Comedian performs for Gatorland’s alligators in new special
Comedian Chris Gethard’s new comedy special heads to streaming services on June 1. “Half My Life” follows Gethard’s 2019 tour, in which he performed at 10 small venues, including one “dangerous” spot: Gatorland in Orlando.
“Hopefully people watch this thing as we’re coming out of COVID and start to remember what it felt like to have live shows at intimate venues,” Gethard said. “I’m also pretty happy to kind of get some good footage of what these places looked like and felt like.”
Some may recall Gethard’s Gatorland 2018 NPR routine — an “epic, threepart joke” he developed after a 2013 visit to the park with his wife, Hallie Bulleit. The comedian playfully riffed on the park’s trademarks — including its famed concrete jaws entrance, feeding turkey hot dogs to alligators, having an albino python around Bulleit’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.
“Disney dominates in many ways, and Gatorland just does their thing their own way and it’s not corporate,” said the 41-year-old New Jersey native who recalls visiting Vernon Township’s Action Park amusement and water park, which he likens to the Central Florida wildlife attraction.
“I just love that old-school vibe, some lawlessness and chaos. … and I think Gatorland definitely has that,” he said. “Action Park was very
much the same vibe, so I was really into it.”
In 2019, he approached Gatorland to be a part of his special, which gives viewers a glimpse into the life of a touring artist.
Gatorland’s Savannah Boan said the attraction has a long history of working with comedians, such as Fluffy, though this marked the attraction’s first standup performance. They built Gethard a fake brick wall backdrop, complete with a Gatorland Comedy Club logo, to use while filming his set for an audience of 30 gators.
“He did a bunch of comedy to our alligators, which was really funny because they just kind of got up and started walking away in the middle of it,” Boan said with a chuckle. “Then he would be like, ‘Oh, I guess he didn’t like that joke. Well, I’ll come back next week.’ … “He’s such a smart, quick-witted comedian, so it was really great to be able to spend that time with him.”
Gethard said he tries to think outside the box when it comes to his performances.
“I think that’s why maybe Gatorland connected with me so hard. I think they think outside the box in many ways as well,” he said. “It was just clear that we were kindred spirits, and I think they understood that everything I was saying, even the critical stuff, I think they could feel that it was said with a lot of love.”
Boan said Gatorland bonded with Gethard over humor.
“All of our shows are comedy-based. A lot of the things that we do social media-wise are comedy-based,” she said, noting how Gatorland utilized the Social Distancing Skunk Ape to encourage safety at the park amid the coronavirus pandemic. “We probably think we’re a lot funnier than we actually are, but we really, really love comedy.”
Gethard hopes the Gatorland material resonates with Central Floridians and those who have visited the 110-acre theme park and wildlife preserve.
“They let me get like 18 inches from alligators and throw meat to them. It’s wild,” he said. “I think people are going to go, ‘Yeah, that really captures the spirit of the place I know.’ I hope that it just feels honest, and I hope it feels funny.”
“Half My Life” heads June 1 to streaming services — including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV and YouTube. An accompanying album will be released June 4.
For more information about Gethard, go to chrisgeth.com. For more on Gatorland, visit gatorland. com.