A Day in the LIfe of Little Jeff

Why do I put up with this...a day in the life of Little Jeff. Check out the YouTube video.

https://youtu.be/H6rHVi9QHCU

Double Talk 2019 Fast Approaching!

After a few years of absence, the Double Talk ventriloquist show is back! It's on April 20th at the Notre Dame Academy Performing Arts Center near Cincinnati, OH. The show is from 3-4:30pm.

On the show this year: Jeff Goltz, Mike Hemmelgarn and David Turner!

Watch the short video for more info. See you there!

Lee

Hurry! New Bob Rumba DVD Release at a Special Price until 11/5/18

Bob Rumba's fantastic NEW DVD "Publicity Photos Workshop" is being released on 11/5/18. However, until the official release date, I am offering a special pre-release price that includes FREE shipping to anywhere in the US. And the cover is AUTOGRAPHED by Bob. This workshop was presented at the Vent Haven ConVENTion this past July. The workshop included Bob showing over 150 of his professional publicity photos spanning his successful career and the story behind the set-up of the pictures. There was also a segment where he had volunteers from the audience bring their puppets up on stage and Bob explained how to set up awesome photos. The pre-order price is only $19.95, and again, includes free shipping to anywhere in the US. If you live outside of the US and are interested in a copy, please email me at lee@ventriloquism101.com and I'll calculate shipping for you. Here is the link to order at the pre-release price: https://tinyurl.com/rumba-publicity-special Reserve your autographed copy today. Thanks! Lee

The 2018 Vent Haven ConVENTion - from my perspective

I wanted to take a few minutes here and give you a little review of the
Vent Haven International Ventriloquist ConVENTion I was at last week -
from my perspective.

For those of you who don't know, the convention takes place every year near Cincinnati, OH - mainly because the location is just a few minutes away from the only museum in the world dedicated to the art of ventriloquism -
The Vent Haven Museum, in Ft. Mitchell, KY

This year was the 42nd annual get together. I went to my first convention in 1981.

Once again, Executive Director Mark Wade and his team knocked it out of the
park. Just a fantastic lineup of workshops and shows again this year.

The event was at a new location this year - The Cincinnati Airport Holiday Inn.
A very nice hotel and they seemed to have no problem handling the over
500 who registered.

The theme this year was "The Power of Funny."

I was saddened by the loss of two of the greats in our art, Bob Isaacson and
Jerry Layne over the past few months, but I'm sure they were looking down
on all of us.

I also missed my good friends Jimmy Nelson, Sammy King and Al Stevens,
who were not able to attend this year. And I know I'm missing others who
couldn't make it.

Since there are so many people there and so much to do, I didn't have the
chance to go to all of the workshops. Plus, I've been attending for so many years,
sometimes I just like to hang out in the huge lobby and find some other vent
friends to sit and talk to. I did that a lot this year.

Just a few of the highlights included (remember, I wasn't able to get to everything
on the schedule, although I would have liked to - sorry if I miss mentioning some
of you. I know you all did a terrific job ):

-The BIG WEDNESDAY NIGHT SHOW with Neale Bacon from Canada, Lisa Laird
and Al Moessinger. They all had funny acts and were well received by the
audience,

-Bob Rumba's workshop on how to set up publicity shots was a lot of fun.
Bob's lectures always border on crazy. He's one of the funniest guys I know.

-The Junior and Senior open mic sessions. There are some really talented folks
who sign up for this each year - especially the kids. It's great to see the stars of t
omorrow performing and then getting critiqued by a panel of professionals.

-The SUPER THURSDAY NIGHT SHOW with David Crone, Dan Sachoff, Trish Dunn
and Rey Ortega. Another fantastic show!

-Shane West's "Creating Character Voices" was very good and had a ton of useful
content and ideas.

- I especially enjoyed Austin Phillips and Tyler Ellis' "Fully loaded - Hard Figure
Care and Repair" workshop. It was cool to see the inner workings of some classic
figures. These two are really becoming the best as the new generation of hard
figure makers.

- Jeff Glotz and Jake LaMarca's "Comedy Club Experiences" was fun and the
Friday night International show is always a highlight.

-The annual raffle was a blast, as usual. For some reason, Mark Wade and
Jeff Dunham were "on" to a level I'd never seen before with their back and forth
jabs at each other as the raffle prizes were being awarded. Of course, I didn't win
any raffle prizes, but was honored and humbled to receive the
WS Berger Distinguished Service Award this year.
And congrats to David Crone and Daniel Robison - the other recipients this year.

- What can I say. The SATURDAY NIGHT ALL STAR SHOW was one of the best
I've ever seen. Keith Haddrill, Phil Hughes and Darren Carr literally had the whole
room on the floor with non-stop laughter. My eyes were watering.

And don't forget the free tours to the Vent Haven Museum, the two packed
dealers rooms and just the opportunity to hang out with like minded performers
from all parts of the world.

There was also an update on the progress of the new, state of the art museum
which will be completed in the near future.

If you've never been to the convention, you simply MUST attend.
If you go once, you WILL return again.

Here are a couple of links you should check out:

The Vent Haven Convention website

The Vent Haven Museum website 
(also please consider making a donation to the new museum capital fund
campaign-thank you!)

The four days always go by so fast and I'm already counting down the days
until next years convention.

Vent on,

Lee
https://ventriloquistacademy.com

The Ventriloquist Academy Launches

I'm thrilled to announce that my new website, The Ventriloquist Academy, launched this past Monday, July 23rd.

So far, subscriptions have been brisk. It's good to see even more people wanting to learn how to become a ventriloquist. My goal over the past 21 years has always been to try and help keep the art of vent alive and growing - by offering the best quality educational and entertaining materials I can to the ventriloquist community.

The Ventriloquism 101 website, which launched in 1997 with just my single VHS video - then added a DVD edition and other videos, CD's and books - has seen a drop in buyers in recent years. And I think that has to do with folks not wanting to purchase physical DVD's, CD's and books anymore.

Today, people want access to content immediately and they want to be able to access that content on computers, laptops, iPads and mobile devices.

That's why I started The Ventriloquist Academy. To get into the streaming and digital age.

Ventriloquism is growing again as an art form. With the likes of Jeff Dunham, Daric Lynne Farmer,Terry Fator and others helping lead the charge. And it's showing no signs of slowing down any time soon!

We had good numbers again this year at the Vent Haven ConVENTion, with near 100 first time attendees.

And with a new museum on the horizon, the future (and past) of ventriloquism looks strong. Check out what's going on at the museum here:

https://www.venthaven.org/

If you missed the information page for the Ventriloquist Academy, you can see it here:

https://theventriloquistacademy.com

Keep venting,

Lee

Ventriloquist Academy will be Launching Very Soon!!

Wow. I am really getting excited. After being online selling my Ventriloquism 101 video course for over 20 years, I am just a week or two away from launching the Ventriloquist Academy website. This will be a membership site where folks will be able to pay a very reasonable fee and get private access to my video course and TONS of other materials to help them become a great ventriloquist. Look for more information and the official launch date over the next few days! You won't want to miss getting in on this at the very beginning with a really special introductory price!

New! 21 years in the making! Ventriloquist Academy Online School

Ventriloquism101.com launched in 1997. Finally, 21 years later, I'm creating a new website - Ventriloquist Academy. It will contain not only my all time best selling instructional course - Ventriloqism 101 - as an online digital product, but so much more content it will blow your mind.

Materials not only featuring MY teachings, but also instruction from many other great vents from the past and present.

I'll go out on a limb here and say Ventriloquist Academy will be the most in-depth instructional course on ALL areas of ventriloquism, technique, comedy, business and performing ever assembled in one place.

I'll post more as the release date gets closer. Right now I'm targeting June for the launch.

More soon!

Lee

Why You Should Attend the 2018 Vent Haven ConVENTion

So today is January 13th. The annual Vent Haven ConVENTion is seven months away. Why am I writing about it now? And more importantly, why should you attend?

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE BROCHURE

Let me tell you a little story.

I went to my first convention in 1981 and had been a ventriloquist since I was a nine year old kid. I was now 24. I was aware of the names of all of the "stars" of the day who would be there. Names you probably wouldn't recognize today - Johnny Main, Bill Boley, Bill DeMar, Warren Chaney, Garland Boyd, Jimmy Nelson, a young Mark Wade and an even younger Jeff Dunham. Jimmy Nelson was my childhood idol and I also knew Dunham would be a superstar someday.

I'm guessing there may have been 200 or so attendees that year. Being 24 years old, I wanted to attend the convention to learn how to take my show to the next level and socialize with other vents and perhaps have a chance to chat with the big guns. But a funny thing happened. Seeing all of the ventriloquists there, the news media, the stars, etc., I began to feel a bit anxious, intimidated and nervous.

For the three days of the convention, I barely talked to anyone. I briefly spoke to Jeff, may have said hello to Jimmy, but for some reason, stayed mostly in the shadows. I did attend the workshops, but didn't ask questions, even though I had many.

I knew at the end of the convention that I should have interacted more to have gotten the most out of it. I took away some great ideas from the lectures that I used to help my shows. But I knew at the time, that to really get involved with the vent community and grow, I needed to attend more than a single convention.

1981 Vent Haven ConVENTion-click to enlarge

Ventriloquists on TV sort of went the way of the dodo in the 1980's, although I still performed some with vent and magic. But I was also a lead singer and guitar player in a rock band, so I focused most of my energy on playing live music and not with puppets. The years went by, I went back to college, got married, had two great kids and even though I still kept ventriloquism on my radar by following the careers of Jeff and the few others like Jay Johnson and Ronn Lucas, as well as being a member of a vent club, performing as a ventriloquist was on the back burner.

Then in 1997 the bug bit me again. Hard. I had just gotten my first personal computer a year earlier and was just getting the hang of this new thing called the internet. I decided to create an instructional video on how to be a ventriloquist and began selling it online. I began performing again. And the biggest thing I did in 2001 was attend the Vent Haven ConVENTion again. Only this time, I knew how I was going to approach attending. I had a dealers room table. I went to all of the lectures and took detailed notes, I went out of my way to meet my idols and other attendees. I wanted to squeeze and soak up as much as possible to make me a better performer.

I came away from that convention recharged and I couldn't wait to get back to performing and expanding my ventriloquism101.com website, adding dozens of resources for other vents.

I also realized I needed to keep going back to the convention  to keep me fired up. To share ideas with other like minded people. An energy that I couldn't sustain being about the only vent in my home town. And I've been  back to the convention every year since my return in 2001. In 2017 I was thrilled to be asked to perform on the Wednesday night show.

That's why you need to go. Either as a first timer, or as a returning attendee. Being around other vents (now over 400 a year), learning from the pros, taking in the shows, the dealers rooms, talking over ideas with other performers and expanding your knowledge and technique to become a better ventriloquist. I learn something every year when I go back. It's like a family reunion. There's nothing like it. Period.


The reason I'm telling you this story in January is to nudge you into registering NOW! (Simply click on the picture of the brochure at the top of this post). While you're thinking about it. Make the commitment. Register and then spend the next few months saving up the money you'll need to go. Don't wait until July and then just let the week pass you by. If you are a performer, look ahead on your calendar and block these four days out from your performance schedule. The value of making you a better vent far outweighs missing doing a show.

If it's your first time attending, I'll look forward to meeting you. If you are a returning vent, I'll see you there!

Lee

Vent Haven 2017 Performance

A dream came true for me at the Vent Haven ConVENTion in July of 2017. I was asked to perform on the Wednesday night show, along with Lori Bruner and Pete Michaels.

My first convention was in 1981. I was so in awe of seeing many of my vent heroes that first year.

Fast forward to 2017 and I have become friends with many of the pros in the business I've admired for years, as well as many of the attendees.

I wanted to do an act unlike one anyone had seen before at Vent Haven. The premise was to have four mini-acts to the routine which ultimately were to go wrong.

I got into an argument with a microphone stand, had my Sammy King tribute go down the toilet when Francisco the Mexican Parrot refused to do the bit, got tackled by retired NYPD police officer Vinnie Ewart when he mistakenly thought I was ripping off Jeff Dunham's Achmed routine and closed the show with an appearance by the King (with audience member David Turner).

I think the audience had fun and I had a blast playing the part of a performer who's act has gone off the rails. 

Hopefully I'll have the opportunity to be part of another show there in the future. I'll never forget that night. Can't wait until next years convention!

Look, Ma! I'm on the Cover!

Just a quick post. I was pleased and a bit surprised to see I had been chosen as the cover story in the July issue of the community magazine for my hometown of Greenwood, IN (it's a suburb of Indianapolis). I knew the story was going to be published, but I didn't know about the cover spot until the day it was delivered.

Pretty cool! I also found out the story will be running in the August edition of another community nearby, Center Grove, IN.

I think the total household delivery between the two is around 33,000

Vent haven Convention with Ax and the Hatchets!

At this years Vent Haven ventriloquist convention, I was honored to be called up on stage by one of the premiere puppet makers in the world, Steve Axtell, who was a performer on the Wednesday night show. Steve is also a professional musician and he put together an impromptu band during his act and I was asked to play guitar and sang backups. What a great time.

Here is the video, which includes Steve asking for players from the audience for his "band." This part before the actual song is hilarious.

So much fun playing for over 500 people who were rocking with us. Thanks Steve, Steve Petra, Pete Michaels, Lisa Yates Sweasy and Gary Owen

New Book from Legend Sammy King

I received a copy of Sammy King's new book, "Time on the Boards" a few days ago.

I was planning on reading it over the course of a few days.

Instead, I ended up reading it from cover to cover in one evening. I just couldn't put it down.

What a great story of one of the best vents ever and his over 60 year career.

Lots of great photos, too. You need to add this book to your vent library. Fantastic story.

You can get a copy on amazon, or pick up a copy at the convention this week if you are attending.

I know I'll read this book more than once!

My new figure

I received a new, great little figure the other day from teen up-an-coming vent and figure maker, Jeffrey Golc.

It's a mini McElroy tribute dummy.

I met Jeffrey in my hometown of Greenwood, Indiana when he was 7 or 8 years old. My daughter was playing on the middle school basketball team at the time and Jeffrey was in the crowd.

I saw this little kid in the bleachers playing with what looked like a stuffed Mortimer Snerd dummy. I went up to talk to him (I found out his older sister was on the basketball team with my daughter) and saw that he had actually modified the dummy and added a simple headstick. I thought this was quite clever for someone his age.

We struck up a conversation.

I found out he was REALLY interested in ventriloquism. I mentioned the Vent Haven International convention to him and his mom and he attended his first convention that year.

Fast forward 8 years. Jeffrey is now in High School, is doing shows, writing routines, building figures, inventing new products for majpr puppet companies and rubbing shoulders with some of the greats in the world of ventriloquism.

He has recently decided to focus on working up a great show and is not presently building many figures.

And, he is just one of the nicest and respectful young men I've ever met.

He has also, I believe, attended every convention since that first one I mentioned to him about all those years ago.

Watch out for Jeffrey Golc! It's a name, I predict, that will be known by many over the coming years.

When things don't go as planned...

When things don't go as planned...

A couple of screen shots of a "virtual" trade show I did a couple of weeks ago.

Me with Nick Woodson, Doc Wilson, the Flexible Mirror trick and the Mismade Queen card trick.

My day job company wanted me to perform some vent and magic during our annual company Expo.

There were 25 of our partner / vendors participating with booths set up and around 300 people attending the Forum Convention Center here near Indianapolis.

I originally wanted to be at the venue in the lobby doing mostly close-up magic (rotating 8-10 tricks) for people as they checked in to go into the Expo.

But the owners wanted to leverage one of our new streaming video technologies and have me perform from my home studio and have the video and audio streamed live into the Expo, where I would be on a 65" LCD display interacting and performing tricks and short vent bits. Unique concept, but...

Everything tested out great the Friday before and at 6am the following Tuesday morning - the day of the event. Very strong and fast internet connection between my studio and the Expo venue.

About 90 minutes into the day, as people started piling into the event and wanting to connect to the venues wireless network, my connection speed really started to suffer. Eventually the connection was so poor, we pulled the plug on my remote performance. The venues bandwidth, which again we tested multiple times, couldn't take the load of all of the vendors connecting their technologies to the internet, as well as the attendees.

Live and die by the network...

So, I changed out of my tux, drove an hour north to the event and just carried around a few of my favorite walk around pocket tricks to entertain a bit. It was still a fun day.

Watch this moving, must see video. It might change a life...

New DVD from Sammy King! (and don't say "who?")

Well, it's only a couple of more weeks until the Vent Haven conVENTion! (July 16-19).

I hope to see a lot of you there. I do realize some of you won't be able to make it, so I wanted to let you know of my newest DVD production and make it available for you to order if you're not attending the convention.

And, at the special convention price I'll be selling it for!

It's legendary vent Sammy King's Vent Haven conVENTion workshop from last year, which I professionally video recorded.

It's called "The Secrets to Stage Presence and Showmanship."

For you young whipper snappers who may not know who Sammy King is, look him up on the Internet. He is one of the most successful ventriloquists of all time. He has so much knowledge to share about this wonderful art form.

NOTE: If you're coming to the convention, please wait and pick up a copy there.

I have my inventory already duplicated and set aside for the convention and have a small separate quantity for those of you who can't attend and would like to get your hands on a copy of this great DVD.

You can get all of the info and order from my website at the link below. Thanks! And I'll see some of you on July 16th!

Here's the link to Sammy's new DVD:

http://www.ventriloquism101.com/products/videos.htm#showmanship

One Question Series - Auto Pilot Attitude About Your Show?

It's been a while since I've added a new segment of my
"One Question" series.

Before I get to the question asked by a reader of my VenTips
email newsletter, let me remind you that the 2014 Vent Haven
International Ventriloquist ConVENTion is fast approaching!

It's from July 16-19 at the Cincinnati, Ohio Airport Marriot Hotel
and Convention Center. A beautiful facility! And 4 days of great
workshops, rubbing shoulders with the pros, fantastic shows,
2 full dealer's rooms and much, much more!

There is still time to register! Just head on over to

http://www.venthavenconvention.com

to download a schedule of events and registration form. I hope to
see you there!

Now, to answer (or try to) this question from ventriloquist Bob M.:

"Lee, my biggest challenge is complacency. I look back to my many
shows and I realize how many times I would do a show like I was on
automatic pilot. That's bad. For when you lose your enthusiasm you
can lose your crowd."

Great question Bob and not really easy to answer. How does Jeff
Dunham, Terry Fator and other full-time ventriloquists, who
do hundreds of shows a year, not get bored and start performing
like a robot?

Let alone performers who are not necessarily famous, but who
keep busy enough that at times it's almost boring to them to
perform their routine.

I would start off by saying that one needs to keep the focus
off of yourself and thinking "same show. different day" and
instead focus on the audience and realizing before you walk
on the stage for every performance,that you OWE your audience
your best. They've come to see YOU and be entertained.

To give less than your best cheats your audience.

Things that will help you are:

-Remembering that most of the people who have come to
see you perform may not have seen your show before.
It's the first time they have seen you, even
though it may be the 1,000th time you've done your routine.

-Keep your audience engaged in your act. As you feel
the energy from the crowd, it will help "wake you up"
from any "auto pilot" mode you may be in.

Legendary vent Bill DeMar once told me a story of a
county fair he was working and he had done the same show
over and over during the run of the fair.

He too, went into an auto pilot mode and began mentally
reading the t-shirts of people in the audience. He wasn't
sure how long he was looking around reading all
of the crazy things on the audience members t-shirts, but at some
point in the show he realized what he was doing.

It mortified Bill. He realized these people had
come to see him give his best and he was just going through
the motions.

He vowed never to do that again and started FOCUSING
on giving his audience the best every time he performed.

Again, realizing as a professional entertainer he OWED
his audience nothing less.

Really watch the faces of your audience. When you see the
smiles and hear the laughter, it makes it easier to enjoy
making your act seem to that particular audience that it's
the first time for you, too(even though it's not).

Use the opportunity while looking at your audience to
try and ad-lib a bit if you notice something that strikes
you funny with an audience member that you might be able to
play off of.

Try to add small changes from time to time. I don't mean
an overhaul of your act every show, but look for tweaks
in your act to change it up enough to make it more fun for
you.

And sometimes you just have to suck it up! Some shows will
go better than others, but you need to be 100% professional
and "fake it" if you have to so the crowd believes that you
are having as much fun as they are.

Don't forget - you have worked hard to become a good
performer.

And performing is what you wanted to do!

It should be fun and exciting for  most every show you do.

Just think of what you COULD be doing...hmmm...
working at a day job you hate at "Clem's Roofing and Siding"
just to get a weekly paycheck, or getting up in front of an audience and
creating laughter and excitement!

Tough choice! 8-)

So, always give your best. Every time. Under all circumstances.
When you do, your audience will know it and you'll feed off of
that energy!

I hope that helps, Bob. Thanks for your question.

Vent Haven Convention 2014 - Annie Roberts and Lee

Annie Roberts, Media Coordinator for the Vent Haven ConVENTion stops by to chat with me a bit about this years upcoming convention. Hope you enjoy the video! And I hope to see you at the 2014 Vent Haven International Ventriloquist Convention. July 16-19. 

More details and registration information at:

Vent Haven ConVENTion 2014

Ventriloquism 101 Course Goes Digital at Amazing Price!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click picture for larger image 

 

Hey folks!

People have been asking me for years if I was ever going to offer my Ventriloquism 101 course in a digital format as an option. I am happy to announce that I have finally converted all of the DVD's, CD's and printed materials over to high quality mp4 videos, mp3 audio files and pdf files for all of the written materials. Everything comes on a small, compact USB flash drive.

Now you can transfer the files from the USB flash drive to your computer or laptop and watch, listen and read from your computer. You can also drop the files into iTunes and load onto your iPad or iPod.

Files have been tested with Windows Media Player and VLC Media Player (a free download) as well as iTunes. I'm sure the files will work on other players as well, it's just that I've only tested with the programs above.

Check it out at:

http://ventriloquism101.com

All at a special, pretty crazy limited time low price. This is the exact course I've sold thousands of copies for up to $147 for over 18 years from ventriloquism101.com

Looking forward to showing more people how to become a ventriloquist and a price point that nearly anyone can afford!

Why should you attend the 2014 Vent Haven ConVENTion - July 16-19

Here is a short video of some of the reasons you should attend the Vent Haven International Ventriloquist ConVENTion!