Bob Newhart

Peter Sellers was brilliant when he did something similar in Dr. Strangelove. By then, Newhart's phone bits were already well-known and massively popular, so one wonders if it came to mind when they wrote that scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO7O7meqZlo

FWIW, a cursory search shows that Newhart's a big fan of the film, especially due to Sellers's performance (paywall prevents me from seeing whether he mentions the aforementioned scene).

Never thought of that before (or did I?) but it makes sense.