LOS ANGELES — Bob Newhart didn’t invent stand-up comedy, but more than any performer he can lay claim to giving birth to the modern industry of the comedy special.

His still-funny 1960 album, “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart,” was arguably the first blockbuster special, selling more than one million copies, hitting No. 1 on the charts and winning the Grammy for best album, beating out Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. Since that breakout debut, he has starred in sitcoms and movies, hosted talk shows and even gave the eulogy for Krusty the Clown on “The Simpsons.”

But Newhart still identifies as a stand-up comic, and he returned to the stage this year for multiple dates west of the Mississippi. He turns 90 this week and Newhart, sitting on a couch at his home in Los Angeles, seemed physically slighter but still deployed his distinctive stammer with precision as he looked back at his six decades in comedy and forward to what lies ahead. Here are edited excerpts from our conversation:

What brings you back to stand-up?

What I’ve learned is: I love the danger. This thing I thought I hated all my life, that’s why I was doing it. If the show is at 8, and it’s 6, what will I be doing? Pacing. After 60 years, still pacing. I like that feeling.

Do you feel 90 years old?

My mind doesn’t. I can’t turn it off. The other day, there was a story about a pilot getting arrested for being drunk in the cockpit. I immediately thought: What if he had made it past security, wound up flying the plane and said to the passengers [in a slurred voice]: “Welcome to Delta. Welcome to a flight from Los Angeles to, um, to, um, I have it written down here somewhere, it’s the mountains and then there’s some more mountains and then we’re on the other side of that.”