What's bogging you down from being your best?

Here's a loaded question. What's bogging you down from being the best entertainer that you can be? Think hard. It's interesting when I ask myself this question I come up with multiple answers. I'm going to list 3 things in my life that are a problem and also identify the top 10 that could stop you from being the best entertainer, ventriloquist, magician, singer, whatever......

My top 3 are TV, motivation and organization. Those are not in any specific order but they are all 3 major problems in my life. If I can get control of all 3 of these I could guarantee that my performance and my booking could drastically improve. Let's look at each one at a time.

TV

Here's a little assignment I want you to try. Grab a piece of paper and mark it at the top, "My TV Time Sheet" and then as you sit down to watch Heroes, House or any reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond mark the time you start and the time you finish. Not just with those 3 shows, anytime you watch TV whether it be watching sports, the news or just some form of entertainment. After a week add up your total time in front of the boob tube. If that's not an eye opener I don't know what is. We waste more time in front of the TV then anything else (with maybe the exception of Facebook!) Try to limit your TV input to 2 hours a day to start off with. Then drop it 1/2 hour as you see fit. You will be surprised at how much more time you will have on your hands.

Motivation

This may sound silly to many of you out there but I just don't have the motivation to practice and work on new routines. I work full time for AutoTrader.com and make pretty good money doing that. I love ventriloquism and magic but it is more of a hobby for me than a career. I doesn't pay the bills. That being said, I would love to, one day, be able to perform full time and have entertainment be my number one source of income. But, do I desire it enough to make the time to practice and market myself? Obviously not. And that is the shame of it. I just don't have the motivation to do it and this is one of my major downfalls. I pray that I find the motivation because I really do enjoy performing. Interesting that I know a few people who have entertained their whole life and that's was their motivation. To be in front of people constantly. One example of this is Johnny "Ace" Palmer. I remember the first time I saw John perform, I think he was 14 and I was 13. We were performing together at the same church. While I performed ventriloquism and a little magic, his total emphasis was on magic. Nothing spectacular at the time. I remember he was performing with some adult at the time and used a lot of self working tricks like the lotta bowl. A few years later I saw John at our church. They hired him to perform and I got together with him after the show and we talked and realized that we had performed together when we were younger. I think John was 16 at the time. Interesting thing was that John was then performing at the Ground Round, a restaurant in our area, as Bingo the Clown doing close-up magic. He performed every weekend and I think in the middle of the week sometimes. Talk about getting lots of practice. John eventually won many awards performing close-up and is even a headliner 2 times a year at The Magic Castle! I told this story to say this. John had the motivation to do this. It was his income and, I think, he even helped his family out when he was younger with the money he got for performing. John is a great example of someone who could set goals and reach them. He's also a great example of what motivation can do for a person. I hope to have better motivation in the future.

Organization

This is no surprise to my wife, Sue. She would tell you in a heart beat. I'm not an organized person. I have no rhyme or reason to how I do most of what I do. My office is usually a disaster and if I ever actually scheduled time to do anything I think Sue would have a heart attack. I do things as they come and, usually, when time is running out. I could schedule a show a year in advance and would not practice until a day before the show. Terrible I know, but I'm being truthful here. I'm not an organized person. You would think with the money I have invested in computers and technology that I would at least be organized but, no, I've got a long way to go to be organized. I guess that procrastination could be another word for it but we will stick with organized.

So those are my top 3. Let's make a list of 10 in no specific order as to why you may not be your best in the entertainment industry and be honest with yourself.

1. TV
2. Organization
3. Motivation
4. Fear
5. Arrogance
6. Time
7. Money
8. Procrastination
9. Confusion
10. Family / Friends

If you can come up with some other reason comment on this blog or email me at danieljay@thefamilyvent.com would love to hear your input! Until later happy venting and I hope you will be able to be the best you can be!

Comedy writing.

I would say next to finding time to practice, comedy writing is probably the hardest part of being a ventriloquist. Would anyone back me on this? How many of you have actually come up with your own routine? Let me just give you an example. I have a routine that I do with Fuzzball, my cat. Here's how it starts out. I introduce Fuzzball and, while I am introducing him, he is licking himself. I ask the audience how many have cats at home and mention that cats like to clean themselves and that's what he's doing now. I also say that we may be waiting a long time for Fuzzball to finish cleaning himself to which I then ask Fuzzball if he's done yet and he says "Not Yet". He then licks some more and then bites his arm to which I ask, "What's that?" and he replies, "Fleas". Up to this point this is all my routine. From then on it is jokes from various joke books and visuals such as him sneezing and then wiping his nose on a tissue and, while I am not looking, rubbing his nose up my sleeve, complements of Mark Wade. Some other visual routines I do with him is an eye test where he starts out fine but then starts looking opposite of where my finger is. This routine is probably one of the best that I have. I've been doing this routine with Fuzzball for years and everyone loves it and loves Fuzzball because of it.

I've tried to write new routines since then but it is very difficult. I'm just wondering how everyone else comes up with their routines. What techniques do they use. And I'm interested in people who know their routines are funny. I've seen many poor ventriloquists in my day. Ones that may think they're funny but aren't. I'm reaching out to the true professionals. How do you make your routine funny? Where do you come up with new material? How do you keep it fresh? Let's have some input. Email me at danieljay@danieljayrobison.com and let me know so I can post it! Thanks all and God Bless!

VentHaven Convention a BLAST!

I'll be the first to admit that this was the best conVENTion I have been to in a while (since my last one was in 2000, that is a while!). I heard people saying it was even better than last years. Let's talk a little about what was discussed at the lectures:

Comedy Writing

Marketing

Puns

Getting Fair shows

Organizing your show

Creativity

Splitting

All great stuff. Now I didn't make it to Wednesday and had to leave early afternoon on Saturday but, all in all, some great stuff. In the dealer rooms there was a lot of great figures and props as well. Pittsburgh Puppets (anyone have their website?) had a great puppet that you could change their eyes because they were held on with Velcro. Therefore, in the middle of a show you could change the expression of the puppet. One Way Street was there, it's always good to see Dale and Liz! Also, Gary Owens was representing Axtell. There was also Albert Alfaro with many of his unique creations, he and Mary Ann Taylor both donated figures for the auction (alas, I didn't win a thing!). Tim Selberg also had some of his figures there. Next year I think I'm going to stop at every booth and get their online contact information so I don't leave some out like I have this year. Oh, Tom Ladshaw also had a table that was full of collectibles! And Lee Cornell also had a table set up selling many DVDs.

All in all, if you missed out this year, don't worry, there's always next year. I'm sure many that attended last year said, "How can you top that?" and this year people were saying that it was the best they had ever seen. I'm looking forward to next year and being a bigger part of Vent Haven and the conVENTion in the years to come.

Nina Conti

Axtell Figures and their Vents

Finding time.

When do you find the time to practice? This is one of my biggest problems. Is it in the morning, evening? Do you set aside some time each day, a specific time? Do you just wing it? What do the professionals do? Jim Barber, Jeff Dunham, Mark Wade, Ken Groves and the list goes on and on. I would love some comments on this blog, if for nothing else than to help us all know what is the best way to practice? Is it while performing throwing in some new stuff? Do you have a room set aside for practice? (My house is small so my only practice room is cramped). Do you practice in front of a mirror or do you use a video? Let us know. How do you, when do you and where do you PRACTICE?

Watching TV with your Figure?

When was the last time you watched TV with one of your figures? Sound silly? It may, but let's face it, some good conversation can come from it. Your figure can comment on what your watching and you can comment on it or visa versa. Watch the evening new. A late night show. Comment on Jay Leno's dialogue. Comment on Conan O'Brian's hair (naw, that's to easy). Have fun, get a dialogue going with your figure. You never know what you might come up with. Always be thinking "How can I turn this into a routine or a joke." Do things with your figure you would usually do with a regular person and carry on both sides of the conversation. Pretty soon you'll have enough material for a whole act!

Vent Videos now on Blog

I just added ventriloquist videos on my blog page. Let me know what vents you would like featured and the videos will appear. Also will be posting blogs more often on this page. Let me know what topics you would like to see. Talk to you all soon!