# East-coast old-timers: Did you listen to Bob+Ray growing up? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 12, 2020, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-coast-old-timers-did-you-listen-to-bob-ray-growing-up/849370 "2020-03-12T21:51:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-coast-old-timers-did-you-listen-to-bob-ray-growing-up/849370/21 "2020-03-14T23:12:37Z")
Not really, but my father was a fan. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-coast-old-timers-did-you-listen-to-bob-ray-growing-up/849370/22 "2020-03-15T13:21:44Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Nifty appearance as commentators in the film _Between Time and Timbuktu_, which was adapted from some of Vonnegunt’s works. Here’s their largest [segment](https://youtu.be/WmBKoO5pT94?list=PL7Q5bNrapWQ_SW-ddmCsMVJXNMgqakbfY&t=173) in that show. Vonnegut was hesitant about the idea for the program but when they told him that Bob and Ray were going to be in it, he was all for it. Love the “… time warp”/“Chrono-Synclastic Infundibulum” recurring bit. Note that Ray is the “Wally” here. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-coast-old-timers-did-you-listen-to-bob-ray-growing-up/849370/23 "2020-03-15T13:33:35Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > “Komodo Dragon Expert” and “Slow Talkers of America” were favorite bits. > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyI6KjpNrh0 I may or may not have played the Komodo Dragon routine quietly on my kindle at Disney’s Animal Kingdom while we gawked at the dragon. A former co-worker ha s a kid who did a presentation on komodo dragons in school. I played the routine for him, he loved it, played it for his kid, who used it in his presentation.😁 My father always listened to them in college - the late 40s and early 50s at Champaign -Urbana - but I had never heard of them before the SNL special they did. I wish they would release that on DVD. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-coast-old-timers-did-you-listen-to-bob-ray-growing-up/849370/24 "2020-03-15T14:53:20Z")
> [@LynnM](#): > > “I heard them a bit on Los Angeles radio.” > > “ETA: In the midwest. Chicago or maybe a Milwaukee AM station in the 60s.” > > “Another West Coast (ahem) fan from back in the day.” The first word of the OP was “East-coast”… I wonder if that was meant to be restrictive. Hope not, this is fascinating. Bob & Ray, uniting the nation with absurdism! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-coast-old-timers-did-you-listen-to-bob-ray-growing-up/849370/25 "2020-03-15T15:12:18Z")
I suppose Bob and Ray were around somewhere when I was growing up but I never listened to them (and when I heard their stuff later was not all that impressed). > [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > No but I listened to Jean Shepherd on WOR in NYC in the late 60s and early 70s. Same here. Great storytelling and even a bit of literary discussion. I recall an interesting take on Sinclair Lewis’ “It Can’t Happen Here”. I had friends who were even more into it, to the point of scrawling “Flick Lives!” graffiti in the subway. ---
**Author:** ![LynnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@LynnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LynnM)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-coast-old-timers-did-you-listen-to-bob-ray-growing-up/849370/26 "2020-03-15T16:04:49Z")
**digs** : “The first word of the OP was “East-coast”… I wonder if that was meant to be restrictive. Hope not, this is fascinating. Bob & Ray, uniting the nation with absurdism!” My error–I didn’t know their radio pgms were syndicated–at least, it appears that some were, some of the time– In the 1970s-80s, I’d see B+R occasionally on the Tonight Show, where Johnny+Ed obviously had great respect for them. I thought they were clever, understated, subtle, but had no idea of their range until NPR broadcast their soap-operas in the 1990s. I also read that they’d appear sometimes on the Mutual Radio Network, and NBC Monitor, which were national broadcasts. ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-coast-old-timers-did-you-listen-to-bob-ray-growing-up/849370/27 "2020-03-16T14:01:21Z")
Particularly in their younger years, Ray does a pretty good singing falsetto. _I Wish I Was a Cow in Switzerland_ ---
**Author:** ![alfonzos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@alfonzos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alfonzos)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-coast-old-timers-did-you-listen-to-bob-ray-growing-up/849370/28 "2020-03-22T23:08:59Z")
Bob and Ray wrote commercials for Millbrook Bread. The commercial slogan “Bread Baked to Music” completely baffled me when I was seven. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-coast-old-timers-did-you-listen-to-bob-ray-growing-up/849370/29 "2020-03-23T00:12:17Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Not really, but my father was a fan. Ditto. “Slow Talkers of America” is my favorite bit. And Chris Elliott (_Late Night with David Letterman, Cabin Boy, Groundhog Day_ etc.) is Bob Elliott’s son. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-coast-old-timers-did-you-listen-to-bob-ray-growing-up/849370/30 "2020-03-23T01:58:19Z")
> [@alfonzos](#): > > Bob and Ray wrote commercials for Millbrook Bread. The commercial slogan “Bread Baked to Music” completely baffled me when I was seven. Don’t forget the Piels Beer commercials. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/mHroxyoCwV4/hqdefault.jpg "Piels Beer with Bert and Harry") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHroxyoCwV4) ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-coast-old-timers-did-you-listen-to-bob-ray-growing-up/849370/31 "2020-03-23T12:08:14Z")
> [@Raza](#): > > I didn’t even become aware of them until the late 80s, when a Jacksonville FL afternoon variety radio show would play a clip. Landon Walker’s _Metro Rapid Transit Radio_? I remember it well. And I know I was aware of Bob and Ray from my youth (born 1954) tho I can’t pinpoint when or where I first heard/saw them. Always enjoyed their stuff. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-coast-old-timers-did-you-listen-to-bob-ray-growing-up/849370/32 "2020-03-23T12:36:47Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > And Chris Elliott (_Late Night with David Letterman, Cabin Boy, Groundhog Day_ etc.) is Bob Elliott’s son. And his daughter Abby Elliot is an actress/comedian who was on SNL for 4 years. (Her father was on it for only 1 season.) Another daughter Bridey is also in the family business. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-coast-old-timers-did-you-listen-to-bob-ray-growing-up/849370/33 "2020-03-23T17:02:53Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > And his daughter Abby Elliot is an actress/comedian who was on SNL for 4 years. (Her father was on it for only 1 season.) Another daughter Bridey is also in the family business. Hmm - didn’t know that! This might be of interest: ['SNL' autopsy: What killed Abby Elliott?](https://variety.com/2012/tv/news/saturday-night-live-snl-squandered-abby-elliott-9185/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-coast-old-timers-did-you-listen-to-bob-ray-growing-up/849370.md?page=1)