 When I say whoa, I mean whoa! George Robert Newhart took a job in 1954 as an accountant. He wasn't good at it and didn't like doing it, so he changed careers, became a copywriter for an advertising department at a film and television company in Chicago. There, George Robert began recording silly phone calls, and he would make those up and send the recordings to radio stations. One disc jockey liked what he heard and introduced him to some executives at Warner Brothers.