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    If A.I. Is Coming for Comedy Writers, Simon Rich Is Ready

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    The author of humorous short stories finds emotional connections in tales that engage with tech. But he’s more interested in the ties between humans.The author Simon Rich believes it’s only a matter of time before artificial intelligence will be able to outwrite any human. Specifically, four years. So, what’s the twist?That’s what you wait for in a Simon Rich story, one of pop culture’s most consistently funny genres, with a foundation built like a classic joke: a tight premise developed in clear language, some misdirection, and then a pivot, delivered as quickly as possible.Rich, whose 10th collection of short stories, “Glory Days,” was released this week, said his dark view of the future was informed by a longtime friendship with an A.I. scientist, who recently showed him a chatbot the public hasn’t seen. It’s more raw, unpredictable, creative.“Even though I don’t know anything about A.I. really, I’ve been processing it emotionally for several years longer than everyone,” he told me in his Los Angeles home office one afternoon in May.He considered the implications of artificial intelligence displacing human creativity in “I Am Code,” a book he helped edit last year that featured A.I.-crafted poetry. The theme is also deeply woven into his new collection, his most mature effort yet, which includes some regular obsessions like “Back to the Future”-style encounters between generations, dystopia and the inner life of video game characters.“The whole book is basically about different types of obsolescence,” he said of “Glory Days,” whose other organizing theme is early midlife crisis. There’s a story about Super Mario turning 40 (Rich just did, too) and a spiky rant from the perspective of New York City itself. It’s about “the great migration when an entire generation discovers they are too old to live in New York,” he said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Bob Newhart Stayed Funny His Entire Life

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      He basically invented the stand-up special in 1960 and continued to be a source of comic brilliance until his final years.Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy.Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart” — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.Onstage, he didn’t curse, bust taboos or show anger. His style was gentle and wry. As opposed to motormouth contemporaries like Lenny Bruce or Mort Sahl, his defining trait was a cheerful, sloth-paced delivery, stammering, pausing, gradually, meticulously working his way through a sentence. He belonged to neither of the great branches of American humor — the legacies of Jewish or Black comedy. A Roman Catholic from the west side of Chicago, Newhart came off as an entirely respectable example of Midwestern nice.Newhart brought his own kind of neurosis, a comedy rooted in nuanced deadpan and silence. He was exasperated, clinging to sanity. He wasn’t one to get revenge in a joke. When I met him at his home for an interview tied to his 90th birthday, he had no scores to settle, no grievances or assumptions he was looking to upend. He was even humble and magnanimous talking about death, saying he thought he knew what awaited him after he passed away, but wasn’t sure. Then he joked about a comic who famously (and unfairly) accused him of stealing a bit: “Maybe I’ll come back as Shelley Berman and be pissed at myself.”Bob Newhart could occasionally get lumped in with the “sick comics” of the mid-20th century and his early work did have a political, even slangy edge. One of his signature bits, where an advertising man coaches Abraham Lincoln before the Gettysburg Address, was a pointed critique of the cynicism of professional politics. “Hi, Abe, sweetheart” begins the man from Madison Avenue, who encourages him to work in a plug for an Abraham Lincoln T-shirt. When the president says he wants to change “four score and seven years ago” to “87,” the ad man first patiently explains they already test marketed this in Erie. Then he says: “It’s sort of like Mark Antony saying “Friends, Romans, countrymen, I’ve got something I want to tell you.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The ‘Newhart’ Finale Is One of Bob Newhart’s Crowning Achievements

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      The finale has become so famous in part because it offered a rare moment of real surprise from a taped prime-time television sitcom.Open any search engine you like and type in these words: “best TV finales.” Scroll through the dozens — heck, hundreds — of articles written about which shows really “stuck the landing,” delivering the kind finish that fans still talk about.The “Newhart” finale should be on nearly all of those lists. For its last few minutes alone, “Newhart” deserves emeritus status on every roundup of best TV endings, best TV moments, funniest pranks, you name it. In perpetuity.What makes it an all-timer? One knockout of a punchline.For eight seasons — from 1982 to 1990 — Bob Newhart entertained millions on “Newhart,” playing Dick Loudon, a how-to book author and the co-owner of a quaint Vermont inn with his wife Joanna (Mary Frann). The success of “Newhart” was especially remarkable given that Newhart had already had a long run on TV in “The Bob Newhart Show,” which ran for six seasons, also on CBS, from 1972 to 1978.He had spent those six years playing Bob Hartley, a Chicago psychologist who coped with his kooky patients with the help of his loving wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette). These two characters, Loudon and Hartley, both drew on Newhart’s stand-up comedy persona: the stammering, muttering everyman, delivering hilariously deadpan reactions to the madness of modern life.The “Newhart” finale bridged the gap between the two shows, with an ending that had Dick Loudon getting knocked out by a golf ball in Vermont and then waking up in a Chicago bedroom as Bob Hartley, with Emily by his side. The implication was that the entire run of “Newhart” had been Bob’s dream. On the night of the finale’s taping, the “Newhart” studio audience whooped in delight.Most of the series finale was a seemingly straightforward “Newhart” episode. With, foreground from left, Newhart, Mary Frann, Gedde Watanabe and Tom Poston.CBS, via Everett CollectionWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Where to Stream Bob Newhart’s Greatest TV and Movie Performances

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      Newhart, who died on Thursday, became a standup star in the early 1960s and later developed two hit sitcoms built around his nervous Everyman persona.The legend of Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at 94, holds that he was once just an ordinary Chicago accountant who honed a stand-up act in his spare time. Overnight, the story goes — almost accidentally — he became a Grammy-winning sensation with his debut album, “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart,” a collection of one-man sketches in which he play-acts one half of funny conversations.That story is exaggerated. Newhart worked in advertising for longer than he did in accounting; and his showbiz ambitions were never just an afterthought. It is true, though, that Newhart rocketed to the top because he innately understood a certain midcentury Middle American type: the meek and anxious Everyman, overwhelmed by a world that sometimes seems deeply weird.Newhart first made good use of that understanding onstage in comedy clubs, where he became a phenomenon in the early 1960s, setting him up for a thriving career in that decade as a variety show and talk show guest. He then played variations on his stand-up character in two hit sitcoms: “The Bob Newhart Show” through much of the ’70s and “Newhart,” which ran from 1982 to 1990.By the 21st century, he had settled into emeritus status, reviving his old routines in concerts while doing his beloved shtick in supporting roles in movies and on TV. Here are six of Newhart’s most memorable performances, all available to stream:‘Bob Newhart: Off the Record’ (1992)The best way to understand how a “button-down” office drone became a perennial presence on TV is to watch this comedy special, in which Newhart revisits some of his earliest stand-up routines. At the time, these bits were over 30 years old, but they still — even today — get laughs. “Off the Record” shows one of the best-ever comics doing his thing: delivering one side of ludicrous phone calls and chats while giving the audience just enough information to imagine what is happening on the other end. In doing his bits about ordinary schmoes in extraordinary situations — such as crossing paths with King Kong or consulting with Abe Lincoln — Newhart spoofs the language of American life.Rent or buy it on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu or YouTube.‘The Bob Newhart Show’ (1972-78)After Newhart’s decade-plus of stand-up success and frequent TV guest gigs, the writer-producer team of David Davis and Lorenzo Music finally figured out how to harness his comic persona in a sitcom. In their “The Bob Newhart Show,” the comedian plays Bob Hartley, a Chicago psychologist managing the neuroses of his patients and the frustrations of his oft-neglected wife, Emily (Suzanne Pleshette). The show’s premise allows Newhart to make great use of his deadpan reactions, witty remarks and nervous stammer — all opposite a crack cast of funny character actors. But the real reason the series ran for so long is the star’s chemistry with Pleshette. Their easy banter and obvious affection make even a chilly Windy City feel inviting.Buy it on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV or Vudu.‘Newhart’ (1982-90)A few years after ending one popular, long-running sitcom, Newhart moved on to another. In “Newhart,” he plays Dick Loudon, a successful how-to book author who buys a quaint Vermont inn to run with his wife, Joanna (Mary Frann). Though again surrounded by eccentrics, Newhart’s character — and his approach to comedy — is subtly different here than in “The Bob Newhart Show.” Over the course of the series, Dick essentially becomes another one of those small-town kooks, with his own stubborn tics and habits. The show is plenty charming, even as it relies more on wackiness than warmth.Stream it on Amazon Prime Video.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Bob Newhart, Soft-Spoken Everyman Who Became a Comedy Star, Dies at 94

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      He was a show-business neophyte when he stammered his way to fame in 1960. He went on to star in two of TV’s most memorable sitcoms.Bob Newhart, who burst onto the comedy scene in 1960 working a stammering Everyman character not unlike himself, then rode essentially that same character through a long, busy career that included two of television’s most memorable sitcoms, died on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 94.His publicist, Jerry Digney, confirmed the death.Mr. Newhart wasn’t merely unknown a few months before his emergence as a full-fledged star; he was barely in the business, though he had aspirations. In 1959, some comic tapes he had made to amuse himself while working as an accountant in Chicago caught the ear of an executive at Warner Bros. Records, which in 1960 released the comedy album “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart.”The record shot to No. 1 on the charts, and at the 1961 Grammy Awards it improbably captured the top prize, album of the year. Among the nominees Mr. Newhart bested: Nat King Cole, Harry Belafonte and Frank Sinatra.He won two other Grammys that year as well, for best new artist and best spoken-word comedy performance, an honor that was given not to his first album but to his second, a hastily made follow-up titled “The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back!” For a while, his first two albums occupied the top two spots on the Billboard album chart.“Playboy magazine hailed me ‘the best new comedian of the decade,’” Mr. Newhart wrote in his autobiography, “I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This: And Other Things That Strike Me as Funny” (2006), describing this period. “Of course, there were still nine more years left in the decade.”A Quick TransitionUnlike many entertainers who achieve fame almost overnight, Mr. Newhart was able to handle the unexpected success of the “Button-Down Mind” albums. He transitioned quickly and easily into television, landing a short-lived variety show, numerous guest appearances on the shows of Dean Martin and Ed Sullivan, regular work guest-hosting for Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show” and, ultimately, “The Bob Newhart Show,” a celebrated sitcom in which he played a somewhat befuddled psychologist.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      When Is a Stand-Up Special Like ‘The Wire’? When Ali Siddiq Is Onstage

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      The comedian’s YouTube epic, “The Domino Effect,” is nervy humor, with both punches and punchlines that reflect his years in prison. In “The Domino Effect,” a genre-defying autobiographical epic on YouTube, the comic Ali Siddiq begins one part by casually asking the audience a question: “Has anyone here been duct-taped and thrown in a trunk?”Then he goes back in time to explain how he got there. This feels like the start of a prestige crime drama, and his riveting project, spanning more than six hours and four chapters and completed last month, resembles a solo version of “The Wire” more than any stand-up special. With cheerful charisma, Siddiq, 50, describes entering the drug trade as a boy, being shuttled through the justice system and spending six years behind bars. In between comic scenes and farcical act-outs, there are gun battles, a prison riot, drug deals gone wrong.Great personal storytelling relies on pacing and structure, but there’s also something to be said for living an interesting life. Siddiq has, yet he also never loses sight of the goal of getting laughs, even when he’s trapped in the trunk of his own car — where his first thought is anger at himself for sloppily putting the tire in there. This is nervy humor, violence always looming. In stand-up, you wait for the punchline. Here, it’s the punch.After many years of telling jokes, Siddiq, who lives in Houston, broke through with “The Domino Effect.” It’s the kind of eccentric, messy project that could be made only in our age of self-produced specials. In a crowded field of them, it stood out, with Part 1 racking up 13 million views. At the Beacon Theater in New York this year, the sold-out crowd stood and roared when he strolled onstage and sat down as relaxed as a suburban dad ready to settle in front of the television after a long week. This studied ordinary-guy casualness has become a trademark. He always begins shows with an offhand “Hey.” Describing the criminal world in white-collar workplace jargon is part of his humor. Siddiq doesn’t like to say he went to prison because he was a drug dealer. He prefers the term “street pharmaceutical rep.”Using corporate jargon is one way Siddiq makes comedy out of his subject matter. He deflates the romance of crime and makes it relatable. At one point, he laments: “There’s no H.R. for crack dealing”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      What to Expect From Wednesday’s Emmy Nominations

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      The top nominees are announced at 11:30 a.m. ET. “Shogun” and “The Bear” are poised to have a big day.Just six months after a strike-delayed ceremony, the Emmys are back.Nominations for television’s most prestigious award show will be unveiled on Wednesday morning. “Shogun,” the lush period drama, and “The Bear,” the anxiety-inducing comedy, are poised to have a big day. Netflix’s “Baby Reindeer” is expected to stand out among limited series.There is a considerable cloud hanging over Emmy nomination day this year. Last year’s double strikes, along with several years of cost cutting, have put the industry in the throes of a contraction. The Peak TV era is now firmly in the rearview mirror. To wit, the number of shows submitted for Emmy consideration this year plummeted.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Judy Belushi Pisano, Who Defended Her Husband’s Legacy, Dies at 73

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      She was married to John Belushi until his fatal drug overdose in 1982. She went on to celebrate his comic talent in books and a documentary.Judy Belushi Pisano, who after the death of her husband, the actor and comedian John Belushi, from a drug overdose in 1982 became a fierce defender of his legacy, died on July 5 at her home on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, in Massachusetts. She was 73.Her son, Luke Pisano, said the cause was endometrial cancer.Mr. Belushi, a member of the original cast of “Saturday Night Live” and a star of hit films like “National Lampoon’s Animal House” and “The Blues Brothers,” was among the best-known comic actors in the world when he was found dead in a Hollywood hotel.Though it took weeks to determine the cause — from a mix of heroin and cocaine — the public immediately seized on Mr. Belushi’s death as a cautionary tale of excess in an era defined by it.His reputation as a hard-partying drug addict was further underlined by Bob Woodward of The Washington Post in his book “Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi” (1984), which Ms. Pisano had initially authorized but later came to regret.“The book is both unfair and inaccurate,” she told The Philadelphia Daily News in 1984. “To me the biggest lie is that it claims to be a portrait of John but it’s not. It’s only about drugs.”Ms. Pisano at the 2004 ceremony posthumously honoring John Belushi with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Vince Bucci/Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Sorry/Not Sorry’ Review: Does Louis C.K. Get the Last Laugh?

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      Cara Mones and Caroline Suh’s earnest and frustrating documentary, produced by The New York Times, has a bitter punchline.In the fall of 2017, The New York Times published sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein and Louis C.K., one month apart. Both men were powerhouse producers whose misdeeds were an open secret within the entertainment world, and both articles have been given their own film: Maria Schrader’s “She Said,” a chronicle of shoe-leather journalism, and now Cara Mones and Caroline Suh’s “Sorry/Not Sorry” (produced by The New York Times), an earnest and frustrating documentary whose murky irreconcilabilities are tethered to the fact that Louis C.K. was convicted only in the court of public opinion.While the interview subjects agree on Louis C.K.’s guilt (he released a statement in 2017 admitting to sexual misconduct), the dramatic conflict arises in his penalty. After his status as a revered truth teller was revoked and his show “Louie” was pulled from streaming, Louis C.K has since rebranded as a renegade (and won a Grammy). Depending on the talking head, his moderate marginalization is either excessive punishment or an unearned pardon.The film pokes at this ethical morass from a few angles, most confidently when speaking with the comedians who risked their own careers breaking the industry’s silence (or obliviousness, as some performers here claim).These talented women — Jen Kirkman, Abby Schachner and Megan Koester — tell their stories with charm and humor over a mischievous, overkill score that would be better suited to an outright comedy about a dowager poisoning her rival’s plum tart. The three are far more insightful, hilarious and honest about sexual politics than the Louis C.K. of today, who continues to dole out defensive shtick to his die-hards. But the film’s bitter punchline is that he’s the one still selling out Madison Square Garden.Sorry/Not SorryNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. In theaters. More