4 Out of 5 Doctors has been around longer than most Dallas comedy troupes. And its stable of performers is longer in tooth than the 20-something laughmeisters often found on local stages.
Neighborhood resident Mark Walters, troupe director and a co-founder, says the real difference is in the approach to finding laughs.
“We are professional actors, not comedians per se,” Walters says. “It’s scene-oriented improv. What I preach is that our emphasis is not on making a joke, but playing a scene.”
“If you let the scene happen and stay true to the scene, the joke will come out of it.”
4 Out of 5 Doctors includes nine regulars who bring to life the ideas of Walters, co-founder Mark Fickert of Lakewood and Gary Walters (brother of Mark), a former lawyer who signed on as business manager before donning a stethoscope.
The Docs have found a niche in writing and performing customized routines for business clients such as Frito-Lay and IBM. Their presentations bring levity to annual company meetings while getting across serious points, such as how to find creative solutions. Their goal is to take these corporate presentations nationwide.
While corporate comedy foots the bills, the troupe continues to perform at local clubs for a much-needed “stage fix” and to try out new material.
The Docs will be in Pocket Sandwich Theatre at 8 p.m. Oct. 22 with “Jack Kevorkian Unplugged” (sketches Gary Walters dubs “the lighter side of the dark side”) and at 8 p.m. Nov. 12 with “Hump Your Way to Health” (a grab bag to help audiences over “hump day”).
Also, the Docs will play their Kevorkian show at 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Nov. 1 at the Pocket Sandwich Theatre. For more information, call 214-821-1860.
