From Approximately Coast to Coast ... It's the Bob and Ray Show

Nearly a decade after publishing their first collection of comedy sketches, "Write If You Get Work", Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding were back in 1983 with this, their second volume of prize nonsense from their fertile imaginations, spoofing the world of television and radio. Nobody ever wrote comedy like Bob and Ray, and as they might have put it, our loss is their gain. "From Approximately Coast To Coast...It's The Bob And Ray Show" catches the duo, mostly known for their network radio work in the 1950s and 1960s, in a late-career upswing. The year before, they had been given a regular cross-country radio gig for the first time in decades, courtesy of National Public Radio. David Letterman sang their praises on his new talk show, where Bob's son Chris lent a hand in on-air sketches. It all began in 1979, when the producers of "Saturday Night Live" devoted a special episode to the pair. Bob & Ray covered Rod Stewart's "D'Ya Think I'm Sexy" and introduced themselves to Generation X. By 1984, they were performing at Carnegie Hall. The pair seemed reinvigorated by all this, and "From Approximately..." includes a fair amount of then-fresh material. The line on Bob & Ray was they were wry and droll, which usually doesn't translate to laugh-out-loud humor, but this book has some real gut-punchers. Just try and keep a straight face reading it. A TV reporter from Baraboo, Wisconsin plants himself below Buckingham Palace after the 1981 Royal Wedding to demand an exclusive interview with Prince Charles. "I'm warning you, Chuck! I can wait this thing out as long as you can!" Author Alfred E. Nelson admits his American history book contains some glaring errors (the Civil War happening in 1911, Abe Lincoln riding to his inauguration in a limousine) but points out the book is leatherbound, "and the pages are glossy." B & R even have at the evening soaps of the 1980s, with their own version of "Dallas-Dynasty-Falcon Crest" called "Garrish Summit," featuring the lead-mining Murchfield family. "Lead is in my blood", says Rodney Murchfield, who threatens to strangle his suspiciously long-lost "brother" Caldwell while simultaneously counting out an endless number of paper clips. There's some older material here, too, including one of their most famous sketches, where Ray interviews the president of "The Slow Talkers Of America" to his regret. It's a funny read, but an even better listen, which points up a minor, unavoidable flaw of the book; that you lose something not hearing the sketches as performed by the pair, with their distinctive voices and subtle mannerisms. The unique whimsy of Bob and Ray comes through anyway, in its cast of self-absorbed mediocrities, of snide interviewers barely able to conceal their contempt for those they interview. (Bob to a 10-inch-high man in need of dental care: "Well, there's nothing more tragic to behold than the suffering of a fellow human - or whatever you are.") The radio age had passed them by in 1983, but they sti