Mickey's Comedy For Kids

Various Artists

Walt Disney Records, 1999

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 04/03/1999

What is the hardest thing about this job? It's not sludging through albums that never should have made it off the cutting room floor, it's not that I don't make any money from this.

No, the hardest part is listening to children's albums and trying to listen to them from the vantage point of a preschooler - not easy to do when the reviewer is within sniffing distance of 30.my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250

Case in point: Mickey's Comedy For Kids, a tape that is geared directly to the kids. If only my daughter were older, I'd have her review this tape... but a month shy of her third birthday, she's not quite ready to tackle music reviewing yet. Besides, she was more interested in this tape just because Mickey Mouse is on the cover art, not because of what's on the tape.

The action takes place on stage at Mickey's Laugh Shack, where a mixture of music and jokes are the main course of the day. (Parents will have to do all they can to stifle groans with some of these jokes, especially if your kids listen to tapes over and over again like my daughter does.) The jokes are directed at the kids, and they're sure to get some chuckles out of these.

What confuses me about Mickey's Comedy For Kids is the reliance on music and the introduction of characters, some of whom are never introduced to the listener. It's okay when the musical piece revolves around the jokes, like "You Quack Me Up" and "A Shaggy Dog Story," but often, the songs are entities all their own, such as "Don't Laugh," "Atchoo!" and "'Snormal", and they stick out like Bugs Bunny would in a Disney cartoon.

Even to a kid, Mickey's Comedy For Kids doesn't seem that funny. What could have helped this tape would have been to turn it more into a real "live-action" piece, with less reliance on the songs and more on kids' favorite Disney characters telling corny jokes that only the under-ten crowd could appreciate. Even there, some of the sketches would have needed to be tightened up, like "A Goofy Story" - though I'm willing to admit that the kids might enjoy this one more than I think they would. (Incidentally, my test case - namely, my daughter - was more interested in looking at a Toys 'R Us ad while this tape played at home. Oh, well.)

Mickey's Comedy For Kids could be summed up in four words: good premise, weak outcome.

Rating: C-

User Rating: Not Yet Rated


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© 1999 Christopher Thelen and The Daily Vault. All rights reserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without written permission. Cover art is the intellectual property of Walt Disney Records, and is used for informational purposes only.