Electrical Parade’s Evil Twin Is Life of the Party at Knott’s

The Main Street Electrical Parade must die!

Those merry pranksters at Knott’s Berry Farm took a satirical swipe at rival Disneyland this Halloween season by calling for the death of the interminable light parade as part of its cheeky holiday extravaganza.

“The Hanging,” a fast-paced, irreverent comedy/horror revue, has become a perennial favorite at Knott’s Halloween Haunt. The live show is hosted by an “executioner” who puts some of the year’s most infamous newsmakers on trial in Calico Square, much to the delight of bloodthirsty Knott’s patrons.

Past “victims” have included Madonna, Roseanne, Rush Limbaugh and George Bush. This year, Knott’s pulled the Mouse’s tail a bit by demanding the extermination of the Electrical Parade, which keeps marching on like something out of Night of the Living Dead.

Disneyland recently extended the parade’s run until Nov. 25, and continues to hype the 24-year-old relic, which has drawn record crowds to the Anaheim park but has parade-weary souls like Tom Cluff ready to drive a stake through the Blue Fairy’s heart to put an end to all the hysteria.

“I said, ‘Puh-lease, enough is enough,’ ” said Cluff, the writer and director of “The Hanging ’96.” “It’s time to get rid of the thing.”

Knott’s didn’t physically hang any of the Electrical Parade’s characters at its gallows--though Cluff said he’d seriously considered slaying Pete’s Dragon for the crowds. Instead, Knott’s parodied the procession by putting twinkling lights on its creepy gallows guards, who carried impaled heads on spikes to the strains of “Baroque Hoedown,” the distinct theme music of the Electrical Parade.

“The crowd loved it,” Cluff said.

Cluff said he hasn’t heard from Disney’s legal department--yet.

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Marla Dickerson covers tourism for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-5670 and at marla.dickerson@latimes.com