The man at left in the above photo is Ray Goulding, who passed away in 1990. The man at right is Bob Elliott, who died yesterday at the age of 92. Collectively, they were Bob and Ray, two of the funniest men ever heard on radio…or anywhere, for that matter.
They were two radio broadcasters who teamed up in 1945 — or 1946 according to some accounts — and quickly became highly successful and, until Ray's passing, inseparable. They also became highly imitatable. Before long, every city in America that had a radio station capable of reaching beyond a five-mile radius had at least one set of on-air personalities doing or at least trying to do what Bob and Ray did.
Often, they tried to do exactly what Bob and Ray did. Back in the sixties, I ordered a couple of reel-to-reel tapes of Bob and Ray radio shows from a guy who was selling them in the comic book marketplace. We corresponded briefly and he told me he was thinking he shouldn't be selling these programs. He'd realized that among his customers were other radio personalities who were listening to the old Bob and Ray bits, then going on the air and parroting them.
I doubt any of the thieves achieved their level of audience delight. It wasn't just the material that was funny. Bob and Ray were funny. Their deadpan delivery was totally convincing, especially when they did their bogus interviews. Didn't matter if it was Bob interviewing Ray or Ray interviewing Bob. Each could effortlessly switch from Straight Man to Comic and back again.
There is so much to say about these guys…like they were stars of MAD magazine for a brief time. When Al Feldstein took over as editor of MAD in 1956, he tried goosing the magazine's sales by buying old material from name comedians and adapting it for the printed page. The presence in that publication of Bob and Ray — drawn by Mort Drucker — was just perfect. It also led to one of their main writers, Tom Koch, becoming a regular contributor to MAD for decades.
They also voiced hundreds of very funny commercials, including their spots as Bert and Harry Piel, cartoon pitchmen for Piels Beer. Again, one could soon hear others imitating them. They appeared on Broadway, receiving rave reviews from everyone who wasn't John Simon. They were dependable guests on all the major talk shows. They were just everywhere and always good.
Here is the New York Times obit for Bob and here's the Washington Post. Bob is survived by his son, Chris Elliott, who has continued the family tradition of being deadpan funny, especially when he used to appear with David Letterman. His granddaughter Abby is also keeping it going.
It's real hard to pick one Bob and Ray routine to post here but this one, as presented in their Broadway show, can't miss. Here they are, doing what they did so well…