LA Voice's Mack Reed went to Universal Studios during the heat wave, and muses on the plight of struggling actors encased in foam-headed character costumes:

I spent the afternoon at Universal - dumbstruck by the love of show business and disregard for pain that drives perfectly talented, intelligent L.A. actors to put on thick, heavy costumes and dance around like mad in the brutal 105-degree heat. Why? What's it worth, besides a line on your resume, the risk of heatstroke and weak applause from sweating tourists?

This does present something of a dilemma for the wannabe actor class: should one take a job waiting tables, putting up with producers trying to cop a feel ("You wanna tip? Get bigger tits."), or stuff themselves into a Sonic the Hedgehog costume and risk death by heat stroke as tourist kids cop a feel?