When 'The Bob Newhart Show' played in Peoria — at least in TV land
Illinois native Bob Newhart will forever be tied to Chicago, the setting of the beloved sitcom "The Bob Newhart Show," about a Windy City psychologist. But the acclaimed comedian and actor also has enduring links to Peoria.
Newhart died Thursday at age 94.
More: Bob Newhart, sitcom star and deadpan comedy legend, dies at 94
In a Season 2 episode of "The Bob Newhart Show" titled "Motel," Bob and his orthodontist friend, Jerry, drive to Peoria to watch a blacked-out Bears-Packers game. In a brief scene, the two motor along a decidedly un-Illinois-looking country lane and into downtown "Peoria." In their hotel room, Jerry jokes about the fifth-floor view of factories and supposedly local TV ads for farm equipment.
The two meet a pair of women — a Peoria native and a visiting friend — in the hotel bar.
The next morning, a late-sleeping Bob asks Jerry how late they'd been out. "It was early, Bob. You were dancing till 3." Bob doesn't remember.
The women drop by to watch the football game. The TV malfunctions; Jerry and one of the women go to her room to see if her TV is working.
Bob is propositioned by the other woman — the Peoria native — who turns out to be a sex worker. Bob, of course, politely declines.
Back in Chicago, Bob uncomfortably asks his wife, Emily, to never bring up the weekend in Peoria. As the episode ends, a now-suspicious Emily says, "Bob ... What happened in Peoria?"
The entire episode can be seen free online at Daily Motion.
Bob Newhart's connection to Peoria's own Richard Pryor
In another Peoria connection, Newhart highlighted among all his honors the 2002 Mark Twain Prize for humor, as the first person to win the award was Richard Pryor, a fellow Illinoisan and a native Peorian.
According to the Washington Post, an ailing Pryor had earlier told Newhart he had stolen a copy of the latter's comedy album “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart.”
The Washington Post obituary reported that Newhart had originally thought Pryor had stolen part of a comic routine. "No, Pryor said: 'I stole your record — from a record store in Peoria, Illinois.'"
Newhart was unfazed.
“Richard, I used to get a quarter an album” in royalties, the Post reported. Newhart “turned and said, ‘Somebody, give me a quarter!’”
Pryor handed Newhart the quarter, as if repaying a debt, the Post reported.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: "The Bob Newhart Show" visited Peoria, Illinois in 1973 episode of TV
