We regret to inform any living rock legends that comedy icon Bob Newhart died peacefully in his Los Angeles home at the age of 94. Ten weeks ago.

Starting in the early 1960s, the Chicago-based stand-up Newhart worked his way up the ladder of TV comedy, launching his NBC variety show called The Bob Newhart Show in 1961 before beginning a sitcom by the same name in 1972. The second The Bob Newhart Show would carry Newhart’s career nearly through the end of the 1970s, then the comic and actor came back in 1982 with another sitcom, simply titled Newhart, which maintained his comforting, sarcastic, deadpan presence on TV for another eight years before it ended with the most iconic crossover episode in comedy history.

While Newhart was busy establishing himself as one of the most prolific and influential comedians of the second half of the 20th century, another Robert was doing something...