Joe Gandelman, Comic Ventriloquist

Joe Gandelman spent nearly 20 years in the newspaper business before he decided to dash it all and become a full-time ventriloquist -- a change that now has him performing coast-to-coast at fairs, festivals, schools, corporate events and on television.

Gandelman opened for national musical groups, performed at Camp Pendleton before a speech by former Pres. Ronald Reagan and was seen on ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. He has performed at schools throughout the West, comedy clubs, the San Diego Zoo, fairs and festivals across the country and many corporate events. He and his wooden dummies and cartoon-like latex puppets have also appeared in family variety shows at California big stage venues such as San Francisco s Palace of Fine Arts, San Jose s Civic Auditorium, Oakland s Paramount Theater, and the Anaheim Convention Center.

His act features comedy, music and lots of audience interaction. Gandelman has a large cast of state-of-the-art wooden and "soft" figures. His main character is John Raven, a wise-cracking boy who frustrates him at every turn. John and Joe are as popular when doing adult corporate entertainment events, as when doing children s private parties, Scouts blue-and-golds dinners, holiday shows, strolling entertainment or comedy clubs. At the end of every adult show Gandelman suddenly becomes a comedian, doing several minutes of topical standup and customized comedy material without his characters.

Gandelman is the author of the highly acclaimed Tips from a Pro book and tape set for ventriloquists, published by Maher Studios of Littleton, Colorado. He has also published Super-Simplified Ventriloquism, a book on his system for learning ventriloquism quickly. Gandelman is listed in Who s Who In Entertainment and is included in the nationally distributed The Great Ventriloquists trading cards.