a sense of Bob’s humble humanity and low-key sense of humor. As someone who grew up watching his shows, it was nice to be able to enjoy Bob’s writing and relive some of the highlights of his career. He will be sorely missed by his fans, but he left behind a legacy of laughs that we can still enjoy.

I was lucky enough to see Bob Newheart preform before he died. My wife got me tickets as a surprise, she knew I was a fan and he was great. His ease at comedy was great live. This book has the same feel to it. Easy to read and easy to laugh at. I know some of the stories having seen him on talk shows over the years but reading the stories again still gives me a laugh.

I've been a fan of Bob Newhart for years and have a few of his recordings which I listen to (amongst other stuff) when driving. Listening to comedy in traffic jams or after a full day is a good lightener of mood. There are various anecdotes which I found interesting. He mentions a lot of American performers he has had dealings with, many of whom I do not know, but this didn't matter. I didn't mind either repeat of text in the book of some of his monologues, there was usually context to them. In some the wording was slightly different to the recordings. His varied life and philosophy of life was also of interest to me. I enjoyed Newhart's appearances in The Big Bang Theory (for which he deservedly won an award) but this book was written before so no mention of any inside info about these, nor from the Librarian series in which he appeared. Pity, in this electronic age, such things can't be added at a later date.If you're a Newhart fan you'll likely enjoy this book.

I enjoy Bob Newhart's lighter look at life in general. His anecdotes and his humour created more chuckles than belly laughs, but every now and then I laughed right out loud, which made my wife chuckle at me. At the same time, much of what he said was insightful to life in general. Well worth the read.

I've been a Newhart fan for decades and expected this book to be as funny as the man himself. It's amusing in parts but as Newhart's humour depends so much on deadpan delivery, it doesn't translate well to a written medium. A good holiday read for next to the pool ...

Delivered with the typical style of humour that Bob Newhart is so famous for, I love this book. I would also love to see some of his TV shows revived.