Revisit Bob Newhart on SNL
The world of comedy mourned the passing of Bob Newhart on July 18 at the age of 94. Tributes to Newhart have poured in from colleagues across his six-decade-long career, including from Saturday Night Live, which celebrated his time with the sketch comedy series by sharing Newhart’s SNL monologue from 1995, along with other memorable moments.
In the show’s own long storied history, Newhart hosted Saturday Night Live twice. The first occasion was May 10, 1980, and the second was February 11, 1995. The Amazing Rhythm Aces/Bruce Cockburn served as musical guest for the first round, while Des’ree took up the mantle for the second. The videos SNL shared ended up celebrating multiple parts of Newhart’s legacy, stretching back to his iconic sitcom of the same name and the positively legendary finale it gifted audiences.
In 1980, Newhart was part of the SNL cast that made waves—not exclusively with a stunned audience, but rather a highly unamused network executive. The sketch was titled “A Limo For A Lame-O” and would be one of the most consequential in the show’s history.
Comedian and politician Al Franken designed a scene in which NBC President Fred Silverman favored having a limousine drive him to and from work; meanwhile, the show’s ratings were in the toilet, and its financial future appeared utterly doomed. It has been labeled “one of the meanest acts of character assassination in—well, the history of mean acts of character assassination,” and Silverman had not been given any prior knowledge of the sketch, due to a series of miscommunication blunders.
Silverman placed the blame on SNL producer Lorne Michaels, who was in the midst of vying for a new contract, categorizing it as an act of revenge. The sketch would be consequential to the morale of much of the SNL crew and put up a final countdown on Lorne’s time with the show. This was season five, episode 18, which had been hosted by none other than Newhart.
Rather than creating a bit of infamous television history, the 1995 episode of Saturday Night Live that again saw Newhart hosting recreated a celebrated moment in sitcom history. The end of that episode saw Newhart along with his former castmate, guest star Suzanne Pleshette, recreating the finale of Newhart, which originally aired from 1982 to 1990.
The series itself stayed popular enough to warrant eight seasons of quality television, whose eccentric cast of characters remains lauded as a gold standard to this very day. But sticking the landing is always a daunting task. Newhart, again, set the bar to astronomical heights.
Fans will remember the original finale, showing Dr. Robert Hartley, Newhart’s character from The Bob Newhart Show, awakening, revealing that all of Newhart was actually a dream of his. A&E, TV Land, and TV Guide all named this finale as one of the most memorable in all of television history.
So, of course, SNL had to tap into a celebration of that achievement when honoring one of its most accomplished hosts. At the end of the ’95 episode, Newhart awakens with Pleshette to realizing that hosting Saturday Night Live, too, was just a dream.
What is your favorite comedic moment from Bob Newhart’s remarkable career?
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