Bob Newhart is one of my favorite comedians. I watched him on both Newhart shows as a psychologist and as inn owner. This audiobook, narrated by Bob himself, allowed him to stammer as part of the comedy elements. I don’t know how the book reads but it’s probably hard to stammer in the book. From the book, I got to know how he grew up as the only boy in the relatively poor family in Chicago. He chose the accounting professional out of college, thus the title “I shouldn’t even be doing this.” Amazing. Sometimes the best thing that could happen to a person is to lose his job. Doing standby comedy isn’t easy. And based on his description was difficult to a pro like him as well. I guess he stammered through them and gained popularity through his albums, Button Down Mind. At one time, he was selling more albums than Frank Sinatra as he quipped.

I particularly like his “routines”: driving instructor, submarine commander, Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, and others. The last finale episode of Newhart show of the wake-up-from-dream scenes with Emily in bed was genius and was suggested by his real wife, Gini.

Overall, it was a good audiobook, though at times it was a little to listen to his stammer too long. I wonder he speaks like that all the time or just for the comedy effect.

More details about Bob Newhart click here. His official site is here.