Before actor/director Ben Stiller presented the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series to Tony Shalhoub of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” on Sunday night, he offered an ode to TV comedy greats, represented by life-sized wax figures of Lucille Ball, George Burns — and Bob Newhart.
As Stiller speculated about what the star of “The Bob Newhart Show” would think of comedy today, Newhart, who just turned 90, suddenly broke his frozen pose and piped up in his best deadpan delivery: “Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben. I’m still alive.”
“You put me with George and Lucy and it’s weird,” Newhart said. “Like I was in some weird museum of comedy.”
Stiller tried to shrug off the dead thing.
“It’s more like legends of comedy,” he insisted. “Alive, dead … all different types of comedy!”
But Newhart wasn’t buying it.
“This legend is going to kick your ass. That way you’ll know I’m alive,” he said.
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