Newsweek magazine dubbed them the "American Monty Python." George Meyer, head writer for The Simpsons, promised that "These stunt pilots of hilarity will twist your neurons into Slinkys." And public radio's Sandra Tsing Loh raved that "Edvard Munch has never been so side-splitting!"

In case you didn't just drop your Freight calendar in a mad dash to the Freight box office, allow us to elaborate: famed San Francisco comedy troupe Duck's Breath Mystery Theatre returns tonight for another long-awaited reunion, armed with their trademark surrealistic shtick, gut-busting gags, and inspired lampoonery.

Familiar faces on the San Francisco scene since 1976, Duck's Breath helped create a hip, informed and inventive Bay Area style of comedy. In the 1980s they toured nationally and created sketches for NPR's "All Things Considered" and public radio features known as "Duck's Breath Homemade Radio." Some of their best-known characters include caustic cultural commentator Ian Shoales, burnout-sage Randee of the Redwoods, and the legendary master of erroneous erudition, Dr. Science.

While the group members have since gone their separate ways, they still get together from time to time for projects like tonight's show and their recent CD, The Most Stimulating Thing You Can Do With Your Head. Duck's Breath includes Bill Allard, Dan Coffey, Merle Kessler, Leon Martell, and Jim Turner.