By Joseph McDonough
Enquirer contributor

Do you remember lawn darts and tough-skin jeans? How about little green army men or E-Z Bake ovens?

Do you remember when your favorite cereal boxes actually boasted about high sugar content? Did you ever ride on a long vacation drive in the "way back" of your family's Country Squire station wagon?

If so, then you will probably enjoy The Wonder Bread Years, the one-man play being produced at Dayton's Human Race Theatre Company.

Actually, to call The Wonder Bread Years a play is a misnomer because it is really a stand-up comedy routine written and performed by former Seinfeld writer Pat Hazell.

Mr. Hazell does have a beautiful front porch and yard set (by Scott J. Kimmins) to walk on as he takes us down memory lane to the simpler, wonder-filled years of childhood.

He interacts with the audience as he conjures up recollections of toys, parents, siblings, clothes, and other warm memories from his wonder years that were shared middle-class experiences with many of us.

The first act focuses mostly on stuff - the food we ate or hated, the toys we used and abused, and the advertising jingles and commercials that got us to beg our parents to buy us those things we couldn't live without.

The second act is mostly about holidays, particularly the kids' big three: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Mr. Hazell has some truly funny memories (and a slide show to prove them) such as the humiliation of having to wear a non-cool Colonel Sanders costume for Halloween.

There's nothing controversial here (we never reach our tumultuous teen-age years in this show), and the material is not particularly original. But Mr. Hazell is a smart writer and has a disarmingdelivery.

Familiarity is the lifeblood of this sort of comedy and it all depends on who you are.

Many in the audience at the performance I attended were older than the show's target audience of thirty- and fortysomethings. They seemed to enjoy themselves but didn't have those instantaneous grins of recognition that Mr. Hazell's work searches for.

But if you lived your childhood around the `60s and '70s, you'll likely be smiling most of the time - and laughing quite a bit - during The Wonder Bread Years.

And they'll even hand you a mini-loaf of kid-favorite Wonder Bread as you leave the theater.

The Wonder Bread Years, through Dec. 22, Human Race Theatre Company, (937) 228-3630.