Names: Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton

Job: WFAN’s top-rated morning drive co-hosts.

The not-so-obvious pairing of Esiason, a former NFL star quarterback, with Carton, a career shock jock, has proven to be a wise move. The two had never met before they came together in 2007 in radio’s version of a Hail Mary pass after Imus — the station’s biggest ad draw at the time — was abruptly canned over comments he made about the Rutgers women’s basketball team. Their show now consistently grabs NYC’s No. 1 spot among the coveted audience of men between 25 and 54.

“They said it wouldn’t last,” laughs Carton, speaking of naysayers during their pressure-filled start.

“Really?” responds Esiason with exaggerated mock-surprise. “I knew [it would work] the first day in the studio.”

The duo reportedly beat out Geraldo Rivera, Jim Cramer, Joe Scarborough, and others for the key slot.

For the past two years the pair has broadcast out of their own slick CBS radio studio in Hudson Square, the booming commercial area just north of TriBeCa and south of the Village. In 2010, their show was brought to television, so now audiences can tune in at 660 AM or watch them on the MSG Network, which broadcasts their program each weekday from 6 to 10 a.m.

A recent morning finds them interviewing Dana White of the UFC, as their producer and engineer watch through the broadcast booth’s glass wall. Carton takes the lead, jumping rapid fire from talking about White’s million followers on Twitter to union issues to what the guy benches (300) while Esiason chimes in jovially.

Both men wear button-downs — pink and blue for Carton, burnt orange for Esiason. On a break, an attractive blonde spruces up their makeup, buffing the glare off Carton’s hairless head and taking the flush out of Boomer’s cheeks while they tease each other good-naturedly.

“Sometimes he forgets he’s not on the field, but he looks great and we roll with it,” laughs Carton, 42. A radio vet who’s had gigs in Buffalo, Cleveland, Philly and Denver, Carton was one of the “Jersey Guys” on an afternoon talk show in Trenton before coming to WFAN.

“He’s a tough guy with ADHD — that’s high-def attention deficit — a touch of Tourettes and a photographic memory,” fires back Esiason, 50. The 6-foot-5 former high school football star from Long Island, who played for the Bengals, Jets and Cardinals, jokes pseudo self-consciously as he poses for a picture: “This is my Blue Steel look.”

Philosophy: “The goal is to have as much fun as possible in four hours,” Carton says.

“If we’re having fun, listeners will have fun,” Esiason explains. “We want to make people in cars look at each other and laugh. This is morning radio, not afternoon. It has to be entertaining.”

The show reports on sports and news with a lighthearted tone. Between bantering about games the hosts make bets. Carton’s walked across the Brooklyn Bridge wearing only a Speedo and a football jersey — twice — as penance for losing football wagers.

Décor: The place is exactly what you’d expect a state of the art radio studio to look like — if a teenage boy slept there. The blue and beige carpet, whitewashed brick wall and corporate sponsor signage is offset by the sports paraphernalia strewn about haphazardly — an Inge shirt here, a Steve Lavin bobblehead there.

“Basically we’re slobs,” Carton confesses.

Desk: The pair sit behind a giant curved brown and silver desk with a clear acrylic top. Two ergonomically designed chairs flanking the hosts are open for guests.

Detritus: A bottle of what looks like cologne turns out to be massage oil. The men get Turkish massages together in Tribeca quarterly.

“I said I wasn’t going to do it, but it was the greatest massage of my life,” Esiason says of their first outing. (They share a massage room, but they each get their own tables, if you must know.)

The desk and bookshelves are littered with trophies. Esiason’s honor his many football accomplishments, while Carton’s are for soccer, swimming and taking second place in a golf tournament.

In the corner of the office is a picture of the duo depicted as a two-headed Centaur, a gift they received after a segment in which A-Rod talked about a similar caricature of himself. Esiason’s in the front, muscles rippling, Carton’s in the rear, his head superimposed on the torso of a busty woman.

Routine: Carton walks to work from his apartment in TriBeCa and he’s in by 4 or 4:30 a.m. Esiason drives in from Long Island, arriving 5 or 5:30. “They take the barrels off of the road at 6,” he says griping about the perpetual construction on the LIE.

They each read five or six papers and check out the highlights online on sites like deadspin.com, but they don’t talk to each other until they go on air.

“We don’t want to leave the good stuff in the hallway,” they explain.

They wrap up the show at 10, then knock off by 10:30 and go live their lives. Carton’s the father of four, the youngest born earlier this year. Esiason has two kids in college. He and his wife, Cheryl, run the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which works to fight cystic fibrosis, a disease his son, Gunnar, 19, battles.

Caffeine: Carton stays away from coffee. Esiason limits his intake to one a day, but “really likes” five-hour energy drinks.

Work style: Happy go lucky. They seem to be living their childhood dream and loving it.

NY POST JOB FAIR

Looking for work? Come to a diversity job fair sponsored by the New York Post this Thursday, July 28, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’s at the Affinia Manhattan Hotel, 371 Seventh Ave., at 31st Street.

Companies including Prudential, Cablevision, New York Life, Valley National Bank, the New York Power Authority, Time Warner Cable and the National Guard will be on hand, looking to fill jobs in customer service, sales, finance, law enforcement and other areas.

The event is free; you can register and upload your resume at catalystcareergroup.com.