Abbott set up Costello, and Burns relied on Gracie to finish the joke, but Bob Newhart is the rare straight man who gets laughs all on his own. More than a half-century ago, Mr. Newhart became famous through stand-up routines that were one-sided telephone conversations in which his comic partner was neither seen nor heard. In a taped monologue, he made himself out to be a doddering old man who couldn’t get his video camera to work. Mr. Newhart has always been a gentle minimalist, which may be why he does not get anywhere near the critical respect of fellow founding fathers of modern stand-up, like Bill Cosby or Lenny Bruce. In his many television shows, including the jewel of his career, “The Bob Newhart Show,” his characters are a parody of reticent stoicism, using pauses and the unsaid to let the audience come to him and fill in the joke.

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Persons: Abbott, Costello, Burns, Gracie, Bob Newhart, Newhart, Don Rickles, couldn’t, Bill Cosby, Lenny Bruce, “, ” Organizations: Apollo