For decades, every city in the U.S. had at least one team of radio personalities who were basically doing Bob and Ray, often using those gents' material, sans permission. In Los Angeles from around 1961 to 1986, it was the duo of Al Lohman and Roger Barkley, traipsing from KLAC to KFWB, then to KFI, etc., dispensing their manic brand of broadcast comedy. Unlike others, they didn't rip off Bob and Ray except in form, doing silly interviews and presenting a band of recurring characters, most of whom (like famed chef Leonard Leonard) were Lohman, sounding almost exactly like Al Lohman. No matter. They were funny and silly and always worth a listen. In the photo above, Al's on the right and Roger is on the leftt.
What they weren't able to do, much to their mutual frustration, was to parlay it into anything else. They tried a few TV programs — game shows, mostly — but to no success. Briefly in the seventies, they did a talk show for the KNBC in L.A. that was one of the funniest, cleverest things I've ever seen on television. It won acclaim and awards and a fast, loyal following but when a syndication deal fell through, the show went away, and Lohman and Barkley shuffled back to drive time radio.
In 1985 or '86, they had a bitter break-up that actually occurred during a broadcast. They went to commercial, Barkley told his longtime partner it was over and walked out. When the commercial ended, Al Lohman was doing a single, and he and Barkley reportedly never spoke again. Both tried it with other partners (Lohman with Bob Hudson, then Gary Owens; Barkley with Ken Minyard) but nothing clicked and both Al and Roger floated separately into smaller, outlying markets. Barkley passed away in 1997 and Lohman died last Sunday evening after a bout with stomach cancer. A lot of Angelenos who owned radios during the sixties and seventies will be very unhappy to hear this. I know I am.