DYSP Story

THE DUCK, YOU SUCKER! STORY

Two brothers. One, a failed rock star. The other, a failed rock star. Together they knew that they were destined for something big. Other than their bellies, I mean...

Dan and Mike Kubat grew up in a little Canadian town called Pitt Meadows. No, not a brand of deodorant, Pitt Meadows was nestled snugly in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia and bordered by the usual assortment of lakes, mountains, rivers, and Dairy Queens. It was a town of flat pastures, smelly cow patties, and where four out of five people preferred to die in an alcohol-related car accident. Whether this has anything to do with the proliferation of Dairy Queens, or why an ice cream chain is so popular where it rains half of the year is still cause for deliberation.

WELCOME TO PITT MEADOWS! (Don't forget your church-key!)

Dukes of Hazzard? No, just some of the fine, upstanding citizens of Pitt Meadows, British Columbia.

Dan and Mike grew up in the same house, as most brothers do, and spent their formative years honing their Canadian skills of 'car-talk', collecting Rush albums, and perfecting the ability of opening beer bottles armed only with a BIC lighter. Eventually, the need to move on to bigger and better things brought them to the thriving metropolis of Vancouver where Dan became an artist and Mike became a sign painter. On slow days, Mike would use highly toxic paints without the protective use of his gas mask. Things got reeeealy slow after that. And happier.

BEER OPENING - CANADIAN STYLE

Fig. 1. - Position BIC lighter between lip of bottle cap and index (bracing) finger of left hand.

Fig. 2. - Using bracing finger as fulcrum, push lighter down while edge of lighter neatly lifts cap from bottle.

CONGRATULATIONS!

YOU CAN NOW APPLY FOR CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP!

Dan became increasingly frustrated with the lack of opportunity available to a commercial artist in Vancouver at the time, so he packed his bags once more and moved to California to further pursue his career. Mike continued working diligently, until he too decided that paint-sniffing was not all that it was cut out to be, and decided to become a rock star instead. He moved in with Dan and the two of them settled into a nice, conservative apartment complex in Irvine, CA. They named their apartment 'The Flophouse' and it was here that they discovered that booze was much cheaper than the prices they were accustomed to in Canada. Within 9 months, the place was utterly destroyed...

A friendly message from the people who brought you 'planned community living'.

Along with the Eviction Notice, a valuable lesson was learned. From now on, they were only buying the 'good' stuff. But the rigors of the rock and roll lifestyle had already taken its deadly toll. The fact that neither of them was actually in a band mattered little. The damage had been done. Artistic differences aside, Dan and Mike finally called it quits and decided to pursue solo careers instead. It was during this vulnerable time that tragedy struck. Dan got into animation. Oh, they blamed Bugs Bunny. They blamed Tom and Jerry. They even blamed that dastardly Scooby-Doo, but to no avail. Dan was hooked.

Another innocent victim falls prey to the sinister Dane and those meddling kids...

Mike tried to resist. He got married. He had children. He even became an accountant, but the temptation was too great. A lifetime of decadence and ultra-excess were no pre-requisite for the confining restraints of crunching numbers. Mike started writing cartoons. For him, it was already too late...

Dan and Mike before animation.

And shortly afterwards...

It seemed that all was lost. But then, something miraculous happened! Dan and Mike both realized that the only chance they had of breaking away from the evil clutches of the animation industry was to... make their own cartoons! Could they do it? It appeared to be a desperate ploy. After all, bills had to be paid. Bar tabs had to be collected. But with the sheer stubbornness and delusional resolve associated with creative genius and heavy beer drinking, they embarked upon their venture. In October of 1998, Duck, You Sucker! Productions was born! Animation, as we know it, may never be the same...