Classic television comedian and best-selling author Bob Newhart will take the stage at Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on January 31 at 8 p.m. Tickets go on sale Friday, January 6 at 2 p.m.
Bob Newhart’s career has spanned two successful television shows, seen14 feature films, sold millions of albums worldwide and still, he performs to sell-out crowds all over the country. Fans of all ages flock to Newhart’s live performances to hear such timeless standards as “The Driving Instructor,” “Sir Walter Raleigh” and “The Submarine Commander.”
And yet, Newhart’s career began in a quite unassuming fashion while working as an accountant in Chicago. Newhart, being bored with his accounting work, would call Ed Gallagher, a friend from a suburban Chicago Stock Company and improvise comedy routines. It was suggested that they record and syndicate them. They did and were imminently unsuccessful. Gallagher, an advertising executive, was offered a job in New York and accepted it, leaving Bob with the difficult job of going it alone.
Newhart knocked around Chicago finding occasional work in voiceovers and commercials while still writing additional material. Through a friendship with disc jockey Dan Sorkin, Newhart met with the head of Warner Brothers Records, who, upon hearing Bob’s material, offered him a recording contract.
And so, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart came into being. In fact, it became the first comedy album to go to #1 on the charts. He was an immediate sell-out in nightclubs and theater stages all over America. Seven more albums followed, each extremely successful multi-platinum projects. Overall, Newhart’s cumulative recording career earned him three Grammys. His record for holding the #1 and #2 Billboard chart positions was not broken until recently. His debut is still ranked as the 20th best-selling album of all time, according to Billboard.
A tremendous success in television and films, Newhart earned an Emmy and a Peabody Award for his work on the Bob Newhart Variety Show which was quickly followed by the phenomenal success of The Bob Newhart Show (1972 – 1978) and Newhart (1982 – 1990). He has appeared in over 14 feature films starring alongside Steve McQueen, Bobby Darin, Barbara Streisand, Kevin Kline, Reese Witherspoon, Will Ferrell and Tom Selleck. More recently, he starred with Noah Wyle in the TNT original movie The Librarian and its sequel and had a recurring role in Desperate Housewives. He was also honored with the distinction of being heralded as an “American Master” by the PBS documentary of the same name.
In 2006, Newhart released the book I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This (Hyperion Publishing) which became a New York Times bestseller.
Tickets cost $79, $69, $59 and $49*; all seats are reserved and available at all Ticketmaster outlets online at www.ticketmaster.com or charge by phone: 1-800-745-3000. Doors open one-hour prior to show start time. *Additional fees may apply