Bob Newhart's Stand-Up Comedy Sketch (1962) | The Kennedy Center

Comedic legend Bob Newhart performs for Presidents John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower during "An American Pageant of the Arts," on November 29, 1962. The purpose of the event was to raise funds for the National Cultural Center, begun under Eisenhower's administration and encouraged under Kennedy's. Two months after President Kennedy's assassination in November 1963, Congress passed and President Johnson signed into law legislation renaming the National Cultural Center as a "living memorial" to John F. Kennedy. Watch the full pageant with Harry Belafonte, Yo-Yo Ma, Danny Kaye, Marian Anderson, Robert Frost, Maria Tallchief, Andre Previn, and many more: https://youtu.be/pCIg6fTPA5U Learn more about the Kennedy Center's history: https://www.kennedy-center.org/our-story/history/ Bob Newhart was an American stand-up comedian and actor noted for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery style. Newhart came to prominence in 1960 when his album of comedic monologues, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart, became a bestseller and reached number one on the Billboard pop album chart; it remains the 20th-best selling comedy album in history. Newhart later went into acting, starring as Chicago psychologist Robert Hartley in The Bob Newhart Show during the 1970s and then as Vermont innkeeper Dick Loudon on the 1980s series Newhart. Newhart had film roles as Major Major in Catch-22 and Papa Elf in Elf. He provided the voice of Bernard in the Disney animated films The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under. In 2013, Newhart made his first of six guest appearances on The Big Bang Theory as Professor Proton, for which he received his first Primetime Emmy Award. Help Inspire Others: The Kennedy Center building may be temporarily closed, but its arts and education programming is still alive! Your gift today will provide vital support for the arts during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Please consider donating today at: https://www.kennedy-center.org/Support/Help/ Subscribe to The Kennedy Center! http://bit.ly/2gNFrtb #bobnewhart #JFK #kennedycenter