12 Responses to “Happy 4th of July!……”

1. #1 by Jek
   July 4th, 2013 at 12:33 pm

   Ha! Little ol’ me start a roman candle war? Little ol’ me ignite Robo’s shirt pocket full of firecrackers? Little ol’ me need stitches in my toe? No way!
2. #2 by MRambler
   July 4th, 2013 at 12:41 pm

   I think the answers to all three of those questions are a big definite “WAY”, as in yes…. You made sure that 4th of July was indeed the most exciting and dangerous holiday of any year!….. Luckily, lots of good memories and few injuries….. You are keeping your hands off the fireworks this year, Mr. Jek?….. We can only hope……
3. #3 by J.J.
   July 4th, 2013 at 4:44 pm

   Little ol’ me my _ _ _. It was never a dull 4th with Jek around.
4. #4 by anon
   July 4th, 2013 at 10:01 pm

   Happy 4th to all. Best stay away from Jek. “Hang by your thumbs.”
5. #5 by huskysooner
   July 5th, 2013 at 9:33 am

   We went on a 35-mile bike ride, charred some meats, and shot off some fireworks with friends. A fun day.
6. #6 by MRambler
   July 5th, 2013 at 10:09 am

   HS, I’m glad I wasn’t with you on the 4th, I would’ve been lying beside the road in 2 miles or less!….. You actually peddled for 35 miles? That’s amazing!…… Anon, just what does “Hang by your thumbs” mean?…. What am I missing?….. Sorry, Jek, looks as if no one wants to be around you on the 4th….. I guess they all want to be around on the 5th (Ha!)…..
7. #7 by anon
   July 6th, 2013 at 1:02 am

   MR

   Remember radio. Remember Bob and Ray’s radio program. They always signed off with “until next time, this is Bob, this is Ray, hang by your thumbs”.
8. #8 by MRambler
   July 6th, 2013 at 5:12 pm

   I don’t guess they broadcast that show here on the lost plains…. When I was growing up, there were only two stations worth listening to, and, I don’t remember that show….. Mr. J. said he had heard of it, or, at least, thought he had heard of it….. Anyway, good to know where the saying came from and “Keep Hanging by your Thumbs, Anon”……
9. #9 by J.J.
   July 6th, 2013 at 5:39 pm

   About Bob & Ray

   “Bob & Ray invented, dreamed up the lines for, and then played, mainly on radio and television, a surrealistic Dickensian repertory company, which chastens the fools of the world with hyperbole, slapstick, parody, verbal nonsense, non sequitur, and sheer wit, all of it clean, subtle and gentle… Bob & Ray’s humor turns on their faultless timing and on their infinite sense of the ridiculous. It is also framed by that special sly, dry, wasteless vision of life perfected during the last couple of centuries by middle-class New Englanders…”

   — Whitney Balliett, writing in The New Yorker

   Bob [Elliott] & Ray [Goulding], legendary American humorists, were loved by fans and by fellow humorists, comedians and broadcasters. Every humorist and comedian and humorist from 1946 to the present was influenced by Bob & Ray including Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Jay Leno, George Carlin, Al Franken, Garrison Keillor and Kurt Vonnegut, who wrote:

   “Their jokes turn out to be universal…because much of life presents itself as the same dilemma: how to seem lusty and purposeful when less than nothing is going on.”

   Bob & Ray’s 40-year career began at WHDH, Boston. Bob was a disc jockey, and Ray a newscaster. When the Red Sox games were delayed on account of rain, they began to amuse each other to fill the time. Soon they had a daily show of their own, “Matinee with Bob & Ray,” an improvised, madcap exercise in controlled chaos. Over their long career, they created more than a hundred characters, all played by Bob or Ray. Wally Ballou, the hapless journalist, Mary McGoon, whose recipe for frozen ginger ale salad prefigures Martha Stewart; Biff Burns in the sports room, Webley Webster, Barry Campbell, a third rate actor with an ego the size of the universe, Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife whose pals travel the world in search of goofy adventure.

   Their humor is subtle, dry, intelligent and clean. Bob & Ray have a keen ear for language, how it is used and misused by the con artists, hucksters and hustlers who populate radio and television. Their humor is timeless. Bob & Ray ‘s satire of soap operas, game shows, radio shrinks and other self-appointed “experts,” and commercials, is as pertinent today as it was in 1946. They belong in the pantheon of American humor, alongside Mark Twain, George Ade, Will Rogers, and S. J. Pearlman.

   In 1951 NBC brought them to New York for a daily 15-minute television program, and numerous radio shows. Over the next thirty years they appeared on every major network, and on three powerful New York stations. They finished their radio career on public radio with the “The Bob & Ray Public Radio Show” (1982-2004), and a farewell appearance at Carnegie Hall (1984). All of these performances have been preserved on CDs from BobandRay.comâ„¢.
10. #10 by MRambler
    July 7th, 2013 at 8:33 am

    Why don’t you write a book, Mr. J.?….. You know what you did, don’t you?…. Now, you’ve got me wanting to hear Bob and Ray since I somehow missed them throughout the years….. My current budget is beyond limited, so, if I end up in debtor’s prison from purchasing some B&R CD’s, I’m blaming YOU (Ha!)……
11. #11 by anon
    July 7th, 2013 at 5:10 pm

    Hay J.J.

    Thanks for the Bob and Ray history. There must be some Bob and Ray on Utube. Think I’ll go look.

    Many favorites………….”Slow Talkers of America”……….and who could forget their rendition of “if you think I’m sexy and you really want me”.
12. #12 by MRambler
    July 9th, 2013 at 10:18 am

    Sounds C-o-o-l, Anon….. I’ll do some checking also…..

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

Anti-spam word: (Required)*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture. Click on the picture to hear an audio file of the word.