# Bob Newhart to guest on Big Bang Theory **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329 "2013-05-02T17:34:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/1 "2013-05-02T17:34:51Z")
That’s all. Just a head’s-up. I’m a big fan of both Bob Newhart and The Big Bang Theory, so it’s a shame I work Thursday nights. I’ll catch it tomorrow on the CBS site though ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/2 "2013-05-02T17:51:41Z")
My guess: He’s the psychiatrist who Sheldon’s mother used to have him “tested”, and he’s returning to tell Sheldon that he got his records confused with another patient, and Sheldon, is, in fact, crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/3 "2013-05-02T17:56:27Z")
He’s playing Prof. Proton, an old Mr. Wizard type host of a TV science show for kids that Sheldon and Leonard grew up watching. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/4 "2013-05-02T18:57:37Z")
Second guess then: Sheldon will keep peppering him with obscure & esoteric science questions, and he’ll finally have to admit that he’s just an actor, and someone else wrote all the scientific dialog for him. Sheldon will express shock and outrage, with a meta- comment or two thrown in. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/5 "2013-05-02T19:03:07Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Second guess then: > > Sheldon will keep peppering him with obscure & esoteric science questions, and he’ll finally have to admit that he’s just an actor, and someone else wrote all the scientific dialog for him. Sheldon will express shock and outrage, with a meta- comment or two thrown in. And it will be very predictable Chuck Lorre hack writing, but because it’s Bob Newhart and Jim Parsons it will be hysterical. (I wonder if Bob has updated his routine to include cell phones, since you can take those in a thousand places you couldn’t take landlines.) ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/6 "2013-05-03T02:39:23Z")
I was looking forward to Bob Newhart. And I was so disappointed. The only funny line was when Bernie talked like Raj and Howard thought it was hot. I think AFF is my favorite character now, and she had the night off. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5ac83/32.png) [@The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mad_Hermit)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/7 "2013-05-03T02:42:09Z")
It was nice to see Bob Newhart, but you can tell that he’s lost a bit of vitality. The stammer isn’t affected anymore. He looks frail. Still, he did an admirable job. Sheldon seems to be reverting to childhood more each time. This will make it tougher for him to progress in his relationship with Amy without a major reversal. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/8 "2013-05-03T03:20:18Z")
“You’re the genius” Bob looks pretty old now, still it’s nice to see him again. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/9 "2013-05-03T03:33:47Z")
I thought it was funny when Newhart told Sheldon to call him Arthur and Sheldan asked if that made them friends. And Newhart said “No, a friend would have told me about the [broken] elevator.” ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/10 "2013-05-03T03:57:30Z")
> [@The\_Mad\_Hermit](#): > > It was nice to see Bob Newhart, but you can tell that he’s lost a bit of vitality. The stammer isn’t affected anymore. He looks frail. Still, he did an admirable job. If Wikipedia is to be believed, he’s now 83 (born in 1929). I’d say he did a pretty good job, considering his age. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/11 "2013-05-03T04:03:00Z")
Penny seems to be getting dumber. I mean this is Zack (blow up the moon) level stupidity… Penny: What’s that? Arthur: I-I power a clock with a, with a potato. Penny: Shut up! You can do that? I mean, wouldn’t that solve the world’s energy crisis? Arthur: No. Penny: I’m sorry to hear about your troubles. Arthur: Uh, thanks. Penny: But if you don’t mind me asking, uh, the potato clock? How does it work? Is it a trick clock or a trick potato? Arthur (to Leonard): Wh-What do you two talk about? Arthur: I’m having a problem with my pacemaker. Penny: Any chance we could plug it into the potato? Arthur: No. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/12 "2013-05-03T04:04:39Z")
Bernie is giving in massively on the kid thing. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/13 "2013-05-03T04:10:27Z")
Behind the scenes with Bob Newhart…The series, TV’s top comedy with ratings up 17% in its sixth season, is a particular favorite of Newhart’s. “I love the writing on it; it’s intelligent and you can’t see the jokes coming,” he says. Lorre returns the love: “He’s been a hero of mine since I was a kid, going back to his standup days in the '60s.” Two decades later, as a young writer, he remembers sneaking onto the Newhart set between tapings. “I would sit there and take it in.” On _Big Bang_, “it was such an extraordinary experience to spend a week working with a man who has such instincts,” he says, marveling at “how he could make a line come alive that on paper wasn’t necessarily funny. It’s some kind of alchemy.” Newhart says he insisted on performing in front of a live audience (sitcoms sometimes pre-tape scenes), and Lorre wanted to surprise the crowd by not introducing the comedian ahead of time. “What if they don’t remember me?” Newhart says he asked. [Bob Newhart gets a big bang out of ‘Theory’](http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2013/05/01/bob-newhart-big-bang-theory-jim-parsons/2127237/) ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/14 "2013-05-03T10:06:21Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > Penny seems to be getting dumber. I mean this is Zack (blow up the moon) level stupidity… Honestly, if you don’t already know about the potato electricity experiment, if someone told it to you, why would you believe them? It sounds ridiculous (even to me and I’ve seen it work). ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/15 "2013-05-03T10:10:46Z")
Hey, if a potato was good enough for GLaDOS… But yeah, the whole “you can just plug wires into a potato and get electricity” thing is mindblowing if you’ve never encountered it before and don’t have sufficient context. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/16 "2013-05-03T10:53:47Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > Penny: Shut up! You can do that? I mean, wouldn’t that solve the world’s energy crisis? > > Penny: But if you don’t mind me asking, uh, the potato clock? How does it work? Is it a trick clock or a trick potato? > > Penny: Any chance we could plug it into the potato? If you’re unaware of the science, these aren’t stupid questions at all. We only laughed at them because it’s a sitcom. In reality I’m sure a lot of people would at least be wondering these kinds of things. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/17 "2013-05-03T12:53:23Z")
Personally, I felt it was the best episode of the season. From the appearance of Newhart on, it moved. In the scenes that Newhart was in, it was real and (for me) funny. It wasn’t just the regulars doing standard lines for the _Bangers_. ---
**Author:** ![chargerrich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chargerrich/32/5399_2.png) [@chargerrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chargerrich)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/18 "2013-05-03T12:55:28Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > Personally, I felt it was the best episode of the season. From the appearance of Newhart on, it moved. In the scenes that Newhart was in, it was real and (for me) funny. It wasn’t just the regulars doing standard lines for the _Bangers_. True… and yet terrifying that so many people we count on every day as a society are this uneducated. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/19 "2013-05-03T13:26:02Z")
I guess what I didn’t like about Professor Proton was that he was bitter and jaded which is a trait I associate with Mr Carlin, not Dick Hartley. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329/20 "2013-05-03T13:29:33Z")
Meh. What annoyed me was the Penny regression. The schools in Nebraska aren’t _that_ bad. She would have seen a potato clock before, or at least been exposed to the principles. OTOH, I think we have moved Howard and Raj from erzatz to zatz. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-newhart-to-guest-on-big-bang-theory/657329.md?page=2)