Bob Newhart declares 93 as ‘the new 39,’ channeling his trademark brevity the day after his birthday

Bob Newhart, arguably the king of comedy, is still at it.

The day after his 93rd birthday, the veteran actor and funnyman known for his deadpan, stammering delivery quipped about being a nonagenarian.

“Thank you to everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes!” he tweeted with his trademark low-key brevity. “93 is the new 39!”

Replies poured in from people grateful for decades of laughs, from others who share his birthday or were hitting their own milestones, and from still others who reminisced about meeting him in various contexts over the years.

Newhart shares the birthday, Sept. 5, with a slew of luminaries, including fellow nonagenarian Carol Lawrence, the actor-singer.

Born outside Chicago in Oak Park, Ill., in 1929, Newhart fell into comedy by accident after being plucked from his accounting job by Warner Bros. Records, according to People.

Executives there had heard some recordings he’d done over the phone with a buddy. Before that he had earned a bachelor’s degree in business management before being drafted into the U.S. Army and serving as a personnel manager during the Korean War.

Newhart has said that at first, he didn’t know what he was doing when it came to stand-up. But winging it helped launch a career spanning more than 60 years.

“I get this question a lot: ‘Why do you still do comedy?’ " he told People. “Why would you ever get tired of making people laugh? You never want to give up that sound, that great sound that you fell in love with 60 years ago.”