"Car Talk" Co-Host Tom Magliozzi Dies At Age 77 82
samzenpus writes "Many outlets are reporting the death of Tom Magliozzi, co-host of the long-running weekly National Public Radio show Car Talk. Tom and his brother Ray ran a repair shop in the '70s and in 1987 landed their radio gig. They were known as "Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers." The show stopped recording two years ago and is currently airing old episodes. Tom died of complications from Alzheimer's at age 77."
One of the most listened to Engineers (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:One of the most listened to Engineers (Score:5, Funny)
Ray: Don't die like my brothuh. ...
Tom:
~fin~
Re:One of the most listened to Engineers (Score:5, Insightful)
Ray: Don't die like my brothuh.
While some may find this distasteful, I have absolutely no doubt that Tom would find this joke hilarious.
Rest in peace, Tom. Thanks for years of great radio!
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While some may find this distasteful, I have absolutely no doubt that Tom would find this joke hilarious.
Rest in peace, Tom. Thanks for years of great radio!
If I had mod points, I would mod this up based on your username given the topic!
Re:One of the most listened to Engineers (Score:5, Informative)
Ray: Don't die like my brothuh.
While some may find this distasteful, I have absolutely no doubt that Tom would find this joke hilarious.
Also, the family does indeed want to say "Don't die like Tommy":
the Magliozzi family is asking that in lieu of flowers, friends and listeners make a donation to either the Alzheimer's Association ...
(ref) [npr.org]
Re: (Score:2)
From the first paragraph of the Obituary at cartalk.com [cartalk.com]:
"Turns out he wasn't kidding," said Ray. "He really couldn't remember last week's puzzler."
Re:One of the most listened to Engineers (Score:5, Informative)
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:One of the most listened to Engineers (Score:5, Interesting)
Hell I was never a "car guy" and had ZERO interest in cars yet whenever i would find their show on i just had to listen, because they were just so fun and had such a great back and forth you couldn't help but like 'em.
To me that is what makes a great entertainer, when you can make even those that don't care about the subject listen in, RIP.
Yes, Tom and Ray had such a large following not because they were car experts (which they were), but because they were incredibly entertaining. I am a little bit of a car guy, and trying to guess solutions before them was fun, as well as hearing their car tips, but it was really their humor and banter that made the show so good. It was a great run.
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Exactly what I was going to say. I walk away from car conversations as fast as I can, but I could never turn the dial away from these guys.
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I'm with you there. Never even had a chance of tuning in, yet I was lucky enough to buy their book; it made owning a used car not that scary, yet practical in money matters. RIP and thanks for both the show, AND the book
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Without meaning to sound like a jerk, the show wasn't quite as "natural" as they made it sound. The show was heavily edited by some extraordinarily talented crew, which is how the callers always sounded so articulate and they never had to cut people off for time. They selected the most effective calls; I believe that part of what they're doing now includes old calls that didn't get aired. They worked very hard to create an illusion of naturalness, kind of like the un-made-up look that requires so much makeu
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Tom represented the cynicism, sarcasm and realism of many of my engineering brethren. RIP
Yes, a true classic. Interestingly enough, he also has an MBA and PhD in management. he must have been one hell of a professor as well.
Very sad (Score:5, Interesting)
When I lived in Beantown, I used to take my care there on occasion. You couldn't know a more down to earth and practical individual. I will mourn his passing.
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Uh oh, input error. Will anybody care about my car?
Re: (Score:2)
I share your sentiments.
OT, having lived in Boston proper my entire adult life I can state with confidence that no Bostonian I've met would ever refer to Boston as "Beantown" including folks across the river in Cambridge and the suburbs. Just curious as to why a former resident would employ that term...
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All good things come to an end. (Score:3)
You shall be missed.
Very sad (Score:4, Insightful)
A sad day in the car talk garage no doubt. His laugh alone brought a smile to my face. At least he greatly enjoyed what he did and brought laughter to a lot of people. Our thoughts are with you Tom.
Very sad... (Score:1)
Bummer. (Score:5, Funny)
On the bright side, I guess he's now living out the third half of his life.
Re: (Score:2)
He wouldn't have remembered them anyway.
(I normally wouldn't have posted a joke that tactless, but his brother already made that crack, so....)
Re: (Score:2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
An influence growing up (Score:1)
Car talk was a major influence for me growing up. Listened to it on Saturdays while cleaning my room. Man.
Thanks, Tom.
Will his tombstone say... (Score:3, Insightful)
Non impediti ratione cogitatonis? (unencumbered by the thought process)
I miss Tom.
I guess we know which brother not to drive like (Score:5, Interesting)
R.I.P. I've been missing them both for two years now already.
So.... (Score:2)
Was it because he drove like his brother?
Thanks Tom for the good times. My condolences to the family. Tom shall be missed and we share part of your loss.
News for nerds? Yes, in fact, it is. (Score:5, Informative)
My first thought was "is this really news for nerds?"
Then I thought "hey, these guys were hackers, just in another domain."
Tom, I hope you are having a blast in that great auto-graveyard in the sky.
Re:News for nerds? Yes, in fact, it is. (Score:5, Informative)
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Yes. I was actually really interested in the one where they had ten envelopes that collectively held $1000, and the puzzle was to figure out how to distribute the money between the envelopes so that you could select any whole-dollar amount by picking the right combination of envelopes. The solution, of course, is to think in binary. That's pretty nerdy.
Re:News for nerds? Yes, in fact, it is. (Score:5, Informative)
They had a DIY garage called Hacker's Haven, along with the Good News Garage in Cambridge Ma.
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You might say they were Hackers and Makers with the DIY "Makerspace" garage.
Don't understand (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Don't understand (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, and I heard that in Tom's voice as I read it.
Worst news (Score:1)
That is the worst news I've heard in a long time. Those guys were the best reason to listen to the radio.
I was going to make a staff undertaker pun (Score:4, Funny)
Dewey, Cheatem & Howe... (Score:4, Insightful)
I moved to the Boston area in 2000. Flipping through the local radio stations I found WEEI (local sports radio) and Click and Clack on NPR.
Whenever Click and Clack was on I had to listen all the way through. No matter how small the car problem, Tom and Ray found ways of making it interesting, entertaining, and funny while teaching us how cars work along the way.
My condolences to the family.
From the official obit press release: (Score:1)
Favorites from Click & Clack (Score:5, Funny)
One of mine was when a kid called to ask how he can make washing his parents' cars easier. Tom joked and replied, mix sand and iron filings into the bucket with the wash water...they'll never ask you to wash their cars again.
They did the impossibe, they made cars interesting (Score:5, Insightful)
Some people seem to be born as car buffs with keen interest into almost very obscure detail of automotive design, engineering, and lore. Me, I've never really found them interesting. What fascination for vehicles I natively had was directed towards other types of vehicles. In fact I found cars boring, until I listened to Car Talk. They brought the subject alive. The good natured banter, the subtle yet probing nature of their questions, the testing of their theories... it was fun, educational, and you got a sense of the deep well of knowledge those two had to draw from. (They were MIT grads, after all.) As a bonus they solved a huge mystery by revealing the source of a problem with I car I once had. (Really, who would think to look THERE for that problem?!?) I don't listen as much as I used to, but it's still fun. RIP Tom, and long life Ray.
I'll try not to drive like your brother.
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... Bummer ... (Score:2)
Good Will Hunting (Score:2, Informative)
As MIT graduates in Engineering.. yah.. I think they had Geek Tech Cred
A quick-thinking, comic genius (Score:2)
I loved Car Talk, still do, and it's still an integral part of my Saturday morning errands as I drive my truck around to the dump and so forth (I live in the sticks, so I do a lot of driving). After years (decades) of listening to those guys, I felt like I knew them. They made me laugh through some pretty grim times of my life.
So I am quite saddened to hear of Tommy's passing, and I feel for the families. He brought me a lot of good cheer. I had really hoped to meet him one day and have a beer or three. Oh
Re:Now can NPR fill the time slot... (Score:5, Informative)
Who gives a shit.
You do since you bothered posting here.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
So you came to a forum where people are mourning someone they liked and shit on it?
You are just as bad as the Westboro Baptist Church.
You, and your ilk, are why the internet is becoming a shit hole.
You are not that important, and compared to the rest of the universe you are so insignificant as to not even be measurable. Yet you waste your time ruining things for others.
Why didn't you just move along to the next article? You only get 50 pots a day why waste one shitting on a parade?
There are other people I t
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Stations determine their own programming based on donations.
Supporting your station also acts as a vote for what you want to hear.
Probate court is inevitable (Score:3, Funny)
His will was drafted by Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe.
(RIP, Tom.)
and the world grew a little colder. (Score:2)
A throwback to the days of radio (Score:1)
Old Mechanics Never Die (Score:2, Insightful)
Sorry to see him go and he never got that old MG to run properly either.
As they say old mechanics never die they just lose their bearings.
One of my favorites (Score:5, Funny)
Tom & Ray were doing a bit on "Boston'isms"...
Tom: "Okay, how 'bout this one... kahkis"
Ray: "kahkis? You mean like pants?"
Tom: "no.... like 'I need to go to the store but I can't find my kahkis' "
--------- ... RIP Tom.. gonna miss ya fella..
Obituary (Score:5, Informative)
There is a nice and humorous obituary on their website [cartalk.com].
With thanks to... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: With thanks to... (Score:3)
Pearl E. Gates
Re: With thanks to... (Score:2)
Emma Ballmer
Re: With thanks to... (Score:2)
Paul Bearer
Sad to see more people haven't posted (Score:2, Interesting)
I never knew Tom, but I knew Ray. The brothers are awesome, my mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer. They found out about it in passing conversation and they mailed her a bunch of Cartalk swag (she is a huge fan) It's sad to see Click and Clack separated. #RIPClick
Everything I know about cars... (Score:1)
I learned from these morons.
My puzzler answer written on the back of a twenty-dollar bill was never randomly selected...
I'm listening to a re-run now on Sat Radio 121 with a tear in my eye.
RIP Tom. Cheers, -T
So he meets St. Peter (Score:2)
and St Peter asks him "My car is making a funny noise..."
RIP Tom, you will be missed...
Nerd Cred (Score:1)
Tom earned a degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He subsequently worked for Sylvania's Semiconductor Division in Woburn, Massachusetts, and then for the Foxboro Company, while earning his MBA from Northeastern University and teaching part-time at local universities. Eventually tiring of his commute and job, he quit, spending the next year doing odd jobs such as painting for other tenants in his apartment building.
Ray taught science in Bennington, Vermont, for a few years, befor
They made NPR (Score:3)
These guys made NPR fun to listen to.
They're self-deprecating humor was great: " you've wasted another perfectly good hour listening to Cartalk"
Didn't learn a single lesson about cars.. too busy laughing.
Re: (Score:2)
These guys made NPR fun to listen to.
they didn't just do that. they basically saved NPR back in the day and allowed it thrive and grow as their most popular program ever. That's why they're still playing old shows two years later.
My Dad and I. My Son and I (Score:3)
Driving the Sleek Black Beauty (Score:2)
I'm glad to hear that Tommy is finally reunited with is 1965 AMC Ambassador, which Ray so cruelly sent to the crusher (just because it had fungus growing out of the seats and it hadn't moved for years).
If ever there were a time for Slashdot to allow image links, this would have been it. Meantime, this link is for you [wordpress.com].
I miss his laugh already... (Score:2)
Luckily some brilliant person put two minutes of him laughing up on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
If you can get through that video without at least cracking a smile, there is something wrong with you.
RIP Tom.
It wasn't really a show about cars... (Score:2)
It was a show about drivers. I think that's why it tended to be accessible to people who didn't care about cars.
funniest bit (Score:1)
One of the brothers: "What did you expect, a post card?"
Still cracks me up years later. You guys were great.