Bob and Ray

Ray Goulding and Bob Elliott

Bob Elliott (born 1923) and Ray Goulding (1922–1990) were an American comedy team whose career spanned five decades. Their format was typically to satirize the medium in which they were performing, such as conducting radio or television interviews, with off-the-wall dialogue presented in a generally deadpan style as though it were a serious interview.

Bob and Ray began on Boston radio in 1946 with a daily 15-minute show titled Matinee With Bob and Ray. They continued on the air for over four decades on NBC, CBS, Mutual, New York City local stations (WINS, WOR, WHN) and NPR, ending in 1987. They were regulars on NBC's Monitor, often on stand-by to go on the air at short notice if the program's planned segments developed problems.

Some of their radio episodes were released on recordings, and others were adapted into graphic story form for publication in Mad magazine. Their earlier shows were mostly ad-libbed, but later programs relied more heavily on scripts. While Bob and Ray wrote much of their material, their writers included Tom Koch, who wrote many of their best-known routines, and Raymond Knight, an early radio pioneer. Bob Elliott later married Knight's widow.

Elliott and Goulding lent their voices to a variety of recurring characters and countless one-shots. Those played by Elliott included Wally Ballou, an inept news reporter whose opening transmission was invariably cut off ("–lly Ballou here"); obnoxious sportscaster Biff Burns ("This is Biff Burns saying this is Biff Burns saying goodnight"); Tex Blaisdell, a cowboy singer who also did rope tricks on the radio; Arthur Sturdley, an Arthur Godfrey take-off; and many more.

Goulding played book reviewer Webley Webster and farm editor Dean Archer Armstead with the same low, slurring delivery; Charles the Poet, who recited soppy verse; serial characters such as Matt Neffer, Boy Spot-Welder; and all female roles. Goulding generally used the same flat voice for all of his women characters—perhaps the most memorable of these was Mary McGoon, home economics adviser, who offered bizarre recipes for such items as "ginger ale salad" and "mock turkey". In 1949, Goulding, as Mary, recorded "I Want To Be a Cow in Switzerland"', which soon became a novelty hit and is still occasionally played by the likes of Dr. Demento. On radio, Goulding also played the females in the various soap opera spoofs, but for the television series, first Audrey Meadows and then Cloris Leachman appeared on camera in these roles (usually either Mary Backstayge or Linda Lovely).

Spoofs of other radio programs were another staple, including the continuing soap operas "Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife" and "One Fella's Family", which spoofed Mary Noble, Backstage Wife and One Man's Family respectively. In the case of "Mary Backstayge", the Bob and Ray spoof ran longer and arguably became better known than the show it was originally spoofing.

Other continuing pariodies/spoofs (not always of specific programs)included children's shows "Mr. Science" and "Matt Neffer, Boy Spot-Welding King of the World"; adventure serials "Elmer W. Litzinger, Spy" and "Lawrence Fechtenberger, Interstellar Officer Candidate"; and game shows like "The 64-Cent Question". There were also spoof advertisements for such fictitious sponsors as the Monongahela Metal Foundry ("Casting steel ingots with the housewife in mind"), Einbinder Flypaper ("The brand you've gradually grown to trust over the course of three generations"), and The Croftweiler Industrial Cartel ("Makers of all sorts of stuff, made out of everything"); and such enduring routines as the Komodo dragon expert and the spokesman for the Slow Talkers of America.

The pair had a 15-minute television show that ran from November 26, 1951 through September 28, 1953 on NBC. That series was a full half-hour for the summer of 1952 only. The duo did more television in the latter part of their career, beginning with key roles of Bud Williams, Jr. (Elliott) and Walter Gesunheit (Goulding) in Kurt Vonnegut's Hugo-nominated Between Time and Timbuktu: A Space Fantasy (1972), adapted from several Vonnegut novels and stories. Fred Barzyk directed this WGBH/PBS production, a science fiction comedy about an astronaut-poet's journey through the Chrono-Synclasic Infundibulum.

In 1973, Bob and Ray created a historic television program that was broadcast on two channels: one half of the studio was broadcast on the New York PBS affiliate WNET, and the other half of the studio was broadcast on independent station WNEW. Four sketches were performed, including a tug of war that served as an allegory about nuclear war. The two parts of the program are available for viewing at the Museum of Television & Radio.

They returned to national TV for a one-shot 1979 NBC special with members of the original Saturday Night Live cast was followed by a series of specials for PBS in the early 1980s.

Bob and Ray starred in a two-man Broadway show The Two and Only in 1970; appeared at Carnegie Hall in A Night of Two Stars in 1984, made numerous appearances on the Johnny Carson and David Letterman television shows; did extensive work in radio and television commercials; authored several books and enjoyed supporting roles in the films Cold Turkey (1971) and Author! Author! (1982).

Bob and Ray also gained fame as the voices of Bert and Harry Piel, two animated characters from a very successful ad campaign for Piel's Beer. Based on the success of that ad campaign, they launched a successful advertising voice-over company, Greybar Enterprises.

Their 1979 NBC special Bob & Ray & Jane & Laraine & Gilda included a skit that captured their unique approach to humor well: They sat in chairs, in business suits, facing the audience, pretty much motionless, and sang a duet of Rod Stewart's major hit "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"

Goulding died on March 24, 1990. Elliott continued to perform, most notably with his son (actor/comedian Chris Elliott) on the TV sitcom Get a Life, and on radio for the first season of Garrison Keillor's American Radio Company of the Air.

Bob and Ray were inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1995. Many of their shows are available for listening at the Museum of Television & Radio in New York and Los Angeles. The MT&R has so many of their shows that many remained uncatalogued for years.

Sources

Dunning, John. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0195076788

External links

• Larry Josephson's Official Bob and Ray Website
• Radio Hall of Fame - Bob & Ray