STILL Laughing with BOB Newhart

Fifty years after The Bob Newhart Show debuted on TV, the comedy icon— and his showbiz admirers—reflects on the moment he’ll never forget, how his stammer became his strength and the power of laughter.

Though Bob Newhart, 92, has been performing comedy for more than 60 years, there is one moment onstage he’ll never forget. It was in 1993, when he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. He refers to it as “joining the giants . . . the Johnny Carsons and the Bob Hopes and the Lucille Balls.” That night, he was finally recognized as one of the masters of the craft of TV comedy.

This summer marks 50 years from the day—Sept. 16, 1972—that Newhart’s Emmy-nominated sitcom The

(2003) In a movie that has become a holiday staple, human baby Buddy

(Will Ferrell) sneaks into Santa’s bag and ends up at the North Pole, where

Papa Elf adopts and raises him.