More of a routine than a memoir, but full of the wry, understated self-deprecation that Newhart has perfected.
Now in his mid-70s, comedian Newhart riffs lightly on his life and career, publishing along the way portions of his most popular routines.
His book is a memoir only in the most superficial sense. There are no revelations, dark or otherwise, only an amusing and repetitive PowerPoint presentation by a writer determined to keep himself concealed. Oddly, Newhart’s observations about the art of comedy often veer close to banality—e.g., “Comedy can help us make it past something very painful like death.” He opens with some comments on comedy and comedians, then segues into chapters about his youth in Chicago. His father drank a lot; we don’t learn much about Mom. Newhart attended Catholic schools, got a bachelor’s degree in management and left Loyola’s law school sans degree. He was drafted, spent two years as an army clerk, then worked as an accountant. On the side, he wrote comedy routines, selling a few to radio stations. He lived at home until he was 29. His first comedy album (The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart) skyrocketed, as did the follow-up. The ensuing years were filled with stand-up dates in Vegas, TV shows, movies and lunches with glitterati. A treacly sequence about meeting his wife and some Erma Bombeckian pages about a disastrous family trip in a Winnebago are among the weaker sections. More interesting behind-the-scenes segments discuss his TV shows and films, especially Hell Is for Heroes and Catch-22. Playing one scene in the latter with a wicked hangover, Newhart was taken aback when director Mike Nichols declared that was exactly the quality he was looking for in the character. It’s one of the book’s many drinking stories; the author writes with less good cheer about smoking, which nearly killed him. His best friend is Don Rickles; he met Stan Laurel; he wishes he’d met W.C. Fields. He still loves doing stand-up.
More of a routine than a memoir, but full of the wry, understated self-deprecation that Newhart has perfected.Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2006
ISBN: 1-4013-0246-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
This autobiography might almost be said to supply the roots to Wright's famous novel, Native Son.
It is a grim record, disturbing, the story of how — in one boy's life — the seeds of hate and distrust and race riots were planted. Wright was born to poverty and hardship in the deep south; his father deserted his mother, and circumstances and illness drove the little family from place to place, from degradation to degradation. And always, there was the thread of fear and hate and suspicion and discrimination — of white set against black — of black set against Jew — of intolerance. Driven to deceit, to dishonesty, ambition thwarted, motives impugned, Wright struggled against the tide, put by a tiny sum to move on, finally got to Chicago, and there — still against odds — pulled himself up, acquired some education through reading, allied himself with the Communists — only to be thrust out for non-conformity — and wrote continually. The whole tragedy of a race seems dramatized in this record; it is virtually unrelieved by any vestige of human tenderness, or humor; there are no bright spots. And yet it rings true. It is an unfinished story of a problem that has still to be met.
Perhaps this will force home unpalatable facts of a submerged minority, a problem far from being faced.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1945
ISBN: 0061130249
Page Count: 450
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1945
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