Inspiration comes from the strangest sources. Case in point: one of the first things anyone notices about Dave Douglass and Pete Breton's new office at Taxi's Toronto headquarters is an 8 x 10 mug shot of a little-known actor. His likeness adorns the wall because, according to this creative team, he is one of the world's worst actors.

"Bad actors are naturally awkward, which can be very funny," says Breton, explaining the philosophy. "It's the reason Smokey and the Bandit bears repeat viewing."

While Boards was under the impression that repeated viewings of Burt Reynolds' 1977 white-trash classic contravened the Geneva Convention, apparently one man's torture is another man's source of creative energy.

Hey, whatever works, and it seems to be doing fine by the pair: Douglass and Breton, though seemingly green, have been making surfable-sized waves on their way to becoming a celebrated creative team.

"They had one of the best reels I've ever seen - stronger than their print book," says Zak Mroueh, creative director at Taxi, who hired them mere weeks ago following the departure of Alan Madill and Terry Drummond, who left Taxi for BBDO, Toronto. "As soon as they left, I hired these guys as a replacement. They are mature and funny and prolific" - and they've already been put on the Nike account.

Mroueh first heard about the duo a couple of years back but when their work for communications corporation Rogers broke, that was it - he kept an eye on them until opportunity struck. "We'll be lucky to keep them," he adds. "They are going to be a force to reckon with."

A bit overdramatic, perhaps, but there's no denying the body of work these two have produced in a relatively short space of time. The Rogers AT&T campaign was a series of 10 spots highlighting easily identifiable ring tones. One of the commercials won them a Cannes Lion last year. The setup? A woman tries to identify a criminal out of a convoluted police lineup involving five men, one of whom is about three feet shorter than the rest. She's having trouble until the little guy's phone rings (with the personalized tone) and the woman yells, "That's him". The others in the series are in the same vein - simple, clear, funny and shot on a shoestring.

That work was done through Downtown Partners where the duo worked on campaigns for Anheuser-Busch, Quaker/Tropicana and, notably, Alexander Keith's brewery. For those spots, a semi-crazed kilt-wearing Scot threatens pub goers when they spill Keith's Ale. The ads were very successful and soon semi-crazed kilt-wearing Scotsmen began appearing on commercials hawking all kinds of things.

Douglass and Breton modestly put it down as a fluke, though at the same time, they make a point of insisting on originality for their own work. Says Breton: "If we notice that something reminds you of something else, we nix the idea."

They claim the secret to creativity is food and games. "We go out for sandwiches and then stare at each other a lot," says Breton. "Once we get the idea, then it's back and forth with dialog until it's funny."