鮑伯紐哈特是我的榜樣。他的喜劇是一種祝福

我還差六個月就滿 80 歲了，兩週後我將從佛蒙特州前往田納西州查塔努加，出演 75 分鐘的單口喜劇。為什麼我還在路上？

Bob Newhart performing his stand-up act, selling his look on The Ed Sullivan Present. Picture by Hulton Archive/Getty Photographs

鮑勃紐哈特 (Bob Newhart) 表演單口喜劇，在《艾德沙利文秀》(The Ed Sullivan Present) 中推銷自己的造型。圖片來源：Hulton Archive／Getty Photography

By Rabbi Bob Alper July 19, 2024

作者：拉比鮑伯阿爾珀 2024 年 7 月 19 日

I’m six months shy of 80 and in two weeks I’ll head from Vermont to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to do 75 minutes of stand-up comedy. Why am I nonetheless on the market? As Bob Newhart, who died this week at 94, defined, it was price it to him to take his footwear off at airport safety to have the ability to have the chance to make folks giggle.

我還差六個月就滿 80 歲了，兩週後我將從佛蒙特州前往田納西州查塔努加，出演 75 分鐘的單口喜劇。為什麼我還在市場上？正如本週去世、享年 94 歲的鮑勃紐哈特 (Bob Newhart) 所定義的那樣，為了有機會讓人們咯咯笑，他在機場安全處脫掉鞋子是值得的。

Me too.

我也是。

It’s superb to suppose that Bob Newhart has been my most essential function mannequin since 1960. That’s when his enduringly humorous comedy album The Button-Down Thoughts of Bob Newhart made its debut. A highschool junior, I memorized the routines, and once I attended Jewish youth conclaves, I nervously took the stage on expertise night time and carried out them word-for-word. Individuals laughed. I grew assured. And the women — the women — actually paid consideration. Comedy, I noticed, was good.

自1960 年以來，鮑勃紐哈特(Bob Newhart) 一直是我最重要的角色典範，這真是太棒了。 ) 的扣扣下的想法》首次亮相。高中三年級時，我記住了這些慣例，當我參加猶太青年秘密會議時，我緊張地登上了專業晚會的舞台，並逐字逐句地執行了它們。個人都笑了。我放心了。而女性——女性——其實也給予了考慮。我注意到，喜劇很好。

It by no means occurred to me that I may ever grow to be knowledgeable comic. I pursued a logical non secular and vocational aim, grew to become a rabbi, served giant congregations after which, on a whim, entered Philadelphia’s “Jewish Comedian of the 12 months Contest” in 1986, coming in third behind a chiropractor and a lawyer. It launched my stunning second profession that I am keen on.

我從來沒有想過我會成為一名知識淵博的喜劇演員。我追求合乎邏輯的非世俗和職業目標，後來成為一名拉比，為大型會眾服務，之後一時興起，參加了1986 年費城的“12 個月猶太喜劇演員大賽”，獲得第三名，僅次於於脊椎按摩師和律師。它開啟了我熱衷的令人驚嘆的第二職業。

In practically each interview folks ask about my comedy journey, and practically at all times inquire about my comic inspirations. I appear like Steve Martin, and Jackie Mason was a rabbi, however, I at all times clarify, it was Bob Newhart whom I admired greater than all of the others — and never simply trigger we’re each named Bob.

幾乎在每次採訪中，人們都會詢問我的喜劇之旅，並且幾乎總是詢問我的喜劇靈感。我看起來像史蒂夫馬丁，而傑基梅森是一位拉比，但是，我總是澄清，我比其他人更欽佩的是鮑勃紐哈特——而且永遠不會簡單地觸發我們每個人都叫鮑伯。

Newhart, who began out as an accountant, was by all experiences a mensch. He led an admirable private life: a 60-year marriage as a loving husband and devoted father and grandfather. No drama. No scandals. A quiet, unassuming man regardless of the tempting glamour that characterised his Hollywood world.

紐哈特原本是一名會計師，從各方面來看，他都是一個正人君子。他的私生活令人欽佩：作為一位慈愛的丈夫、慈愛的父親和祖父，婚姻生活長達 60 年。沒有戲劇。沒有醜聞。他是一個安靜、謙遜的男人，儘管他的好萊塢世界充滿了誘人的魅力。

And his comedy was distinctive, significantly his monologues with a phone. Low-key but amazingly intelligent. By no means offended, by no means hurtful, by no means insulting (this regardless of his greatest buddy being Don Rickles). Newhart’s work, together with his namesake sitcoms, was simply guffaw-inducing humor that’s as good right this moment because it was within the Sixties. In reality, once I noticed him carry out years in the past, he did some new materials, but it surely was his sharing routines from his decades-old albums, which I knew by coronary heart, that had me laughing probably the most.

他的喜劇很獨特，尤其是他用手機進行的獨白。低調但聰明得驚人。絕不冒犯，絕不傷害，絕不侮辱（不管他最好的朋友是唐·里克斯）。紐哈特的作品，以及他的同名情境喜劇，都是令人捧腹大笑的幽默，在此時此刻同樣精彩，因為它發生在六十年代。事實上，當我注意到他幾年前的表演時，他做了一些新的材料，但我深知，最讓我笑的肯定是他分享他幾十年前的專輯中的套路。

Maybe surprisingly, of all the various comedians I’ve watched all through the years, it was Bob Newhart, a practising Roman Catholic, who served as my private mannequin. Newhart’s stage presence was low-key, mild, and his slight stammer made him appear even considerably weak. I believe it was his grounding in his religion that impressed his always-respectful and sure, candy, model of comedy.

也許令人驚訝的是，在我多年來看過的所有喜劇演員中，鮑勃紐哈特（Bob Newhart）是一位虔誠的羅馬天主教徒，他充當了我的私人模特兒。紐哈特的舞台表現低調、溫和，輕微的結巴讓他顯得更加虛弱。我相信，正是他對宗教的根深蒂固給他留下了深刻的印象，他總是充滿尊重、自信、可愛，是喜劇的典範。

About 10 years in the past I carried out at The Chautauqua Establishment and realized that Newhart can be showing the next week. I shared my admiration with my contact there, and two weeks later a signed headshot appeared in my mailbox. It’s a valuable possession, exemplifying his kindness and comedic brilliance in simply four intelligent phrases. He wrote, “To Rabbi Bob Newhart.” How’s that for financial system?

大約十年前，我在肖托誇公司進行演出，並意識到紐哈特可以在下週展出。我向那裡的聯絡人表達了我的欽佩之情，兩週後，一張簽名的頭像出現在我的郵箱中。這是一筆寶貴的財產，僅用四個聰明的短語就體現了他的善良和喜劇才華。他寫道：“致拉比鮑勃·紐哈特。”金融體系怎麼樣？

“Might his reminiscence be a blessing,” we are saying. Every time I hear the phrases, “The Grace L. Ferguson Airline and Storm Door Firm” from one among Newhart’s routines, I chuckle.

「也許他的回憶是一種祝福，」我們說。每當我在紐哈特的例行公事中聽到“格雷斯·L·弗格森航空公司和風暴門公司”這句話時，我都會笑起來。

And it’s at that second that Bob Newhart’s reminiscence is certainly a blessing.

正是在那一刻，鮑伯紐哈特的回憶無疑是一種祝福。

Rabbi Bob Alper is a stand-up comedian who performs internationally. He’s additionally the creator of two inspirational books. Bob and his spouse Sherri reside in Vermont, however they don’t run an inn.

鮑勃·阿爾珀拉比 (Rabbi Bob Alper) 是一位在國際舞台上表演的單口喜劇演員。他也是兩本勵志書籍的作者。鮑伯和他的妻子雪莉住在佛蒙特州，但他們不經營旅館。

We’re constructing on 127 years of impartial journalism that will help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish right this moment.

我們以 127 年的公正新聞為基礎，幫助您更深入地了解此時此刻身為猶太人的意義。

With a lot at stake for the Jewish folks proper now — conflict, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend upon the Ahead’s perspective, integrity and braveness.

目前，猶太人民面臨許多利害關係——衝突、反猶太主義抬頭、高風險的美國總統選舉——美國猶太人依賴《Ahead》的觀點、正直和勇氣。

—  Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief 

— 喬迪·魯多倫，主編

Be a part of our mission to inform the Jewish story absolutely and pretty.

成為我們使命的一部分，完整而美麗地講述猶太故事。