The Pets and Giggles Team

Jordan Williams is 17 years old — and has a performing gig so many actors would envy. She gets paid to do improvisational comedy at Grand Country Music Hall in Branson, working as one of four hosts of the popular family show Pets & Giggles.

The show was born when Events Manager Andy Holloway challenged producer Andy Parks to write a new pets show, and “it just so happens we really work well together,” Parks says. Pets & Giggles, he explains, still has animals like more traditional shows, “but we created it with a really amazing family element — kind of like ‘Double Dare’ meets pets.

“We’re really committed to kids and families having fun at the show and being part of the show and making a memory.”

Williams met Parks at a homeschool cooperative, where he taught improvisational comedy — a class she avoided because she found it "terrifying." But when he substituted in her theater class, she had no choice but to give it a try. And she was so good that when a job came open in Pets & Giggles, he invited her to audition.

It wasn't her introduction to theater, by any means, she says. She's been appearing on stage with that homeschool co-op since she was 6 years old and studying at King's Academy of Performing Arts, a non-profit, Christian based theater academy in Branson. Family moves to Colorado and then California kept her off stage for a few years, but when she returned to Branson and to performing, Williams says she was thoroughly hooked. "My love for theater just skyrocketed!" she says.

Now, six months into her role in Pets & Giggles, Williams knows that no two days will ever be the same, but all of them will be the most fun she can imagine.



"It's always crazy on stage," agrees cast member Zane Kramer, 21, who has been with the show for two years. "But we love the show! We have lots of big crowds coming in, and they're looking for the chance to get up on stage, and we give them that opportunity."

It's the job of Williams, Kramer and their colleagues to involve the audience in everything from game show segments to jumping rope with some of the show's canine headliners.

The starring canines come in all shapes and sizes, from a bull terrier who looks like the famous retail mascot to a French bulldog, a Chihuahua, and blue heelers who perform to music from kid-favorite cartoon “Bluey,” all of them accompanied by their own trainers. Trainers may come and go through the season, Parks explains, but it's the core cast who keep the performance on track.

Kramer says everybody on the team is constantly looking for new ideas to make the show fresh and funny — "because we have so many audience members who keep coming back!" — and that means he and his castmates are always putting their heads together, looking for new material. But most of the fun is driven by the folks they bring into the story.

"We pull strangers up on the stage every day," Kramer says. "Sometimes that means figuring out how to redirect or pretend this is all part of the script, so to speak. We never know what's going to happen, but that's why we like to do it!

"It wouldn't work without the cast being completely dialed in. I love the team we have, and they keep it steady."

Williams says she just switches her brain into improv mode.

"You have to see where everyone is on stage, hear everybody's little comments, and still keep what you're doing on track," she says. "I just remind myself to relax and breathe, turn my brain off and roll with it."

Her favorite part, Williams says, is when kids "look at you like you're the best thing they've ever met!"

"Doing a Branson show was always my dream," she says. "But I didn't know 'til I joined this job just how cute the kids would be and how much I'd enjoy them!"

Williams will stay with the show come fall, but she'll also be attending college at Missouri State University in Springfield, with the goal of becoming a psychologist or psychiatrist. Kramer says he's doing exactly what he plans to do for the foreseeable future.

"It's funny, because my dad wanted me to go to college, and now I'm a comedian in a pet show," he says. "But this is all I want to do."

Parks credits the cast of "stellar" humans for making Pets & Giggles fun for everybody on stage and in the audience.

“The cast are all young themselves — fresh and new and wanting to have fun with your family — and they’re always out in the lobby before the show, in the middle of the show, and after the show, to meet our guests — and to find out who would make a great participant,” Parks says. “The games in the show bring so many people up on stage, so it’s really family-centric and really an experience that makes family memories.

“From the beginning to the end, it’s a roller coaster ride of a show, and there’s a good chance you or someone you know is going to be a star!”

Also offered this summer at Grand Country Music Hall are:

Grand Jubilee — This is where audiences fall in love with Grand Country performers and make the choice to come back again and again! With the quartet New South and The Rhinestone Mafia centerstage, the show has won “Entertainers of the Year,” “Branson’s Best Show,” “Branson’s Best Variety Show,” “Quartet of the Year,” “Comedian of the Year,” “Emcee of the Year” and more. You’ll hear Top 40, country & gospel classics, and rock ‘n’ roll hits from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, all seasoned with comedy by Jamie Haage. And you’ll see emcee Patrick in a dozen different custom-made rhinestone suits from Hollywood because “half the magic happens through your eyes.” Grand Jubilee takes place every day but Sunday at 7:30 p.m., so you can build your schedule around it.

Comedy Jamboree — If you liked the taste of comedy you got at Grand Jubilee, come back for the Comedy Jamboree, where no two shows are ever the same but the comedy is always family-friendly and full of belly laughs. Showtime is 3 p.m. on select dates.

Branson Country USA — Co-hosted by Jamie Haage and Mike Patrick, this late-night show promises the powerful harmonies of New South, lots of laughs and guest stars you won’t believe you’re actually seeing. The show is syndicated on radio and TV, so you just might get to see yourself on the air. Showtime is 10:30 p.m. Fridays.

Ozarks Gospel — With the sweet harmonies of Tammy and Tonya Bilyeau, you can’t find a better way to celebrate the Lord on Sunday. Showtime is 2 p.m. The Bilyeau sisters are back at 7 p.m. on Sundays for Ozarks Country, celebrating country classics of yesteryear combined with today’s hot country hits!

Summer showtimes for Pets & Giggles are 10 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. on select days. Find out more and make your reservations at grandcountrylivemusic.com.