I will have to confess that it always mystified me as to why someone would want Carl Kassel’s voice on their voice mail in the first place. It never struck me as particularly distinctive or unusually attractive.
I’m sad to hear about Carl retiring too. He will be missed.
@Simplicio – joke prize?
I get what you are saying, but I think if he came on the show as a regular and not just temporarily filling in, he would settle more into the role of straight man. When you are a temporary guest star, you have a bit more license.
Allow me to be the voice of dissent. I’m glad he’s leaving, and I think he’s a poor announcer. He always sounds like he’s having trouble with his false teeth, and he sometimes puts the wrong emPHAsis on words.
I used to feel the same way about Carl; it bugged me to hear his dentures rattling around in his mouth, but not as much as hearing Garrison Keeler whistle his S’s.
But Carl’s voice has grown on me over the years of listening to Wait, Wait, on my Saturday lunch breaks.
I’m happy that he’s retiring at age 79 and hope to be as productive for as long as he has.
Two things bother me about Bill Kurtis.
The huge laugh he always gets when he is announced as “legendary anchorman Bill Kurtis”. It sounded fake from about the second time that joke was made.
And the fact that he reads limericks like a free-form poem that’s not supposed to have any rhyme or rhythm. Carl Kassel was always much better at that.
I’ll miss Carl.
Peter Sagal said somewhere else that they haven’t made any plans yet, but they probably won’t just replace Carl. He said they may turn the reader/scorekeeper role into a different type of job.