Dancing, singing, laughing, and wild applause. The annual “Mike and Duane Show” was made up of all of these things and more. While mostly faculty and staff twirled in circles and dressed up in silly costumes, students sat in the audience, letting their giggles run wild.

“Mike and Duane brought out the best in people and promoted community in a very tangible way,” fifth grade teacher Jeff Stone said, “where students are looking forward to ‘The Mike and Duane Show’ more than any other MX, when parents are trying to sneak in and grab a seat.” The last show was in 2014.

After working for eleven years at Parker, Mike Ferbrache started teaching first grade at GEMS World Academy Chicago. “It’s kind of similar to Parker,” Ferbrache said of GEMS. “We don’t have MX, but we do have a weekly assembly every Friday. None of those assemblies has featured “The Mike and Duane Show.”

Duane Freeman, the other half of the show, is currently living in sunny, Phoenix Arizona. He is employed at a private, independent school, called Phoenix Country Day School, where he has served as the middle school counselor and taught a Health class, similar to Parker’s ninth grade Health course.

“I was really sad when Mike and Duane left,” sophomore Emma Adelstein said. “They brought so much life to the school.” Their leaving was hard not only on the school, but on the two as individuals.

“Leaving Parker was really hard,” Freeman said. “I knew a lot of people for a long time, so I had a lot of close relationships. It was really sad, but it was good for my family to now be around a lot of relatives.”

Before their departures, “The Mike and Duane Show” became a huge commitment behind the scenes. “We were having serious conversations about the show because it was becoming a full time job,” Freeman said. “We usually started getting ideas in December, finalized in January, and then we started rehearsing from February to May.”

“Duane was our director,” upper school Science teacher Xiao Zhang said,  he was our producer, he was our screenwriter, he was everything.” For that reason exactly, the two have suspended their comedy show completely.

Although Freeman didn’t do anything major, like the “The Mike and Duane Show” this year at his new school, he did do carpool karaoke with the new faculty and staff. Carpool karaoke made its debut on The Late Late Show with James Corden, on which James Corden and Michelle Obama sang Beyoncé’s Single Ladies. “I miss the creative stuff,” Freeman said, “so I’m trying to incorporate a little of that.”

Ferbrache seems to be dealing with his new job in a similar manner. “I’m not doing anything near as elaborate as ‘The Mike and Duane Show’,” Ferbrache said. “I’m still singing songs with the class and everything, but I have not yet done a princess song. One day we will.”

In 2013, freshman Adele Lowitz was called up to the stage to be the princess of one their legendary princess songs. This was one of the many well executed performances that year, which had evolved greatly since the beginning. Lowitz said, “I loved getting up on stage and going in front of people,” Lowitz said, “and I loved the skit. I thought it was so funny.”

“I definitely miss Mike and Duane. I think someone should come back and do it, with the same idea, but different people.”

When the two left, the school not only lost them, but the community they made. “We lost a rallying point, where students and faculty can rally together,” Zhang said. “By being in that show, it allowed me to be humanized to the students ”

Though the tradition is gone, the impact remains–and tugs at many.“I miss Parker,” Freeman said, “and I wish I could dance with them.”