The quintessential phlegmatic temperament is a devout Catholic according to this nice little profile. We have a recording of his famous "telephone coversations" (in which he plays, variously, a PR guy on the phone with Pres. Lincoln, Sir Walter Raleigh's agent, etc). Those routines must be what? 40,50 years old at this point? But they don't even seem dated.
In the old Biography special, Newhart is seen at once updating his act while at the same time refusing to update it. “Oh...I hear a little murmur,” he interrupts himself at the beginning of his vintage monologue “The Driving Instructor.” “Why does it have to be a woman driver? That’s sexist!”“OK,” Newhart continues amiably, “let’s make it a Chinese driver.” Then he begins the monologue in pretend Chinese before informing the audience: “Now I can do the next eight minutes of this in Chinese, or we can go back to the woman driver.”
