History Radio / BobAndRay

Their last broadcast series on Creator/{{NPR}} was only cut short in 1987, when Ray was forced to retire due to illness. He died in 1990 of kidney failure. Bob continued to perform by himself and occasionally with his son, comic actor and writer Chris Elliott (most notably in ''Series/GetALife'' and ''Film/CabinBoy'', where Bob and Chris played [[RealLifeRelative father and son]]). Chris' daughter, Creator/AbbyElliott, is a former cast member on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', making for the only tri-generational comedy family ever to appear on ''SNL'' (Bob was a guest star on a 1978 Christmas special, Chris was a cast member during the show's [[SeasonalRot much-maligned 20th season]], and Abby was in the cast from 2008-12 [[note]]first getting hired when Creator/AmyPoehler was on maternity leave, along with short-lived cast member Michaela Watkins. Watkins was let go, but Elliott stayed[[/note]]). Bob died of throat cancer in 2016.

The pair also served as hosts/moderators of the ABC game show ''[[Series/TheNamesTheSame The Name's the Same]]'' in 1955, parodied several news reporters in the 1971 film ''Film/ColdTurkey'', and appeared as the financiers of a play written by Creator/AlPacino's character in the 1982 film ''Author! Author!''. In 1979 they starred in their own late night NBC special along with ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' cast members Creator/JaneCurtin, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner and musician Music/WillieNelson.

* CatchPhrase: Inept reporter Wally Ballou's sign-on, "-ly Ballou here!" and the duo's [[SigningOffCatchPhrase closing signature]], "This is Ray Goulding reminding you to write if you get work/And Bob Elliott reminding you to hang by your thumbs." Also possibly their habit of referring to their fictional staff as 'our Bob & Ray Organization', which by the end of their forty-year career in media parody ran to an empire Creator/RupertMurdoch might envy.

* ShowWithinAShow: The numerous parody serials. Bob and Ray went so far as to invent fictional writers, producers, announcers and cast members, all of whom would frequently argue amongst themselves in the course of an episode.

Bob Elliott (1923–2016) and Ray Goulding (1922–1990) first met in 1946, at radio station WHDH-AM in [[HollywoodNewEngland Boston]]. Bob -- the slight one with the big blue eyes -- was the morning DJ; Ray -- the burly one with the splendid baritone -- was the newly-hired announcer. After reading the news on Bob's program, Ray would stick around and the two would riff off their particular corner of the Establishment - shows, sponsors, guests and interviewers alike.

Eventually they proved so popular that they were given their own half-hour afternoon slot, ''Matinee With Bob & Ray'' (hence the billing; "if the word had been 'Matinob', it would've been 'Ray & Bob'"). Eventually ''that'' proved so popular that ''The Bob & Ray Show'' moved to New York and a national audience - including a weekly TV series, from 1951-53.

Thus they managed to stay together as a team for nearly forty years, influencing an entire generation of seminal American comics -- [[Series/TheBobNewhartShow Bob Newhart]], Creator/JonathanWinters, Creator/GeorgeCarlin, Creator/WoodyAllen, Creator/DavidLetterman, et al.; Creator/TheFiresignTheatre credit them as direct ancestors. They were also Creator/KurtVonnegut's favorite comedians; he mentions them with surprising frequency in his work. More recently, broadcaster KeithOlbermann has credited them as a major influence, especially on his "Worst Person in the World" segment.

They created spoof serials - complete with fictional producers, writers, announcers and casts - with titles like "One Fella's Family" and "Jack Headstrong, All-American American" and "Lawrence Fechtenberger, Interstellar Officer Candidate" (brought to you by 'Chocolate Cookies With White Stuff In-Between Them'). {{Soap opera}}s included "The Life and Loves of Linda Lovely" (played on TV by a very young [[TheHoneymooners Audrey Meadows]]) and "Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife" - the latter a broad sendup of the wildly popular "Mary Noble, Backstage Wife". It was on this show that they took aim at Senator Joseph [=McCarthy=] during the Army hearings, recasting him as an oily-voiced petty official and in the process becoming among the very few high-profile performers (possibly the only ones beside Walt Kelly with ''ComicStrip/{{Pogo}}'') to tackle him directly.

Meanwhile, they had also parlayed their vocal dexterity into a very successful side career as commercial producers and voice-over artists, beginning with an iconic five-year stint as Bert & Harry, the Piel Brothers, whose bickering proved far more popular than the beer they were pitching (at the campaign's peak, upcoming spots were actually listed in [=TVGuide=]). Along with friend and fellow satirist StanFreberg, Bob & Ray went on to popularise the use of product-deprecating humour in TV & radio advertising.

* SpeakingInUnison: The primary trait of the [=McBeeBee=] Twins was to always say the same thing just ''slightly'' out of sync with each other.

* SesameStreetCred: On ''Series/TheElectricCompany'', B&R voiced a couple animated versions of their [[KentBrockmanNews 'interview']] schtick.

Thus they managed to stay together as a team for nearly forty years, influencing an entire generation of seminal American comics -- [[Series/TheBobNewhartShow Bob Newhart]], Creator/JonathanWinters, Creator/GeorgeCarlin, Creator/WoodyAllen, DavidLetterman, et al.; Creator/TheFiresignTheatre credit them as direct ancestors. They were also Creator/KurtVonnegut's favorite comedians; he mentions them with surprising frequency in his work. More recently, broadcaster KeithOlbermann has credited them as a major influence, especially on his "Worst Person in the World" segment.

Their last broadcast series on Creator/{{NPR}} was only cut short in 1987, when Ray was forced to retire due to illness. He died in 1990 of kidney failure. Bob continued to perform by himself and occasionally with his son, comic actor and writer Chris Elliott (most notably in ''Series/GetALife'' and ''Film/CabinBoy'', where Bob and Chris played [[RealLifeRelative father and son]]). Chris' daughter, Creator/AbbyElliott, is a former cast member on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', making for the only living tri-generational television comedy family (and the only tri-generational comedy family ever to appear on ''SNL'': Bob was a guest star on a 1978 Christmas special, Chris was a cast member during the show's [[SeasonalRot much-maligned 20th season]], and Abby was in the cast from 2008-12 [[note]]first getting hired when Creator/AmyPoehler was on maternity leave, along with short-lived cast member Michaela Watkins. Watkins was let go, but Elliott stayed[[/note]]). Bob died of throat cancer in 2016.

* CatchPhrase: Inept reporter Wally Ballou's sign-on, "-ly Ballou here!" and the duo's [[SigningOffCatchPhrase closing signature]], "This is Ray Goulding reminding you to write if you get work/And Bob Elliott reminding you to hang by your thumbs." Also possibly their habit of referring to their fictional staff as 'our Bob & Ray Organization', which by the end of their forty-year career in media parody ran to an empire AOL TimeWarner might envy.

* TakeThatCritics: Showing an uncharacteristically pointy side, B&R reacted to ''NewYorkMagazine'' critic John Simon's negative review of their stage show by incorporating him into their skits as 'The Worst Person in the World' - a character who never spoke, just made rude noises while other characters (that is, Bob and/or Ray) commented loudly on his uncouth manners. (Broadcaster Keith Olbermann later picked up the concept, ''sans'' specific attack, and used it in his ''Series/{{Countdown|WithKeithOlbermann}}''.)

* SeverelySpecializedStore: In the recurring skit "[[Radio/BackstageWife Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife]]," the characters started a restaurant called "House of Toast," with a rather limited menu.

* CatchPhrase: Inept reporter Wally Ballou's sign-on, "-ly Ballou here!" and the duo's closing signature. "This is Ray Goulding reminding you to write if you get work/And Bob Elliott reminding you to hang by your thumbs." Also possibly their habit of referring to their fictional staff as 'our Bob & Ray Organization', which by the end of their forty-year career in media parody ran to an empire AOL TimeWarner might envy.
* ClockKing: ''[[Radio/MrKeenTracerOfLostPersons Mr. Trace, Keener than Most Persons]]'' admonished his [[Music/RudyVallee valet, Rudy]] "when I call for you, I want you now, not seven or eight seconds from now."

** Played straight when B&R wrote and performed the Piels Bros. beer commercials of the late 50's, featuring animated OddCouple siblings Bert and Harry Piel. Widely conceded to be far superior to the product itself; at the campaign's peak, upcoming spots were actually ''listed in [=TVGuide=]''.

'''Bob Elliott''' (1923–2016) and '''Ray Goulding''' (1922–1990) first met in 1946, at radio station WHDH-AM in [[HollywoodNewEngland Boston]]. Bob -- the slight one with the big blue eyes -- was the morning DJ; Ray -- the burly one with the splendid baritone -- was the newly-hired announcer. After reading the news on Bob's program, Ray would stick around and the two would riff off their particular corner of the Establishment - shows, sponsors, guests and interviewers alike.

* CriticalResearchFailure: One sketch has Bob interviewing the author of a ''History of the United States''. It turns out that the 1,100-page tome contains numerous glaring errors, including Abraham Lincoln driving to his inauguration in an automobile, the Civil War breaking out in 1911, and the nation's original capital being located in Bailey's Mistake, Maine. The author readily admits it's "a shabby piece of work", but quickly adds that it's leather-bound.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: In one early episode, Ray explains that he was off yesterday due to 'a sharp pain in my lower back', joking to the effect that since he's in radio, he didn't know if it was a cold (ie., a kidney infection) back there or a knife. In hindsight... he's evidently joking about a very early symptom of the kidney failure that would kill him years later.
* FunnyCharacterBoringActor: B&R were renowned for their ability to improvise subversive, cutting-edge comedy skits -- so much so that interviewers wrote entire articles around how underwhelmed they were to meet the same shy, very conventional men in real life. "By the time we realised we were introverts," Bob is supposed to have once claimed, "it was too late to do anything about it."

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Bob and Ray are subject to this to an extent: now that the DeadpanSnarker is ubiquitous and subversion an essential part of the American comedy landscape, it's hard to realise just how cutting-edge hip B&R were considered for popularising and refining those elements back in TheFifties. Partly because of their unassuming style and partly because, as one commentator put it, they influenced a lot of people who've become a lot more famous building on their innovations, not incidentally including Seinfeld himself.

* TalkingToHimself: Often happened with the duo, as a consequence of them playing both hosts and (often multiple) guests on their various shows, assisted by their uncanny timing and familiarity with each other. The effect is most spectacular when baritone Ray and his [[LarynxDissonance falsetto character Mary McGoon]] hold rapid-fire discussions -- often with Ray's other character Webley Webster chiming in -- with Bob and two or more of ''his'' characters.

* WeirdAlEffect: Many of the radio parodies, notably by spoofing the then-hit SoapOpera "Mary Noble, Backstage Wife" as "Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife". The former was [[RadioDrama a deadly-earnest story]] of an 'ordinary woman' married to a matinee idol; the latter... culminated, around 1970, in Mary and her family leaving showbiz altogether to open a toast-themed restaurant. The series having earlier openly mocked [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy Senator Joseph [=McCarthy=]]] at the height of the Army hearings. It is still one of B&R's best-known skits.

* AdvertisingCampaign:

The pair also served as hosts/moderators of the ABC game show ''[[Series/TheNamesTheSame The Name's the Same]]'' in 1955, parodied several news reporters in the 1971 film ''FIlm/ColdTurkey'', and appeared as the financiers of a play written by Creator/AlPacino's character in the 1982 film ''Author! Author!''. In 1979 they starred in their own late night NBC special along with ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' cast members Creator/JaneCurtin, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner and musician Music/WillieNelson.

Thus they managed to stay together as a team for nearly forty years, influencing an entire generation of seminal American comics - [[Series/TheBobNewhartShow Bob Newhart]], Creator/JonathanWinters, Creator/GeorgeCarlin, Creator/WoodyAllen, DavidLetterman, et al.; Creator/TheFiresignTheatre credit them as direct ancestors. They were also Creator/KurtVonnegut's favorite comedians; he mentions them with surprising frequency in his work. More recently, broadcaster KeithOlbermann has credited them as a major influence, especially on his "Worst Person in the World" segment.

Their last broadcast series on Creator/{{NPR}} was only cut short in 1987, when Ray was forced to retire due to illness. He died in 1990 of kidney failure. Bob continues to perform occasionally with his son, comic actor and writer Chris Elliott (most notably in ''Series/GetALife'' and ''Film/CabinBoy'', where Bob and Chris played [[RealLifeRelative father and son]]). Chris' daughter, Creator/AbbyElliott, is a former cast member on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', making for the only living tri-generational television comedy family (and the only tri-generational comedy family ever to appear on ''SNL'': Bob was a guest star on a 1978 Christmas special, Chris was a cast member during the show's [[SeasonalRot much-maligned 20th season]], and Abby was in the cast from 2008-12 [[note]]first getting hired when Creator/AmyPoehler was on maternity leave, along with short-lived cast member Michaela Watkins. Watkins was let go, but Elliott stayed[[/note]]). Bob died of throat cancer in 2016.