“That’s a lot of experience in just your regular shift. It would take weeks to do that for stand up,” Marley said.
Many of the skippers have never performed professionally before, but Marley makes sure he gives all the newbies a Skipper Survival Guide when they sign on for the show.
The five-page booklet includes tips on stage technique and etiquette, how to deal with hecklers, how to write and tell jokes, and most importantly, what the jungle has taught them about stand-up comedy.
Some of the skippers tell stories and jokes about their experiences at Disneyland, but that’s not a requirement.
For many of the comics, current events, personal experiences and audience feedback provides more than enough material for their jokes.
Marley’s first comedy show at the Maverick, using non-skipper comedians, tanked after about three months, and the idea to produce a skipper stand-up show went over like a lead balloon with Marley’s two partners.
“They told me I would be on my own with that show, they thought it was such a bad idea,” Marley said.
His partners couldn’t have been more wrong. The show sold out a week before it opened, Marley said, and he had to pull chairs from the dressing room at the last minute so members of the audience wouldn’t have to stand.
Trevor Kelly worked the Jungle Cruise for one year, before Disney higher-ups decided his ad-libbing and refusal to follow the script was too renegade and Indiana Jonesish for them.
Fortunately, Kelly has an outlet for his antics at the Maverick, routinely performing with friend and sidekick Joey Hurley, another former skipper. Kelly said skippers were like the “Illuminati,” an organization that secretly sticks together and are friends for life.
