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Car Talk Internet Show Featuring Comic Chat. Tom and Ray Magliozzi (also known as "Click and Clack"). December 1996. Duration: 01:25.

In December 1996, The Microsoft Network introduced a show-based format, in which high quality multimedia content was produced around several themes. MSN's MotorWeb site was built around an automobile theme, and each day it featured a new Car Talk program from the popular PBS radio duo of "Click and Clack" (Tom and Ray Magliozzi).

The visuals were generated dynamically by Comic Chat, given a timed, textual transcript of the show. Mike Klozar at MSN did an excellent job developing the idea and producing the weekly show. DJ Kurlander assisted with the Comic Chat side of things.

Here is a very brief clip from one of the shows. Tom and Ray's characters are rendered in color, in front of a color background of an auto repair garage. Guests were selected from the collection of black and white characters that shipped with the chat program. Because of a mistake in the encoding of the Tom and Ray avatars, these characters face away from each other.

To read about Comic Chat, visit the resource page.

  
 
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