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I Gotta Go
The Commentray of Ian Shoales (the alter ego of humorist Merle Kessler), as heard on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" and seen on ABC's "Nightline.
- GenresHumor
185 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 27, 2022
I lived in San Francisco in the late 1970s and saw several enjoyable shows by Duck’s Breath Mystery Theatre. I lost touch with them when I left the city, but in the 90s I picked up two of their cassettes, on which I first heard member Merle Kessler do his character Ian Shoales. Later, I may have heard the Shoales routine on NPR or even seen Kessler on Nightline.
The oral Ian Shoales came with the slogan “It’s all rock ‘n roll to him.” Part of the humor of his commentaries was in the character himself, someone regurgitating his media diet in a motor-mouth delivery inevitably ending with “I gotta go.” One of my students remarked that Ian Shoales spoke as if he were singing a rock ‘n roll song.
In print form, the speed of the routine is lost, and thus the content is more emphasized. The book’s forward states that some selections were revised and others were new. All come from the eighties and take the “radical middle” stance common in the era, attacking both left and right. For example, a “Letter to the Editor” is a form letter with alternating “Leftist, Conservative” choices (pages 32-34). Though one selection takes a jab at Saturday Night Live (pages 61-62), the 80s Ian Shoales is clearly of the same era as the 80s SNL.
The book is more likely to appeal to those who experienced the 80s than to those born after. There is not much interest now, for example, in Dudley Moore and Arthur (page 56). Other subjects, however, remain pertinent, particularly the pernicious influence of popular media, even before the era of social media.
Ian Shoales tries to give the impression that there is no subject he will not take on, but the book has almost nothing about race relations (the character has a few affirming words for reggae and breakdancing) and the selection on abortion is an adamant refusal to take a stand. Readers today may find the commentary not as sharp as that of Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, or Trevor Noah.
The oral Ian Shoales came with the slogan “It’s all rock ‘n roll to him.” Part of the humor of his commentaries was in the character himself, someone regurgitating his media diet in a motor-mouth delivery inevitably ending with “I gotta go.” One of my students remarked that Ian Shoales spoke as if he were singing a rock ‘n roll song.
In print form, the speed of the routine is lost, and thus the content is more emphasized. The book’s forward states that some selections were revised and others were new. All come from the eighties and take the “radical middle” stance common in the era, attacking both left and right. For example, a “Letter to the Editor” is a form letter with alternating “Leftist, Conservative” choices (pages 32-34). Though one selection takes a jab at Saturday Night Live (pages 61-62), the 80s Ian Shoales is clearly of the same era as the 80s SNL.
The book is more likely to appeal to those who experienced the 80s than to those born after. There is not much interest now, for example, in Dudley Moore and Arthur (page 56). Other subjects, however, remain pertinent, particularly the pernicious influence of popular media, even before the era of social media.
Ian Shoales tries to give the impression that there is no subject he will not take on, but the book has almost nothing about race relations (the character has a few affirming words for reggae and breakdancing) and the selection on abortion is an adamant refusal to take a stand. Readers today may find the commentary not as sharp as that of Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, or Trevor Noah.
May 15, 2021
I loved listening to this guy, one of the "whatever happened to him" characters of the 1980s.
March 8, 2011
Hilarious.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews