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Popovich Comedy Pet Theater at Packard Hall Show dogs (and cats)
By John Benson
When a touring show is called The Popovich Comedy Pet Theater, the name really says it all. Yep, we’re talking about trained house pets doing, well, entertaining tricks and such.
Sure the natural leap for most folks is something akin to David Letterman’s famous “Stupid Pet Tricks” bit; however, the show’s creator, Gregory Popovich, said his animals are anything but stupid.
“We use pets different ways on stage, not just for tricks,” said Popovich, calling from somewhere in Canada. “So we have small sketches where pets are the actors. For example, we have a dog school where the dog is sitting behind the desk like a schoolteacher. Or another we call animal train station, where a conductor is taking tickets.
“So we make the main actors our pets. These are all familiar situations, and our performance is a new way for animals to participate in show business.”
The Popovich Comedy Pet Theater comes to Warren’s Packard Music Hall on Saturday. A portion of the proceeds goes toward the Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County, which is presenting the performance.
The Las Vegas show features 14 cats, 12 dogs, three geese, two pygmy goats, a mini-horse and a parrot. There’s also an acrobat from the Moscow Circus. Popovich said the tricks are both in pet and human form. “It’s a lot of physical comedy,” he said. “The animals get more applause than the adults in the show.”
Naturally, when it comes to animals performing, activists question the training techniques. Popovich said he’s a master animal trainer who employs positive-reinforcement techniques in his training. It’s this same training that he’s written about in his two books, “You CAN Train Your Cat: Secrets of a Master Cat Trainer” and “Doggy Gone Good: A Master’s Guide to Teaching Manners, Tricks and Healthy Habits.”
“For example, cats are very independent animals,” Popovich said. “We use different techniques. I pride myself on finding what makes each cat tick. Some cats would like to play with a ball, another would like to walk and another likes to jump. So it’s my job to find out what they like to do.”
He added, “It’s very important to understand, these pets aren’t doing anything against nature. They are house pets. They live with humans. Our main message to the audience is these are pets from the animal shelter. They are very talented and cute. The hope is after our show people will go to their local shelter and adopt an animal. That’s when I feel like my message reached its target.”
Speaking of reaching a target, when it comes to pets the conversation often turns to being house-trained. Should theatergoers worry about any on-stage accidents?
“No, they’re professional entertainers,” Popovich laughed. “They know when to go and when they walk on stage, there aren’t any mistakes. So the audience shouldn’t worry, everything will be clean.”