Write If You Get Work : The Best of Bob and Ray

by Bob Elliott, Ray Goulding

1975, hardcover book club reprint edition, Random House, NY. 179 pages. B&W photos. There was a time when Bob & Ray were the toast of radio and TV. Fans will recall their marvelous appearances in Cold Turkey, where these two characters played Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, and of course, Arthur Godfrey. They were a wow then and this book is a further wow. Skits and "interview from the past," funny bits throughout that recall another era, indeed. These boys were offbeat, sly, and likable. Two ordinary men who met one day at a Boston radio station in 1946 and eventually took their act out on the road. Memorably.

Genres: Humor, Nonfiction, Comedy

177 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Bob Elliott (born 1923) and Ray Goulding (1922–1990) were an American comedy team whose career spanned five decades.

"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 & Ray can go on being funny almost indefinately."

-- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Reviews

[Jeff Crompton · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading David Pollock's biography of Bob and Ray, I had to pick this collection of their humor off the shelf and reread it. It's really impossible for me to review it with any objectivity. This was my introduction to Bob and Ray - as a high school student (many years ago), I found this book on my mom's bookshelf. I had no idea who these people were, but I thought it was hilarious.

At the time, I had neither heard nor seen Bob and Ray, so I had no idea what they sounded like. Now I have listened to Bob and Ray for about 25 years and tracked down as many recordings of the pair that I can find, including most of the routines included here. When I read these pieces now, I hear the voices and inflections in my head.

But either way, almost everything here is great comedy. Here's an example, from Kurt Vonnegut's introduction, rather than from a routine included in the book. Vonnegut was in the studio with B & R to talk about a job as writer for the pair. (He didn't get the job.) Vonnegut recounts a commercial touting advertising space on the Bob and Ray Satellite, which was to be orbited only twenty-eight feet off the ground.

And I've always loved the names of B & R's characters. One "call-in show," included here, features both Illegal Left Turn Bronson and Ethel Merman Strunk, who was male. A clerk at the drivers' license bureau changed Mr. Bronson's name when she accidentally typed his traffic violation where his first name should have been. And Mr. Strunk's parents had only heard Ethel Merman on the radio, and assumed that she was a man. As Bob responded, "I guess that's possible, especially if nobody rushed over to turn down the volume in time."

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know that I have said in the past that "Confederacy of Dunces" is the funniest book ever written, but I think actually, this is the funniest book ever written. Bob Elliot and Ray Goulding are comic geniuses. They never did and never will know any matach. This book consists of many of their best radio bits and very early television skits. I have been reading this book since the 1970's and I laugh just as hard or harder every single time They are understated, they underplay, no slapstick, no dirty words, no punch lines. They see and understand the quirkiness and misplaced sincerity that makes us so human, and oh my God so funny. If you can find this book, pay any price you have to for it and then keep it and treasure it.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to enjoy this work from the comedy duo, due to see there is an introduction from one of my literary heroes, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.. However these transcripts of comedy routines just fall flat and raise no more than an occasionally smirk with me. Maybe it is better when delivered on radio or something.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't tell if this is the least funny book I've ever laughed out loud at or the funniest book that bores me most of the time. Bob and Ray were a radio comedy duo well after radio's golden days. They're kind of like Ernie Kovacs in that their skits are so weird and not like the rest of the comedy at the time. A lot of the time it falls flat for me, but about a third of what I've read so far is hilarious.

[Valerie]

I have to admit that I never heard any of the classic "Bob And Ray" show.

This book leads me to believe that my life was somewhat impoverished by this gap in my education. I found some of this VERY funny: and other parts less so. But very little was completely unfunny.

Well worth a read. Now if I could get hold of some of the recordings...

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

About what you would expect, or maybe a little less.

[K T · Rating 1 out of 5]

This humor is so out-of-date that I returned the library book without finishing it, and consider that no great loss. There are other humorists I enjoy and would add instead.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Came across this in my local library and had to give it a chance. There is something to be said for reading something that you have only ever experienced aurally. I really enjoyed reading Howard Stern Comes Again last year and this is another radio-to-transcript book that works in a completely different way when read as opposed to when listened to. It really makes you admire not just the structure of their bits but their word choices and little comedic nuances. Really enjoyable read for any Bob and Ray fan.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do remember hearing some Bob and Ray radio programs but don't recall their work in other mediums. Their humor is gentle and rather refreshing in the current culture of coarseness and vulgarity.
The sketches in this book are very short and a little repetitious when read but not heard with the B & R comic timing and intonation. I do recommend anyone interested in humor to familiarize themselves with their work but perhaps check out the CDs available for a better introduction.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-reading this after many years, it's just a deadpan funny as ever, deflating the blandness of radio and tv with a shrug instead of a spear.