Ian Shoales

Merle Kessler is a founding member of the legendary Duck’s Breath Mystery Theatre, Merle Kessler is a writer, humorist, and performer, best known perhaps by his pen name, Ian Shoales. As Ian Shoales he has been churning out cranky yet strangely humorous commentaries since 1979.

First heard on NPR’s All Things Considered, he has been featured on Morning Edition, ABC’s Nightline and the online magazine, Salon. In addition, his pieces have been published in the New York Times, LA Times, the San Francisco Examiner, USA Today, the Washington Post, and the Minneapolis Tribune, among other publications. Merle (as Ian Shoales) recently co-starred in, and co-wrote (with composer partner J. Raoul Brody) Slouching Towards Disneyland, a wild story of the history of the world. A new show, Why We Can't Have Nice Things, is in the works. He is a regular commentator for the weekly public radio program, Philosophy Talk.

The odd commentaries of Ian Shoales are a random feature of Public Radio Tulsa's daily arts and culture program StudioTulsa.

Experience the magic of Duck's Breath Mystery Theater. Read more about Ian and hear a sampling of his commentaries...