“We Lived Our Lives Funny”
—Ed Walker and Willard Scott
Walker and Scott teamed up from 1955 to 1974 to host The Joy Boys, a popular WRC radio show. The duo would perform skits (complete with sound effects), lampoon news of the day, and interview guests—who often took part in the comedy routines. Scott, now 81, would go on to be a fixture on NBC’s Today show, while Walker, 83, is still on local radio as the longtime host of The Big Broadcast on WAMU.
Scott: “We interviewed everyone. We interviewed Milton Berle, Jack Benny. These were stars of our generation. Henry Kissinger was with us one time—he was a Joy Boys fan. We did have an awful lot of fun. We had ministers and rabbis who called and said their days were always filled with such sad things, they’d get a kick out of unwinding by listening to the Joy Boys. We did things that made people happy. That made us happy. It was a good bit.”
Sherri Dalphonse joined Washingtonian in 1986 as an editorial intern, and worked her way to the top of the masthead when she was named editor-in-chief in 2022. She oversees the magazine’s editorial staff, and guides the magazine’s stories and direction. She lives in DC.
