The hosts, Tom and Ray Magliozzi, better known to their fans as "Click" and "Clack," are brothers who opened a do-it­-yourself counterculture garage in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1973. As hippies evolved into people with real jobs and cars became more complicated, the brothers offered more conventional car repair.  

     In 1977 the Magliozzis were invited to appear on a talk show on WBUR-FM with other area mechanics. Tom accepted, and when he returned the following week, he brought Ray along. Later they were given their own WBUR talk show in which they gave advice and tried to drum up business for their garage. The show is produced by Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe-a company the Magliozzis named with the same self-deprecation that drives the program-and it still originates at WBUR.

     In January 1987 NPR host Susan Stamberg invited the brothers to be weekly contributors to NPR's Weekend Edition. On October 3rd of that same year, Car Talk premiered as a national program. After more than ten years on the air, NPR broadcasts Car Talk on more than 550 NPR stations nationwide to over 3.8 million laughing fans. The program received the George Foster Peabody Award in 1992. In 1998 the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago inducted Tom and Ray Magliozzi into the Radio Hall of Fame.

     Although cars and human responses to cars are the foundations of the show, Car Talk is about laughing. Tom and Ray are ready to laugh out loud at themselves, at cars, and at callers. Often the show begins with a humorous piece about a serious issue such as global warming or politics. Sometimes one of the brothers begins with a tirade against oversized automobile engines or people who drive while talking on cell phones.

     Both brothers are graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Tom has a doctorate in marketing and has taught at Boston and Suffolk Universities. Ray still runs the garage and is a consultant to the Consumer Affairs Division of the Massachusetts attorney general's office. Their education and work backgrounds provide fertile areas for them to make fun of each other, their schools, and all areas of higher education. They also make fun of each other's expertise or lack thereof. When one takes a caller's question, he will often say that the other doesn't know what he's talking about and can't possibly give a good answer. Callers come in for their share of jibes, too, mostly in the form of gentle teasing.

     Literary references, puns, and joking references to NPR news reporters and hosts spark the show: for example, reading the standard NPR underwriter line, the Magliozzis remind listeners that "Support for Car Talk comes from bogus parking tickets we put on cars all over the NPR parking lot" or that "Support for Car Talk comes from the small but regular deductions we make from Carl Kassell's retirement account." Callers are encouraged to banter and allowed to star as storytellers. In the midst of the fun and zany comments, real questions about spark plugs, used cars, problems with mechanics or dealer service shops, and personal issues with cars do get answered.

     On the air, Ray is the one who actually tries to answer the automotive questions. He's the director of the show and keeps it moving. Tom makes jokes, insults Ray and callers, and laughs the most. Both men are honest to the point of bluntness when it comes to how to deal with bad mechanics or auto manufacturers. Ray says that they started cracking jokes the first time they were unable to answer a caller's questions. The more they laughed, the better they enjoyed the show. And the bigger the audience became. Producer Doug Berman, who has worked with the Magliozzis for 12 years, said in an interview in Brill's Content, "They're like the kids in the back of the class that used to joke and make you laugh, and you didn't want to laugh because you'd get in trouble" (Greenstein).

     Car Talk is a tightly structured show: it begins with a thought piece, usually humorous. There are three segments that feature phone calls. Most weeks a puzzle is featured in the "third half" of the program. Music from many genres, as long as the lyrics mention something automotive, is used as audio bumpers to separate the segments.

     "Stump the Chumps" is an irregular feature in which callers are brought back to reveal whether Click and Clack gave the correct answer to their automotive questions. This feature gives rise to much self-deprecating humor. It also establishes credibility, because most of the time the answer was correct and saved the caller both time and money.

     During the show's closing credits, puns reign. From research statistician Marge Inoverra to pseudonym consultant Norm Deplume, the end of Car Talk is a high point. The names are accompanied by the appropriate accent when required. Although the basic names repeat week after week, there's always a new one to catch the ear of the faithful and keep Tom laughing.

     Car Talk closes with an underwriting statement that offers a final opportunity to make a joke about another NPR host: "And even though Scott Simon sends his resume to MTV every time he hears us say it, this is NPR, National Public Radio."