Car Talk
Encyclopedia : C : CA : CAR : Car Talk
Car Talk is a radio talk show broadcast weekly on National Public Radio stations throughout the United States and elsewhere. Its subjects are cars and car repair, and it often takes humorous turns.
As a call-in radio show, listeners call in with car-related questions. The majority of callers are seeking advice of a diagnostic nature. The hosts, Tom and Ray Magliozzi (aka Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers) listen to the caller describe the symptoms of his or her malfunctioning car, often asking them to replicate strange sounds, then attempt to identify the cause of the malfunction. While the hosts pepper their call-in sessions with jokes directed at both the caller and at themselves, their knowledge of automobiles is extensive and they are usually able to arrive at a diagnosis and give helpful advice.
Car Talk was first broadcast in Boston in 1977. It was picked up nationally by NPR ten years later.
Car Talk
Features
A recurring feature is "Stump the Chumps", in which Tom and Ray revisit a caller from a previous show and find out what effect, if any, their advice has had (assuming the caller followed it at all).A similar feature was started in May 2001 and entitled "Where Are They Now, Tommy?" Like "Stump the Chumps", they revisited a previous caller; but the difference with "Where Are They Now...?" was best described by Tom as "an excuse to talk to some of the previous wack jobs we've had on the show". The feature was short-lived, lasting only a few months.
Celebrities have been callers as well. Examples include Geena Davis, Morley Safer, Ashley Judd, Gordon Elliott, and at least one space shuttle astronaut. There have been numerous appearances from NPR personalities, including Bob Edwards, Susan Stamberg, Scott Simon, Ray Suarez, Will Shortz, Sylvia Poggioli and commentator/author Daniel Pinkwater. On one occasion, the show featured an in-studio guest: Martha Stewart, whom Click and Clack called "Margaret" twice.
Hosts
Car TalkThe duo, usually led by Tom, are known for rants on the evils of the internal combustion engine, people who talk on cell phones while driving, Peugeots, women named Donna (who always seem to drive Camaros), the use (or misuse) of the English language, and just about anything else, including themselves. They have a laid-back humorous approach to cars, car repair, cup holders, pets, lawyers, car repair mechanics, SUVs, and most everything else. They often cast a critical insider's eye (jaundiced, mostly) towards the auto industry. Tom and Ray are committed to the values of defensive driving and environmentalism. In the late 1990s they pioneered an effort to rid the world of French pronunciations of words, intentionally pronouncing many words phonetically such as "Chev-ro-let" for Chevrolet."
Click and Clack operate the "Good News Garage" in Cambridge, Massachusetts just a few blocks north of the MIT campus. Their offices are located nearby at the corner of JFK St. and Brattle St. in Harvard Square, marked as "Dewey, Cheetham and Howe", the ersatz law firm they reference on-air.
The two were commencement speakers at MIT in 1999.
In 2006, Tom and Ray Magliozzi voiced Rusty and Dusty Rust-Eze (previous names were Clink and Clunk), a 1963 Dodge A100 van and 1963 Dodge Dart V1.0 respectively, in the film Cars. (Ray notoriously once owned a green Dodge Dart)
Humor and other quirks
For years (perhaps since the beginning), Tom and Ray would take a break at approximately the half-hour mark of the show. More recently, two breaks divide the show into approximately twenty-minute segments referred to as the "three halves" of the show. The show opens with a comedic monologue, followed by eight call-in sessions. During the winter shows, a contest called the "Puzzler" takes place, in which a puzzle (sometimes car-related, often not) is presented. The answer to the previous week's Puzzler is given during the second half of the show, and a new puzzler is given during the third half. Often times the hosts tell listeners to write answers to the Puzzler (which is to be addressed to "Puzzler Tower") on non-existent or expensive objects, such as a 26-dollar bill or an advanced SLR digital camera. In reality, they have received answers on objects as unlikely as a dead fish.
The humor of Car Talk also extends into the end credits. The show is produced under the Magliozzis' corporate banner, Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe, a common lawyer joke. After listing (and lampooning) the actual staff of Car Talk (including their producer, Doug "The Subway Fugitive," "Not a Slave to Fashion," "Bongo Boy" Berman), the brothers list a long series of unusual names. "Paul Murky of Murky Research", assisted by statistician "Marge Innovera" (margin of error), and their Russian chauffeur Pikop Andropov (pick up and drop off) are only a few of a long series of perennial "staffers" in the Car Talk credits.
Tom and Ray's infectious laughter is a feature of the show. However, it is not as spontaneous as most listeners would assume. It is "sweetened" with tape-loops to improve the entertainment value of the show. #redirect
At the end of almost every show, Ray warns the audience not to drive like his brother, who in turn warns them not to drive like his brother. There have been variations - such as "Don't drive like my sister"..."and don't drive like my sister."
External links
- [Car Talk website]
- [The complete listing of all Car Talk gag credits]
- [Car Talk History]
- [Car Talk on Audble.com]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.