Posted on 06/10/2012 5:38:26 AM PDT by Zakeet
It's the end of the road for "Car Talk." After 35 years on the air, Click and Clack have run out of gas, and will stop taping new shows this fall.
Tom and Ray Magliozzi have hosted NPR's most popular show for decades, but the brothers say it's "time to stop and smell the cappuccino."
The mechanic brothers started their auto advice show in Boston in 1977, and have been dishing out car tips and jokes every Saturday morning on NPR since 1987.
"We've managed to avoid getting thrown off NPR for 25 years, giving tens of thousands of wrong answers and had a hell of a time every week talking to callers," Ray said.
The Magliozzis created a niche for themselves on the radio that didn't exist before -- combining call-in comedy and cars -- and showed that public talk radio didn't have to be stuffy. It proved to be a working formula, and "Car Talk" is now on 660 stations across the country, with some 3.3 million listeners a week.
Ray, 63, and Tom, 74, answer questions from listeners about cars, and so much more, with their signature humor and Boston accents, cementing their status as unlikely comic icons.
[Snip]
A goodbye message on their website, titled "Time to Get Even Lazier," says despite a personal mantra of "Don't be afraid of work, make work afraid of you," they've decided they can't commit to the show any longer.
"My brother has always been 'work-averse,'" Ray said. "Now, apparently even the one hour a week is killing him."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
LOL
I remember a man calling in with a Dodge Dart.
He said the temp gauge always showed hot, even though the cooling system was in order.
They said a common problem with that car. Get some electrical tape and put it over the gauge. Can’t see the gauge, no worries.
Oil change reminder sticker on the edge of the door?
You nearly took the words right out of my mouth. I was going to put it “the only show on NPR worth listening to”.
And yes, I believe that show actually could make it without NPR or taxpayer subsidies.
A parody of them was included in Pixar’s “Cars.” It was cute!
I’ll miss the behind the scene staff... statistician Marge Innovera, customer care representative Haywood Jabuzoff, meteorologist Claudio Vernight, optometric firm C.F. Eye Care, Russian chauffeur Pikov Andropov, and law firm Dewey, Cheetham and Howe!
I'm glad to see they'll still be on the air:
The show isn't completely disappearing though. The brothers will celebrate their 25th anniversary on NPR this fall, and then hand the show over to producers, who will use saved but unaired calls to continue to produce the show.
One of the few... okay, the ONLY... decent show on that commie station.
If the Republicans smite NPR, a good suggestion has been that the physical radio stations, and their licenses, be sold off for use only for local programming content, and that no station owner may affiliate, network, or own any other media, to include radio and TV, Internet and publishing. Likewise they may only advertise products and services exclusively provided in their home state, with strict limits on what any individual advertiser or conglomerate may purchase from them.
Far be it from me to accuse them of political correctness.
“Oil change reminder sticker on the edge of the door?”
My guess as well
Do you think that Melissa “the Brat” will be asked to come on one last time? Just to reminisce about the argumentative good times?
I’d guess because if they were discussing Gm and Chrysler, there were no decent American made cars to talk about...
I suppose it was written that way intentionally since people probably wouldn't have read the report otherwise.
As a child, I adored the 3 Stooges. They still make me laugh - although not as much as W.C. Fields and the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy and Abbott & Costello. It’s not really a guy thing; girls must be brought up to watch that stuff in order to develop an appreciation. Unfortunately, parents often discourage their little girls from enjoying these great performers. Then they wonder why their daughters have no sense of humor!
It is a pity that NPR doen’t have more programming like this. This is the only show that was good. The classical music programmes are dreadful as you get little music and tons of yammering about the music that you would hear if they actually stopped talking long enough to play any.
Ray asked, "would you like to sell this car?"
She doesn't like the Three Stooges or Marx Brothers either.
I didn't know my wife was married to you.
FMCDH(BITS)
Cahh Tooahk.
Tooahk >> Tawk.
You are correct, sir!
I know of one daughter who adores Harpo and Chicco and Co. It’s heartening to see her, when given a big vitamin, saying, “that’s an awfully big pill. Say, you’re an awfully big pill yourself!”
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