Editing Bob and Ray (section)

===Characters===
Elliott and Goulding lent their voices to a variety of recurring characters and countless one-shots, creating a multilayered world that parodied the real-life world of radio broadcasting.  Elliott and Goulding played "Bob" and "Ray", the hosts of an ostensibly serious radio program. Their "staff" (all voiced by Elliott and Goulding) was a comic menagerie of reporters, book reviewers, actors, and all other manner of radio personalities, all of whom interacted with "Bob" and "Ray", as well as with each other. Almost all of these characters had picturesque names, as in one sketch where Bob introduced Ray as one Maitland Q. Montmorency. The guest replied, "My name is John W. Norvis. I have ''terrible'' handwriting."

Recurring characters played by Bob Elliott included:
* Wally Ballou, an inept news reporter, man-on-the-street interviewer, "and winner of 16 diction awards", whose opening transmission almost invariably begins with an "up-cut" with him starting early, before his microphone was live, as in "–ly Ballou here". In one of his broadcasts, he was discovered to have started early on purpose and was chewed out by the location engineer (Ray) for making it look as though the mistake was his.
* Snappy sportscaster Biff Burns ("So until next time, this is Biff Burns saying until next time, this is Biff Burns saying goodnight.")
* Johnny Braddock, another sportscaster, but with an obnoxious streak.
* Tex Blaisdell, a drawling cowboy singer who also did rope tricks on the radio (not to be confused with the real-life comic book artist and editor).
* Arthur Sturdley, an [[Arthur Godfrey]] take-off.
* Harry Backstayge, handsome stage actor and "idol to a million other women" (in the team's parody of radio's ''[[Backstage Wife]]'').
* Pop Beloved, elderly stagehand in the Backstayge stories.
* Kent Lyle Birdley, a wheezing, stammering old-time radio announcer.
* Fred Falvy, "do-it-yourself" handyman, whose projects were usually absurdly expensive and/or utterly impractical – and occasionally illegal.
* One of the McBeeBee twins, either Claude or Clyde, were nonidentical twins who spoke in unison, led by Goulding with Elliott a syllable or two behind him, and always interviewed by Elliott.
* Cyril Gore, a Boris Karloff sound-alike, he often appeared as a butler or doorman; his catchphrase was "Follow me down this cor-ree-dor."
* Peter Gorey, a character similar to Gore, but with a Peter Lorre-type voice, he would typically appear as a news reporter, reading the same gruesome stories ("Three men were run over by a steamroller today...") each time he appeared. Bob and Ray also occasionally played a record of "[[Music! Music! Music!]]", ostensibly sung by Gorey.

Any script calling for a child's voice usually went to Elliott.

Ray Goulding's roster of characters included:
* Mary Backstayge, wife of Harry Backstayge. 
* Webley Webster, mumble-mouthed book reviewer and organ player, whose reviews of historical novels and cookbooks were usually dramatized as seafaring melodramas.
* Calvin Hoogavin (using the same Webley voice), a character in the Mary Backstayge stories.
* Steve Bosco, sportscaster (who signed off with "This is Steve Bosco rounding third, and being thrown out at home", parodying [[Joe Nuxhall]]'s signature sign-off of "the old lefthander rounding third and heading for home").
* Jack Headstrong, the All-American American (satirizing the long-running ''[[Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy|Jack Armstrong]]'' radio series of juvenile adventures). The serious-voiced Jack was always entrusted with an impossible government mission, and had no patience with any of his friends and advisors ("Quiet, Four-Star General! There's no ''time'' for that now!").
* Artie Schermerhorn, another inept reporter. Sometimes partnered with Wally Ballou, often competing with him, especially when employed by the Finley Quality Network.
* Farm editor Dean Archer Armstead (his low, slurring delivery was unintelligible and punctuated by the sound of his spittle hitting a cuspidor); his theme music was a scratchy piano-lesson record of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm".
* The other McBeeBee twin, either Clyde or Claude. As mentioned above, Goulding would speak first, usually trying to trip up and break up Elliott.
* Charles the Poet, who recited sappy verse (parodying the lugubrious Chicago late-night broadcaster [[Franklyn MacCormack]] and, to a lesser extent, the [[Ernie Kovacs]] character [[Percy Dovetonsils]]) but could never get through a whole example of his pathetic work without breaking down in laughter.
* Professor Groggins, a would-be space traveler who constructs a rocket ship in his backyard, but never successfully launches it.
* Recurring characters such as Matt Neffer, Boy Spot-Welder; failed actor Barry Campbell; crack-voiced reporter Arthur Schrank; Lawrence Fechtenberger, Interstellar Officer Candidate; and all female roles.

While originally employing a falsetto, Goulding generally used the same flat voice for all of his women characters, of which perhaps the best-known was Mary Margaret McGoon (satirizing home-economics expert [[Mary Margaret McBride]]), who offered bizarre recipes for such entrees as "frozen ginger ale salad" and "mock turkey". In 1949, Goulding, as Mary, recorded "I'd Like to Be a Cow in [[Switzerland]]", which soon became a novelty hit and is still occasionally played by the likes of [[Dr. Demento]]. Later, the character was known simply as Mary McGoon. Another female character was Natalie Attired, "radio's Song Sayer" who, instead of singing songs, recited their lyrics to a drumbeat accompaniment.