Swifties will be on high alert when “The Hanging” returns to Knott’s Scary Farm with Taylor Swift expected to play a key role in the pop culture skewering show that dishes out hefty doses of tasteless comedy, pointless bloodletting and senseless killings.
Knott’s Scary Farm 2024 will feature 10 haunted mazes, five scare zones and four live shows on select nights from Sept. 19 to Nov. 2 at the Buena Park theme park.
“The Hanging: The Errors Tour” comedy and stunt show will play three times a night in the Wagon Camp Theater during Knott’s Scary Farm.
“This is the show you remember with all the satire, parody and pop culture references,” said Jeff Tucker, Knott’s Berry Farm show writer and director of this year’s edition of “The Hanging.” “Certainly, this year we’ve had a lot of big events, big characters, big movies and big TV shows that we can play off against.”
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The title of “The Errors Tour” parody and satire show offers a nod to Taylor Swift’s record-setting Eras Tour.
The pop superstar — or least a celebrity impersonator — will make an appearance in some form during “The Errors Tour.”
“Anybody that’s popular is getting skewered in the show,” Tucker said during an online video interview. “There will be some Taylor Swift references, but not enough to have the Swifties descend upon us, hopefully. But enough to make them want to buy the T-shirt.”
Will Taylor Swift end up on the Hangman’s gallows for her sins against pop culture?
Scary Farmers will find out when the first show debuts in the Wagon Camp Theater on Sept. 19.
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In this year’s show, the Hangman and Lawman make their triumphant return from a much-deserved Hawaiian vacation only to find they’ve been replaced by two new artificial intelligence-powered characters.
“The show has been taken over by a new supervisor who is using AI to create a better show,” Tucker said. “You’ll definitely recognize the new supervisor.”
“The Hanging” returned to Knott’s Scary Farm in 2023 after four years away — a sabbatical that was partially self imposed and pandemic induced. Last year’s show had quite a bit of heavy lifting to do — catching up on the past few years in pop culture and celebrating Scary Farm’s 50th anniversary.
“This year we get to start with a fresh, new slate,” Tucker said. “The Hangman and the Lawmen had a big success last year. They hanged a Karen and declared that comedy was safe again.”
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The parody pool is target rich this year with Deadpool, Wolverine, Beetlejuice and the Ghostbusters expected to take a beating during “The Hanging.”
Larry the Knott’s Security Guy will be back again to keep the show running safely and smoothly.
“He was very popular last year,” Tucker said. “Larry will be there to make sure everything is secure.”
Last year, the first half of the show leaned heavily into the comedy and left the audience wondering when the action would start.
“I learned a lot about what the audience is looking for,” Tucker said. “I certainly learned what the stunt men and women in the show are looking for. Last year’s script didn’t have a lot of stunts. We added them in as we went along.”
The pacing of comedy and action will be more evenly spaced out in this year’s “Errors Tour,” according to Tucker.
“I’ve actually got a color coordinated script now that tells me where the dirty jokes are and where the stunts are,” Tucker said. “So I can actually look at it like a graph and say, ‘Oh, we’ve gone four pages without somebody getting smacked in the head. I’ve really got to put that in there.’”
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Just like last year, you’ll need to get in line early if you want to see one of “The Hanging” shows. Seats fill up fast in the Wagon Camp Theater.
“The best seats are in the back,” Tucker said. “You need to sit in the back to get the full spectacle.”
The first come, first served Wagon Camp Theater venue proved the perfect spot for the R-rated show with plenty of F-bombs and off-color comedy.
“You can’t be offended walking by,” Tucker said. “If you want to be offended, you have to come in. You have to commit to sitting down and watching the show.”
Last year, Tucker kept the comedy and action bits short out of concern about shorter audience attention spans.
“The way people absorb media now is very quickly — TikTok, YouTube, shorts, reels,” Tucker said. “I didn’t know if people would sit through 30 minutes. They did. Nobody ever walked out.”
This year, the show will be a little longer with more characters and storytelling.
“We can have some, what I call, breather moments,” Tucker said. “Where the show dips a little bit, allows you to catch your breath and then goes right back into it.”
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Disneyland will be in the crosshairs once again — especially after the D23 fan event. And Knott’s will be in for some of the sharpest barbs.
“The funniest stuff is when we make fun of ourselves,” Tucker said. “There were no complaints about the show last year. I was really shocked because I thought we pushed the envelope pretty hard.”
“The Hanging: The Errors Tour” will be joined by three other shows during Knott’s Scary Farm 2024.
The new “Yours Cruelly Elvira XXperience” video revue will play continuously throughout the evening on event nights in the Walter Knott Theater.
The returning “Le Magnifique Carnaval du Grotesque” circus sideshow will be back on the Calico Mine Stage while the “Conjurers” magic show in the Bird Cage Theatre will feature a rotating cast of magicians.
