HUMOR: Howard the Duck phone call

Way back in 1986, when George Lucas was still high on the fumes generated by all that Star Wars money, he started a little journey to bring Marvel Comics’ Howard the Duck to life.  To help hype the movie, Universal created a 900 line where people could call in to get a taste of what was to come…

“As incredible as it may sound, forgotten fowl Howard The Duck has poked his head above water on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his big screen debut. His re-emergence comes in the form of 18 recently-unearthed audio recordings from August 1986, used to promote the release of the “Howard The Duck” feature film (before it was universally panned as a turkey). These aural oddities were originally released as prerecorded hotline messages accessible via a 900 phone number, allowing fans their first taste of Lucasfilm’s least endearing character (preceding Jar Jar Binks by over a decade). They were recently found in the possession of obsessive fan and collector C.C. Banana, who recorded them at the time via his Darth Vader speaker phone! The Banana also has something of a reputation for conducting some fairly outrageous interviews with vintage rock stars and other celebs, including more than a few Star Wars icons (for which he adopts the moniker “Bananakin Skywalker”). These aptly-named “Duck Calls” have now been uploaded to YouTube, where they will serve to dumbfound a whole new generation of fans.”