The work averse Click and Clack (or is Clack and Click?), the Tappet Brothers, host of NPR's Car Talk.
Anyone who thinks National Public Radio is simply the retreat for wine-and-brie-loving elitists from car-averse towns like New York or Washington obviously never listened to “Car Talk,” for a quarter century one of the most popular programs on public radio.
The hosts, who alternately refer to themselves as “Click and Click,” or the “Tappet Brothers,” routinely jab at that highbrow image – and just as frequently speculate about how soon they’ll be tossed off the air. In reality, it’s NPR that is lamenting the fact that sibling hosts Tom and Ray Magliozzi have decided to call it quits.
The two, who actually do have extensive experience quieting noisy valves and repairing busted shocks, will record their last of over 1,200 weekly programs this coming autumn.
“My brother has always been ‘work-averse,’ ” explained the seldom-serious Ray, 63. “Now, apparently, even the one hour a week is killing him!”
“It’s brutal!” added older brother Tom, who is approaching 75.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based brothers have spent their entire lives in the Boston area, something listeners can discern immediately. They’re clearly more at home in Southie than on Beacon Hill, with a down-home style that has been likened to a combination of Groucho Marx and Mr. Goodwrench – with a little Mark Twain thrown in.
With their weekly puzzles and jokes – to which they always the first to laugh — and genial comments even auto-phobes have been drawn into the listening fold, though in the end they usually wind up offering some helpful information to listeners who might call up with problems ranging from how to get more power out of a Mustang to what’s the best way to stop squirrels from eating the insulation on an old Subaru’s spark plug wires.
“It’s like my best friend just told me they are moving away,” lamented NPR listener Rick Koller, in an e-mail to the network.
The Tappet Brothers won’t completely vanish. While the shows occasionally stray into the topical most episodes deal with timeless automotive questions stitched together with bad jokes that would have generated the same belly laughs a half century ago.
“We’re hoping to be like ‘I Love Lucy’ and air 10 times a day on ‘NPR at Nite’ in 2075,” Tom Magliozzi wrote in a note on their CarTalk.com website.
Over the years, the pair have fielded about 12,500 calls, according to Executive Producer Doug Berman, who estimates his team has enough material to repurpose for at least eight years without the rebroadcasts repeating.
“Thank god they gave us enough material to listen to and enjoy for the rest of our lives,” said another NPR listener who signed an email “tua07485d.”
Car Talk began 35 years ago as a local show but began reaching a national audience when it was picked up by the public radio network 25 years ago, though it has continued broadcasting on Boston’s WBUR.
“Tom and Ray have become icons to millions of fans, including me, over the last 25 years,” says NPR President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Knell. “I’m thrilled that they will continue to entertain and engage today’s fans and future fans for many years to come.”
For those who actually looked forward to hearing fresh advice about car repairs – perhaps looking to solve a problem of their own, Click and Clack won’t entirely hang up their tool belts. They plan to continue writing the syndicated, twice-weekly Dear Tom and Ray column. And NPR hints that along with the column and rebroadcasts, the brothers will continue to “put their feet in their mouths in surprising new ways on the web and Facebook.”