Gatorland still grinning after comedian’s routine on NPR

Gatorland and NPR don’t usually swim in the same waters. But last weekend the longtime Orlando attraction got airtime as the subject of a comedian’s routine on the popular “Live From Here” radio variety show.

Chris Gethard – known for stand-up, a one-man show called “Career Suicide,” a book titled “Lose Well” and the “Beautiful/Anonymous” podcast – playfully riffed on several Gatorland trademarks, including its famed concrete jaws entrance, feeding turkey hot dogs to alligators, having an albino python around his wife’s neck and “Chester the dog eater,” one of Gatorland’s biggest and best-known residents. He also compared its qualities with the prices and lines associated with Walt Disney World.

“At Gatorland, I paid $20 total and within five minutes of entering I was watching a show where they hang chicken carcasses from strings and alligators leap out of a swamp and get’m,” he said in his routine. “That’s bang for your buck right there.”

Gethard, who lives in New York City, got into the bit via a familiar theme from national outlets – there’s more to do in Orlando than hang with Mickey Mouse. He and his wife came down in February.

“We didn’t want to spend our whole vacation there and that led to us saying something that doesn’t always end well. …We said, ‘Let’s see what else Orlando has to offer.’” The audience giggled.

Gatorland CEO Mark McHugh took the jokes in stride.

“You know us, we don’t take ourselves real seriously anyway. We’ve got sort of corny, quirky sense of humor,” McHugh said. “I thought it was a funny, funny bit.”

Gatorland’s down-home humor includes having Bubba and Cooter as spokesmen. McHugh said he laughed throughout Gethard’s 5-minute routine, including elements exaggerated for comic effect. “Ultimately, it’s an audience listening to him that may not have heard of us,” McHugh said. “It puts our brand in front of an audience that we might never have gotten in front of and, hopefully, opens some doors for some folks to come see us.”

Gethard comically compared the intense scouting of Florida by Walt Disney with the establishment of Gatorland.

“As far as I can tell, Gatorland came into existence when some lunatic who already owned a swamp put a fence around it and was, like, ‘Now it’s called Gatorland.’”