In 1976-77, five Iowans were performing comedic sketches in San Francisco`s Fisherman`s Wharf area and passing the hat, hoping to get enough money to purchase food stamps. Nowadays the group isn`t exactly cleaning up the federal treasury with a vacuum cleaner, but then it isn`t on poverty row, either.
The five, known collectively as Duck`s Breath Mystery Theatre, have acquired a bit of national recognition through their work for National Public Radio`s ”All Things Considered” and ”Morning Edition.” Public radio listeners nationwide have heard commentaries on contemporary culture by Ian Shoales (a persona of Duck`s Breath member Merle Kessler) or outrageous
”facts” of all types delivered by Dan Coffey in the company`s ”Ask Dr. Science” routine.
They now are on tour and local fans will get an opportunity to see their brand of off-the-wall humor Sunday at Holsteins, 2464 N. Lincoln Ave.
Duck`s Breath general manager Steve Barker says,”We`re not a political, satiric group. What we do is probably more cultural. . . . `Ask Dr. Science`
is pretty typical of our attitude, a questioning authority. Basically, it`s a complete parody of all the expert or advice shows you hear in radio.”
On one show, Dr. Science informs listeners that pretzels and Triscuits are naturally grown snack foods. Both, he tells us, are large crystals.
Group writer and actor Bill Allard says, ”We take simple stories and go off the genres.” Take Gonad the Barbarian, the troupe`s parody of Conan the Barbarian. ”It was,” says Allard, ”a sort of Road Warrior thing we came up with before Road Warrior came out. It`s basically after the apocalypse and Gonad runs into all sorts of strange people along the way and kills them.”
Gonad`s attire is odd, to say the least. ”He wears a colander for a hat and his basher,” Allard says, ”is a toilet plunger with a gallon plastic milk carton at the end. You can smash anything with it and it makes a loud sound. His chain mail is pop tops and he wears a rubber tire. This was really the junk of our culture. The main joke was that people didn`t know what the stuff was for.”
One thing that Duck`s Breath members–Allard, Kessler, Coffey, Jim Turner and Leon Martell–are proud of is that the 5 of them have remained together for 11 years. ”They started at the University of Iowa,” Baker says. ”Four of the five were in master`s degree programs in theater.”
Shortly after graduating from college, where they acted in school plays and played in nightclubs for free beers and 50-cent covers, the group left for San Francisco with $200 apiece. They have been based there ever since.
What: Duck`s Breath Mystery Theatre.
Where: Holsteins, 2464 N. Lincoln Ave.; 327-3331.
When: At 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
How much: $8.
