Bob Elliott: Half of Bob and Ray Comedy Duo, Has Died at 92

Bob Elliott, a master of deadpan comedy and the father of comedian Chris Elliott, has died at age 92. For decades, first on radio and then on television, Elliott and his partner Ray Goulding created some of the most distinctive, quirky, and eccentric comedy ever heard.

Bob and Ray specialized in taking a small idea and working it up into a big comic moment. There was nothing wild or zany about their presentation: Bob Elliott, like his comedy partner, usually wore a staid business suit and tie, and spoke in soft, quiet tones. A classic Bob and Ray routine was one like this, with Elliott portraying the president of the Slow Talkers of America:

The duo was popular, with both a mass audience and an avid cult following. Their 1970 Broadway show, Bob and Ray: The Two and Only was a huge success that took its audiences through some of the pair’s best-known characters, such as Elliott’s sportcaster Biff Burns, whose sign-off was the nicely convoluted, “So, until next time, this is Biff Burns saying, ‘Until next time, this is Biff Burns saying, ‘Goodnight.’”

Of the two, Elliott tended to be the quieter one, allowing Goulding to play the more aggressive types. One of Elliott’s recurring characters was news reporter Wally Ballou, who interviewed Goulding in various characterizations. Elliott’s mind was finely attuned to the tiniest details of TV broadcasting, and he invariably began any Ballou report as though the camera had cut to him just a second late, lopping off the first syllable of his name. Thus he’d usually begin a report, “-ly Ballou here…” It’s a small detail, but it was the small ones that made Elliott’s work so funny, as can be seen in this Wally Ballou interview, a “breaking news” story about a cranberry grower. Listen for the way he introduces himself for an example of what I’m talking about:

One of Elliott’s grandchildren is Abby Elliott, a former Saturday Night Live cast member. Elliott also played his son Chris’ father in the Chris Elliott sitcom Get A Life, and co-authored his son’s mock-autobiography in 1989, Daddy’s Boy: A Son’s Shocking Account of Life.

Ray Goulding died in 1990; with the passing of Bob Elliott, a distinctive chapter in American comedy is closed. There is no longer a place for the sedately absurd comedy they specialized in, in which mannerliness could give way to maliciousness in a mere second, or settle into a gentleness carried to such an extreme, it became an almost avant-garde creative choice.