I learned about the retirement via Katherine Lanpher on Facebook, who posted this:
Katherine LanpherYou would think that people would either be sad, or not care either way, if they got nothing out of Car Talk. But Lanpher and some of her douchier friends had to make sure to declare how they won't miss Car Talk.
Apparently I am the only person for whom life is unchanged because Click and Clack are retiring. Wait! Put down those stones!
Every ten years or so, some group of hipsters declares that the Beatles sucked, or at least they sucked ever since Revolver. This is how hipsters demonstrate how edgy they are.
Car Talk, like the Beatles, is almost universally beloved, and at worst the Beatles and CarTalk are innocuous. If you don't care for them, well, don't listen.
At best the Beatles records and Car Talk episodes are mood-raising experiences.
Car Talk is nothing more or less than two guys who don't take themselves seriously, dispensing practical advice with abiding good humor.
I guess Lanpher & friends are the hipsters of the NPR world, trying to show how cool and discerning they are by trashing Car Talk.
Well I guess I could never run with the alpha NPR clique, but then I'm the kind of person who listened to almost every episode of Al Franken's radio show. Lanpher was his co-host for most of the run.
I never thought Katherine Lanpher was in danger of being hip - but I really never guessed she'd turn out to be a big ole douchebag.