Bob Newhart

“Chuck Lorre and I had been talking about doing one of his shows for a while. I said I'd like to do 'The Big Bang Theory,' because I think it's the best written, most intelligent show on television.”

“The only way to survive is to have a sense of humour.”

“I loved 'Everybody Loves Raymond' because I like Ray and I thought it was beautifully cast, I thought it was great writing. I thought Patricia Heaton was wonderful.”

“All I can say about life is, 'Oh God, enjoy it!'”

“Stammering is different than stuttering. Stutterers have trouble with the letters, while stammerers trip over entire parts of a sentence. We stammerers generally think of ourselves as very bright.”

“I really don't know what makes a comedian. I think it's a family background and environment. Yet if you put the same ingredients in another person, he may never utter a funny line.”

“Funny is funny is funny.”

“I would say I came from upper middle class family.”

“Comedians are never really on vacation because you're always at attention... that antenna is always out there.”

“Don Rickles and I are best friends. I know that might seem strange to those who know Don only by reputation, but somebody has to be his friend. Just to make sure I don't forget, Don gave me a doormat that sits just outside the front door of my house. It reads: 'The Newharts: The Rickleses Best Friends.'”

“I don't know how to do a show not in front of a live audience.”

“With the stand-up comic on TV, whether it's Seinfeld or Cosby or Roseanne, more important than their knowledge of how to tell a joke is their knowledge of themselves, or the persona they've created as themselves. So that when you're in a room with writers, you can say, 'Guys, that's a funny line, but I wouldn't say it.'”

“There is an edginess in my work that people don't always recognize.”

“There was a sea of change in comedy in the late 1950s and '60s. We were dealing with vignettes as opposed to jokes. We were more socially aware.”

“I think there's a part, just a part of comedians, that is still childlike.”

“I've been a very lucky actor.”

“Well I was much too practical to presume to have a career in comedy.”

“The greatest comedian I've ever seen is Jack Benny. He wasn't afraid of the silences.”

“People are meant to be certain places, and I think I'm meant to be on a sound stage doing situation comedy.”

“I wasn't the class clown. I wasn't that obvious. There would be a circle of guys, and they're watching the class clown. And I'm standing in the back, and I turn to the guy next to me and I say something funny to him, and he starts to laugh. And the guy next to him says, 'What did he say?'”