I checked out some books on tape from the library to try out the concept of listening to family-friendly stories in the car while on road trips. Garrison Keillor told a story of an elderly couple in Lake Wobegon whose arguments over spending money to travel followed a specific form. The argument would leave them satisfied at the end, like playing a Chopin etude.
“Why is that funny?” my son asked.
“It’s a grown-up thing.”
“It doesn’t even make any sense.” His voice was rising in pitch the way it does when he’s getting annoyed.
“This is what my parents used to play on road trips when I was a kid.”
“Well I hope you’ll put in a DVD for us while you’re playing that!”
The kid makes me laugh more than Garrison Keillor. But now I need to figure out something else to check out.
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Flabby Brain 
A suggestion in this regard: Play something that, while clearly told by an adult, is more attuned to kids and involves kids more in the story. Keillor, while a great and clean storyteller, always seemed to be aimed specifically and exclusively at adults. The kids won’t get the routine you mentioned because, for them, arguments are a form of conflict; they don’t see the nuances that could make the argument a form of comfort.
Have you tried one of Bill Cosby’s routines? The kids need to hear the Chocolate Cake routine at least once in their lives…
“Dad is great! He gives us the chocolate cake!”
Oh, how I loved that routine as a kid. Good suggestion.
Really? I mean really? Were we so precocious? We got those stores and loved them. I guess we won’t be watching Lord of the Rings at Camp Kiki either as he won’t get it! And what about Jack Armstrong the All American Boy? I can’t believe he wouldn’t be into the old radio shows like we were.
I haven’t tried the old radio shows on the kids yet, but ripped some old records of Dad’s to .mp3 and I may try out the Cosby routines to see how the kids like that. And there are some old Abbott & Costello and Ozzie and Harriet radio shows I may try too.