Leave ‘em Laughing
At the 2013 D23
Expo there was a celebration of the 60th year of Walt Disney Imagineering
(WDI). To celebrate among other things there were five panel discussions with
legendary WDI Imangineers. Leave Them Laughing was the final panel discussion.
David Fisher, Joe Lanzisero,
Kevin Rafferty, Jason Surrell and George Scribner discussed how at the
beginning there was not much humor at Disneyland. This zany panel led a lighthearted
romp through the history of humor in the Disney parks.
About six years
after Disneyland opened Walt had a feeling something was missing so he sent
animator Marc Davis to check it out. When Mark came back to report for Walt he
said that Disneyland was lacking what all the animated movies had, humor. So
Walt sent him the task of adding humor where he could.
What happened next
was an hour of zany joking, recounting of different humorous events like the
jungle cruise and how to try to translate jokes into different languages and
cultures. It was pointed out that Chinese was particularly difficult. One joke
works in every language. You’re going to have to watch the accompanying video
to find out what that is!
They also talked
about how humor is used overtly and covertly throughout all the Disney venues.
This discussion was punctuated by two sound generators that were brought in by
to the panel luminaries. This was an excellent final session. It was lively and
kept you laughing and awake.
Enjoy the video:
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