Jerry and Mike have explained numerous times in interviews and in their first book that the Gabe and Tycho characters were never originally meant to be them (they didn't even have names at first).
I read Penny Arcade ever Mon/Wed/Fri and find it to be consistently entertaining, and informative commentary on the games industry at large. Every time a new game scandal erupts, my first thought is, "I wonder what Gabe and Tycho will say about this."
Since this is America, it's perfectly acceptable for you to disagree with me. But you can't dispute PA's influence. They have probably *millions* of regular readers (I've ranges from a low of 800,000 to a high of 4.8 million). I've checked out many games based on their recommendation. Some I've liked, some not, but they definitely influenced me to at least check them out.