Is Disney’s Hollywood Studios thinking of turning PI’s “Comedy Warehouse” show into this theme park’s seasonal safety valve?

Jim Hill

13 years ago

I know, I know. It’s the holidays. So hearing people go “Ho-Ho-Ho”
this time of year isn’t all that unusual.

But that steady wave of laughter which has been rolling out
of the ABC Sound Studio at Disney’s Hollywood Studios since this past Sunday, that
IS kind of unusual. Especially since WDW Guests have been howling at a show that’s
supposedly permanently disappeared when all of the clubs on Pleasure Island were
officially closed down back on September 27, 2008.

So what should we make of the success of “The Comedy
Warehouse Holiday Special,” which has been doing turn-away business ever
since this resurrected improv comedy show began presenting six performances
daily on December 25^th? While
it’s way too early to start talking about this old PI favorite possibly becoming
a permanent fixture at the Studios, there is a rumor making the rounds that DHS
Entertainment is looking to make “Comedy Warehouse” this theme park’s seasonal safety
valve show.

“And what do you mean by ‘safety valve show?,” you ask. Well,
have you noticed that – during the busiest time of the year for the Resort –
Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ old “Hunchback of Notre Dame” theatre is sometimes
pressed into service as a movie theater which shows Disney & Pixar shorts? This
is done so that Guests who visit WDW on days when this theme park is expected
to be filled to capacity will then have something additional to do. Which — in
theory, anyway – helps shorten the lines and/or takes some of the heat off of this
park’s most popular rides, shows and attractions.

This is what DHS Entertainment is thinking of doing with “Comedy
Warehouse.” Presenting the 22-minute-long version of this old PI show inside of
the ABC Sound Studio during those times of year when the Walt Disney World
Resort is typically insanely busy (i.e. the weeks around Thanksgiving, Christmas
and Easter, Spring Break, etc). Which would then give this theme park a
flexible & affordable way to entertain and accommodate more visitors during
these periods.

Mind you, the downside of this plan is that “The Comedy
Warehouse Holiday Special” is a kind-of-expensive live show to produce. To pull
off a proper performance of this improv comedy show, you need five
Equity-trained actors. Not to mention a stage manager, a pianist, someone to handle the
sound & someone else to work the lights. And then when you factor in the Cast
Members necessary to manage the crowds in the queue, you’re talking a pretty
pricey piece of live entertainment. Especially when you consider that DHS’s
reincarnated “Comedy Warehouse” can’t recover its production costs in the way
that the old PI version of this show used to (i.e. by selling alcoholic
beverages to the patrons who were watching that particular performance).

Another complicating factor here is that – in order to have
the ABC Sound Studio open & available for seasonal presentations of Disney’s
Hollywood Studios’ version of the “Comedy Warehouse” — this building then has to
stand empty for much of the year. Which
means no permanent replacement for “Sounds Dangerous with Drew Carey.”

Which I know is going to upset a certain group of
Imagineers. Given that – for several years now – they’ve been campaigning to
transform “Sounds Dangerous” into the new indoor home of DHS’s “Star Wars: Jedi
Training Academy.” Which would then eliminate the need to regularly cancel presentations
of this hugely popular, 30-minute-long interactive outdoor show due to Central
Florida’s changeable weather.

But that said … Let’s remember that there are other areas at
WDW theme parks (EX: The old Wonders of Life pavilion as well as the Odyssey
restaurant at Epcot, Tomorrowland Terrace and the Diamond Horseshoe Saloon at
the Magic Kingdom) that are kept locked-up-tight / deliberately under-utilized much
of the time so that they can be then used during the busiest time of the year. So
keeping ABC Sound Studio empty for 40 weeks out of the year so that this venue
could then be pressed into service during Disney World’s busiest times to present
a seasonal theme park version of PI’s old “Comedy Warehouse” show would fit
that pattern.

Of course, none of this is going to happen if WDW management
doesn’t get behind this idea. Which is why – as audiences have been streaming
out of this DHS theater, raving about the improv comedy show they’ve just seen – the stage manager of “The Comedy Warehouse
Holiday Special” has reportedly been standing by the exit, loudly proclaiming
that ” … if you like what you just saw, please drop by Guest Relations and let
them know.”

And given that I know that there are Equity members in the
Central Florida area – many of whom are Comedy Warehouse & Adventurers Club
veterans – who would dearly love to have a venue on Disney World property where
they could once again perform family-friendly improv … Well, I’d like to echo
what the stage manager of “The Comedy Warehouse Holiday Special” has supposedly
been saying. That – if you’d really like to see this sort of show continue at
Disney’s Hollywood Studios (even if it’s just on a seasonal basis) – please make
a point of dropping by that theme park’s Guest Relations office and then let
the Cast Members who work there know how you feel this show.

Otherwise, after the last performance of “The Comedy
Warehouse Holiday Special” is presented on January 1^st, 2012, those Ho-Ho-Hos
may Go-Go-Go and never return.

So let’s not let this resurrected piece of Pleasure Island slip
away forever, folks. If you’re headed to Disney’s Hollywood Studios between now
and Sunday, be sure & stop by Guest Relations and make your voice be heard,
okay?

And with New Year’s Eve now just a day away, 2011 is rapidly drawing to a close. If you’d like to show how much
you’ve enjoyed the past year’s worth of stories here on JHM, please feel free to place something green in this site’s new tip jar.