Phone Converstation with Sir Walter Raleigh...by Bob Newhart

Well before he gained fame as a TV comedian and sit-com star, Bob Newhart was a stand up comedian. His most popular shtick was to present one side of a two person telephone conversation. Here is one of my favorites from the mid 1960s with a telephone conversation between Sir Walter Raleigh in the ''new world'' and his corporate sponsor back in England to whom he is pitching a new product called tobacco.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

That was comedy gold!

(Fun fact, the oil painting on my profile is of Sir Walter Raleigh, it hangs in a local castle as part of a commissioned collection [I digress])

a reply to: MerkabaTribeEntity

Having been raised among WW2 vets who all smoked, smoking seemed to me as a young child a natural thing to do. The preposterousness of it never dawned on me until I hear this comedy act. Roll it up in a piece of paper, stick it in your mouth and light the other end on fire.

We had this album! I grew up on Newhart, The Smothers Brothers, Jose Jiminez, Jonathon Winters....
Thanks for posting! A true blast from the past,

a reply to: ColeYounger
Timeless. I think that that is one of the keys to good comedy. Taking a situation or belief or act or whatever that most take for granted as normal, then offering a fresh perspective that looks at it without the normal cultural context. This is a classic example. Imagining describing to someone who had never ever known about cigarettes and describing it to them for the first time.

Bob Newhart has always been hilarious. I love his sense of humor. In fact, I saw Bob do this routine live at a standup concert.


TCB