Mar 23, 2015
How many times have you heard people grumble about getting poor customer service at a store or by buying an online product? My guess is..many times! And why do you suppose that happens? It’s because the people who are producing and selling the product take little to...
Mar 16, 2015
This has to be categorized as one of the worst things that can happen to any entertainer, but most especially a ventriloquist. You get to a distant city only to find the airlines has lost your act and luggage. All you have is the shirt on your back and your passport....
Mar 9, 2015
Finding the right vent figure or puppet can be challenging. It takes tons of thinking to develop a good character that represents you and your act well. Hopefully I can give you some guidelines as to what I feel is important when picking or creating your “guy” or...
Mar 2, 2015
As I go back through the archives, I have found that Maher Studios has been instrumental aiding ventriloquists through informational articles for decades. It all started with “Newsy Vents”, a publication that was put out by Fred Maher, the founder of Maher Studios....
Feb 23, 2015
Ever hear those words echo in your ear when you talk to a prospective client? I think we all have had this experience at one time or another. Buyers want a big extravaganza show for just a few dollars, and oh, by the way, they want you to set up hours before the gig...
Feb 16, 2015
I once knew a lady vent and her husband who called and wanted to visit with me at my home and show me some of her puppets and her scrap book. We had a wonderful time talking vent shop and she mentioned to me that she did 33 different voices for her several characters...
Feb 9, 2015
Believe it or not, some vents in countries outside the United States actually believe that the only true ventriloquists are the ones who use the standard hard figures. While I have no problem with vents using the wooden, composition, or fiberglas figures made of hard...
Feb 2, 2015
The statement I just made at the beginning of this column really asks an important question..where DO you make the majority of your performing dollars? Chances are you are making it in your regional market, the area that is manageable for you to mine to find the...
Jan 26, 2015
I am a student of comedy and a big fan of the comedy writer Robert Orben. In the late fifties and early sixties, right through to the seventies, Bob Orben published many books on comedy one-liners as well as some books on how to write and perform comedy. He even...
Jan 19, 2015
I think any well-respected vent has a certain amount of “shelf clutter”, but is it really clutter or just stored equipment that will be called into play for a show in the near future? That, my friends, is the question, and the subject of this discussion this week....
