Ask Bob Newhart to name his favorite comedians, and he'll rattle off a list. Prominent among those on it are Jack Benny, from whom Newhart might have learned the most, and Richard Pryor, whom he considers the most influential comedian of the past half-century. Then ask Newhart to name the individual who had the most profound impact on his career, and he answers Dan Sorkin. Sorkin was a Chicago disc jockey when Newhart, a self-confessed mediocre accountant, worked at the Illinois State Unemployment Compensation Board. Newhart was nearly 30 and still living with his parents. He and a friend had worked up some comic bits, but not much had come of it, and the friend moved out of town to take a better job. Newhart wanted more than anything to see if he could make a living from comedy, but he couldn't hold out much longer. "I was getting close to going back into the real world and being practical and giving up the dream of making it as a comic," he said in an interview last week. Newhart will be saluted as part of the American Masters series Wednesday night on PBS. "I don't think of myself as an 'American Master, ' " Newhart said with characteristic modesty. "I'm glad they do, but I really don't."...
- 7/20/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ask Bob Newhart to name his favorite comedians, and he'll rattle off a list. Prominent among those on it are Jack Benny, from whom Newhart might have learned the most, and Richard Pryor, whom he considers the most influential comedian of the past half-century. Then ask Newhart to name the individual who had the most profound impact on his career, and he answers Dan Sorkin. Sorkin was a Chicago disc jockey when Newhart, a self-confessed mediocre accountant, worked at the Illinois State Unemployment Compensation Board. Newhart was nearly 30 and still living with his parents. He and a friend had worked up some comic bits, but not much had come of it, and the friend moved out of town to take a better job. Newhart wanted more than anything to see if he could make a living from comedy, but he couldn't hold out much longer. "I was getting close to going back into the real world and being practical and giving up the dream of making it as a comic," he said in an interview last week. Newhart will be saluted as part of the American Masters series Wednesday night on PBS. "I don't think of myself as an 'American Master, ' " Newhart said with characteristic modesty. "I'm glad they do, but I really don't."...
- 7/19/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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