|
All too quietly Bob Newhart became one of the funniest
comedians to transition from stand up to TV and film. Newhart
first became a fixture in the public mind with his TV appearances
and record albums. This special named after his first record
“The Button Down Mind” (which became a startling #1 hit
on the record charts) captures Newhart in perfect form revisiting
the past in a live venue, touching on previous performances
by echoing those routines and moving forward to the 1995
(when this show was recorded) in a funny concert recorded
at the Raymond Theater in Pasadena, California for Showtime.
***
In many respects this is almost like a concert by a
band that’s been around for a long time—Newhart uses some
of his old routines which still sound surprisingly fresh
over 40 years later—and integrates them seamlessly into
his more contemporary take on the fragile and often funny
human existence. Bob’s an affable but often perplexed every
man and as such his routines such as his hilarious routine
about The Driving Instructor bounce around with the comic
energy of the absurd that’s right around the corner (or
in this case the driveway) from all of us. Newhart takes
this to even more absurd (and oddly enough contemporary
again because of Peter Jackson’s film “King Kong”) situations
when the night watchman for the Empire State Building calls
his boss to figure out how to get Kong off the building
without breaking any windows. I had heard many of these
routines over the years courtesy of my parents (along with
unu sual items such as Olivier’s “Hamlet” played on their
treasured 78 long players at parties…yes “Hamlet” played
at parties. Hey, if you have enough to drink Olivier can
be VERY funny at least according to my parent’s friends)
but the delivery and the characters that Newhart inhabits
continue to keep them fresh and funny all these years later.
---
Image & Sound:
Originally shot on videotape the show looks quite good
given that the source is 11 years old. Presented in full
frame the colors are solid throughout and outside of occasional
minor video noise the show looks extremely good. The stereo
mix works well given the venue I can’t really see how a
5.1 mix could have improved on this given the type of show
it is. ---
|
