You may want to find a decent mechanic: "Car Talk" hosts Tom and Ray Magliozzi, aka Click and Clack the Tappet brothers, will retire from the long-running auto advice show this fall, they announced Friday.
The show, which has aired on NPR member stations for nearly 25 years, will continue with archived recordings from 1,200 past episodes and occasional updates from the brothers. They have taped "Car Talk" at WBUR in Boston for 35 years.
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"My brother has always been ‘work-averse,'" said Ray, 63. "Now, apparently, even the one hour a week is killing him!"
"It’s brutal!” added Tom, 74.
The brothers will mark their 25th year with NPR this fall, then hand the show over to their producers in October. They will continue to write their twice weekly Dear Tom and Ray column and maintain a presence on Facebook. They outlined their plans in a message to fans.
Eric Nuzum, vice president for NPR programming, suggested that the archived material would still make for an entertaining show.
"We’re certainly disappointed that they’re not going to do this forever. But despite their protestations about work, they’ve earned this," he said. "And they’re leaving us an incredible body of work that ranks up there with some combination of the Marx Brothers, Mark Twain, and Mr. Goodwrench. The work they did five and 10 years ago is just as funny now as it was then."
On the subject of whether they might one day come back for more episodes of "Car Talk," or to do something else for NPR, they broke into their usual repartee.
"Will we change our minds and come back and do some more shows? I would say it’s unlikely, but anything’s possible. Right, Tommy?" said Ray.
"Absolutely not," responded Tom. "My brother can go chase himself."
Photo credit: Car Talk