AP: Newhart hilariously sane, even in bio

Newhart is one of my faves, and this book should be in my hands soon: "Bob Newhart has some lessons for us about comedy.

Comedians are sadistic, he writes in his new book. Also self-absorbed, perverse, thin-skinned and prone to exhibit multiple personalities.

Newhart doesn't bother to excuse himself from these blanket pronouncements. But anyone who reads his charming memoir, 'I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This (and Other Things That Strike Me as Funny)' (Hyperion, $23.95), will come away only more sure of what they already knew: After nearly a half-century making us laugh, Newhart remains what set him apart from other comedians in the first place . . . an ordinary man befuddled by the world around him. A guy like us. Just much shrewder and funnier."