09 June 2012

Joaquin Matilda, Barbara Seville, Lauren Order...

"Car Talk" is an American radio program broadcast weekly on National Public Radio. It offers advice on automobiles and auto repair in a humorous fashion; the humor extends to the "credits" at the end of the program. I've reproduced a few here...

Accounts Payable Administrator
Imelda Czechs

Appeals Specialist
Bud Uronner

Appointment Secretary
Stu Earley

Arbitration Expert
Viola Fuss

Assertiveness Training Coach
Lois Steem

Assistant Customer Care Representive
Kurt Reply

Assistant Disciplinarian
Joaquin D'Planque

Asst. Fleet Manager
Lisa Carr

Australian Tour Guide
Joaquin Matilda

Automotive Medical Researcher
Dr. Denton Fender

Bail Bond Provider
Freida Gogh

British Doorman
Isaiah Olchap

Bunji Jumping Instructor
Hugo First

Broadcast Philosopher
Phillip Airtime

Car Talk Opera Critic
Barbara Seville

Chairman, Oral History Dept.
Ira Caull

Chicken Soup Provisioner
Kent Hoyt

Chief of Stadium Seating for the Olympics
Wayne Back

Chief of Tire Technology
Yessir Itsaflat

Child Transportation Specialist
Minnie Van Driver

Commencement Speaker
Gladys Overwith

Compassion Coordinator
Ophelia Paine

Computer Hardware Specialist
C. Colin Backslash

Conservative Political Commentator
Eileen Tudor-Wright

Coordinator of Summer Visits to the Inlaws
Don Juan-Gogh

Credit Counselor
Max Stout

Criminal Justice Expert
Lauren Order

Curator of Tom's Car Collection
Rex Galore

Customer Car Care Representative
Haywood Jabuzoff

...and that's just through the letter "C." More here (D-F selections) and here (G-R) - or, better yet, you can see the entire list at the Car Talk website.

Reposted from 2008 to honor the impending retirement of the Magliozzi brothers:
MIT-educated mechanics based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the brothers first went on the air on WBUR in Boston in 1977. Ten years later the show was picked up nationally by NPR. Today it can be heard on more than 370 stations by an audience of more than four million weekly listeners.

"We've managed to avoid getting thrown off NPR for 25 years, given out tens of thousands of wrong answers, generated lawsuit threats from innumerable car companies, and had a hell of a lot of fun talking to you guys," Ray said in a joint statement.

Tom added: "And when we listen to the stuff that's in our archives, it still makes us laugh. A lot. We're hoping to be like "I Love Lucy" and air ten times a day on NPR at Nite in 2075."

9 comments:

  1. Reminds me of character names in the old "Rick O'Shay" comic strip. Rick was a deputy sheriff in a Western town. From Wiki:

    "His best friend is gunslinger Hipshot Percussion. Other key characters include gambler Deuces Wylde, dance hall owner Gaye Abandon, Dr. Basil Metabolism, gunsmith and Civil War veteran Cap'n Ball, banker Mort Gage and a kid named Quyat Burp."

    Not mentioned: Dr. Metabolism's nurse, Ophelia Pulse.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cost controller - Emma Chisset.

    Site Security - Gunga Din.

    Onsite Catering - Roland Butter.

    Traffic Reports - Lane Cloziers.

    First Aider - Justin Kayse.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hugo First? The novelist? Creator of "Over the Cliff"?
    ( by Hugo First, an old and perennial joke of my late father). There must be a whole genre of jokes like this, just like the "and that's when the fight started" and "little Johnny" jokes.

    What you haven't mentioned - maybe it became news just minutes after your posting - is that the show is winding up in September, but NPR says it will re-broadcast old episodes to fill the gap..

    ReplyDelete
  4. Parking garage attendants: Skip Braking, Denton Fenders, Randy Batterydown, Chip Painte.

    Gardener: Moe DeLawn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The best name I've ever seen is for a Director of Communications - DoN o tReply (capitalization to help in reading )

      Delete
  5. I'd say this kind of pun, can be classified as a

    either malapropism,
    a mondergreen (after Lady Mondergreen = laid 'im on the green)
    or
    homophones

    http://www.fun-with-words.com/mala_mondegreens.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. More re mondegreens:

      http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2008/07/introducing-lady-mondegreen.html
      http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2009/02/obamas-elf-new-mondegreen.html
      http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2011/06/giant-saguaro-and-stevie-nicks.html
      http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2009/07/props-to-otis-redding.html

      Delete
    2. So mondegreen is a new word, then, even though the joke is not new.
      I'm sure if one were to read names of questionnaires, registration forms, corporate accounts (Enron) a lot more of these will resurface.

      This is the kind of benign misinformation, that protects privacy. The fact that a person is forced to fake his/her identity, is balanced out by the joking and overt manner of doing it.

      Delete
  6. My favorite is the Car Talk lawyers...Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe.

    Liam

    ReplyDelete