Jimmy Kimmel honors late Bob Newhart at Emmys: 'One of our most loved and funniest people'

Jimmy Kimmel paid tribute to the late comedian Bob Newhart, his friend and frequent guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live over the years, during the 2024 Emmys ceremony Sunday night.

Kimmel arrived on stage after the Emmys' "In Memoriam" tribute to declare Newhart "one of our most loved and funniest people for 60 years," and someone to be missed "for many years to come."

Of course, the late-night host began with a joke: "And the Emmy for deceased industry professional we will miss most goes to…"

Kimmel continued the gags by saying that everyone who knew Newhart also knew he was exactly how he presented himself. "He did not have range," Kimmel quipped. "He didn't need to have range. Bob had what very few comedians have, especially today: a degree in accounting."

Kimmel also pointed out how Newhart didn't win an Emmy himself until 2013, 51 years after he was first nominated for The Bob Newhart Show. "Which is a great lesson," Kimmel said, "and that lesson is: Jon Stewart, you should be ashamed of yourself. You said you were retiring." (Earlier in the evening, Stewart beat out Kimmel and others for Outstanding Talk Series.)

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Newhart notably appeared on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2014, when Kimmel turned to his guest and said he owed him "a debt of gratitude" for saving his life.

In one famous scene from The Bob Newhart Show, which ran for six seasons starting in 1972, the comic's Robert Hartley character asks a man to step outside for a fight and then immediately closes the door on the guy in a classic comedy bit that has since been replicated countless times.

"I found myself in a situation where I was about to get in a fight with a guy in high school," Kimmel told Newhart at the time. "He would most certainly have killed me and I asked him to step outside and he was very angry and he stepped outside and I closed the door and I locked it right behind him."

It was this particular clip that Kimmel recirculated on social media when Newhart died at 94 in July, after a series of short illnesses. Kimmel wrote simply as a tribute, "Love you, Bob."

With another notable late-night moment, Newhart appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live as part of an "alternate ending" for a Lost bit. Kimmel later returned the favor to Newhart by being a guest on his Audible series Hi, Bob! for a chat about a career in comedy.

Kimmel previously hosted the Emmys ceremony three times, though Sunday saw Schitt's Creek stars and father-son duo Eugene and Dan Levy with the gig. Jimmy Kimmel Live has received 23 Emmy nominations over the years and won three times.