Before Bob & Ray, comedians told jokes. After Bob & Ray, they told stories. If they first got together in 1946 on WHDH-AM Boston, no one guessed that their simple, intelligent, deadpan brand of laughter would revolutionize the comedic landscape. With a gift for an improvisation and an enthusiastic knowledge of the absurd, Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding made a universe of wonderful character types and rewrote the rules for what’s funny. Consider any essential comedy star since-Bob Newhart, Garrison Keillor, Woody Allen, Johnny Carson, George Carlin, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jerry Seinfeld-and you can hear your debt to Bob & Ray. This collection honors the two in support of with selections from their early years (1950s, ’60s, and ’70s) and general public radio years (’80s), their 1984 Carnegie Hall shows, and previously unreleased archival recordings.