"BOB NEWHART – BUTTON-DOWN CONCERT"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: **** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: ** (out of 5 stars) STARRING Bob Newhart as HIMSELF Not Rated Studio: 20th Century Fox Back to DVD Review Home |  |
There are few comedians that can span the interest of many age groups. These are the guys who were big in the 60s and 70s, and continue to draw an audience today. They generally have several television shows under their belts, and you’ll still see them doing stand-up even today.
Aside from Bill Cosby, I can’t think of a working comedian that can hold a candle to Bob Newhart in terms of fresh, clean and genuinely funny comedy. Newhart has a unique style of delivery that works only for him. He’s the Stanley Kubrick of the stand-up circuit.
While he has had a distinguished career as a stand-up comedian, Newhart is better known by the majority of Americans for his television shows. “The Bob Newhart Show” was a staple for sit-com fanatics in the 70s, and the more recent “Newhart” was a legend in the 80s. Even today, your average television viewer will recognize Bob Newhart as the boyfriend of Susan Myers’ mom in “Desperate Housewives.”
However, these television viewers haven’t seen Bob Newhart at his best – on stage. That’s when he rules the show, and he delivers some of the funniest bits in television history.
For those who haven’t seen Newhart’s stand-up, there’s a new chance on DVD, and it’s the “Bob Newhart – Button-Down Concert,” which was recorded in 1997 and encompassed some of his best known routines. It’s a perfect place for a sampling of Bob Newhart’s funniest material.
In watching the material in 2006, it’s hard to figure out at times. It’s not crass. There’s no swearing. There’s no overt sexual references, and you’ll find it mostly clean. With unrated DVDs and Chris Rock hosting the Oscars, it’s kind of hard to believe that this kind of material can be funny.
But it is.
Newhart takes his best bits and puts them together. It’s an old-school deliver, the sort of thing where the performer spins around to get into character or introduces scenes by saying, “It went something like this.”
Even today, forty years after some of this material was first tried on stage, it’s hilarious. Newhart takes on such topics as retirement parties, King Kong, cheap airlines, crazy bus drivers and (my personal favorite) driving instructors. Ten years after the concert was produced, things are still as funny as ever.
Any fan of Bob Newhart should check out this concert. And anyone who hasn’t seen his stuff before should as well. They might get quite a laugh from it.
Specifications: Dolby Digital 5.1 Sound. Fullscreen (1.33:1). Spanish subtitles. English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.
