Credit: Photo By John Anderson

Beating The Bob Newhart Show first season DVD’s release in stores by almost a week, the former Dr. Hartley, 75, still balding, still grinning, took a sold-out Paramount back to 1972 for just under an hour last Thursday. Or was it 1960? There was the “Driving Instructor,” from what remains one of the best-selling LPs of all time, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart, but now the slightly stammered phone routines are done via cell phone (catering the Last Supper). Aggie jokes, a George Strait punchline, and a Johnny Carson-esque career overview film emceed live by Newhart all added up to a fleeting, sometimes explosive laugh from an audience to which the words “Hi, Bob” could only ever mean one thing.

This article appears in April 15 • 2005.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.