Newman also served as NBC Newsbreak anchor during the summer of 1980 on David Letterman's short-lived morning show, and often participated in the show's non-news segments. For some years prior to that show, Newman anchored five-minute newscasts at various timeslots on NBC's daytime schedule in the 1960s and 1970s; these were later reduced to one-minute brief updates after 1976. In 1976, Newman was the moderator of the first presidential debate between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, the first such debate in 16 years.
Newman appeared in a dream sequence on The Golden Girls in an episode where Rose (Betty White) dreamt she was going to Russia. He also played a TV reporter in the movie The Pelican Brief, based on the novel of the same name by John Grisham.
He appeared in the movies Stripes, Spies Like Us, and My Fellow Americans as himself.
Newman guest-hosted Saturday Night Live in 1984, and anchored the show's Weekend Update segment on three occasions. His 1984 appearance marked his retirement as a newscaster for NBC and, to the delight of the audience, he sang the song Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone as part of his opening monologue.
Newman is the author of the book Your Public Best published by Newmarket Press. He also wrote Strictly Speaking and A Civil Tongue, well-regarded and best-selling studies of language and its abuses, and a novel, Sunday Punch.
