Margaret Hoover

Margaret Hoover turns up in Bob Hartley's Chicago as one of the faces passing through his practice or his circle of friends, the kind of guest presence the show liked to slot in for a episode's worth of neurosis or small-talk comedy. She arrives with a problem or an opinion and expects Bob's patient, deadpan attention.

Patricia Smith brings a briskness that plays nicely against Bob Newhart's famous slow-burn stillness, letting a single appearance land jokes through contrast rather than volume. The character works because the show trusted small, precisely observed guest turns to carry a whole episode's comic engine.