DAAS began performing as buskers on the streets of Canberra in 1984, while they were attending university. After winning the Pick of the Fringe award at the 1986 Adelaide Fringe Festival, the group relocated from Canberra to Melbourne, but it was not until they travelled to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1987 that they first achieved success. They quickly gained popularity in the United Kingdom, where they made numerous television appearances and performed several times on the UK's Channel 4 late-night alternative comedy show "Viva Cabaret", but remained virtually unknown in Australia until 1989 when they were made regular performers on the Australian comedy show "The Big Gig". These appearances gained them recognition, and they remained a popular feature of the show until 1991 when they left to create their own ABC comedy series, "DAAS Kapital".