This is a question I have been asked by reporters, newspaper people, and especially other ventriloquists. The clowns have huge numbers..the magicians are in abundance, but why so few vents in comparison? Let’s take a short look into this in this installment .
First, there are more ventriloquists out there then what you and I think. Many vents are not professional, just like the clowns and magicians, and many are not “joiners”. They have not gone to a Vent Haven ConVENTion and they do not have membership in the IVS (International Ventriloquists Society). They enjoy our craft, they just don’t openly participate with others. Occasionally you will see new names crop up coming to the ConVENTion and each year our ConVENTion has between 50-80 never-never before participants show up. Because these vents are new for whatever reason they just never found out about the IVS , Maher, or the Vent Haven ConVENTion.
Another reason our numbers are lower in comparison is that there is no “instant gratification” when it comes to ventriloquism. You can either do it, or you can’t. Magicians have differing levels of magic tricks, depending upon the skill of the magician, and clowns can start in an apprentice way with makeup and clown props. Not so with ventriloquism. Our art requires you doing it and doing it well at the beginning to make it work correctly.
We have many different things we have to do all at once which often scares away prospective vents. You have to do your voice, the puppet’s voice, manipulate the puppet, do acting, and then have produce a script that flows and is funny to a large range of audiences. Comedy is not for cowards! When many who want to perform look at all we have to multi-task doing, they often go in another direction.
But the BEST part about it..it’s the satisfaction of KNOWING that we can pull all of this off. It keeps our numbers lower, but the ones we DO have , have a rare skill. YOU reading this are a part of that number! Encourage a would-be vent to look at Maher Studios and learn how..encourage someone to join the IVS to become aware of all of what others are doing…and especially have them come to the Vent Haven ConVENTion (July 15-18). There is still time to register at venthavenconvention.com They will thank you for this!
To contact Mark: kidshowvent@gmail.com
