Al Getler- Ventriloquist and "50th Annual Vent Convention" Director

In this special interview, we sit down with Al Getler, professional ventriloquist and director of the 50th Annual Vent Convention, to talk about the art, history, and future of ventriloquism. Al shares insights from a lifetime in performance, along with behind-the-scenes details about this milestone Vent Convention—what makes it special, who should attend, and why it continues to be the world’s premier gathering for ventriloquists.

Whether you’re a seasoned performer, a fan of the craft, or curious about the voices behind the voices, this conversation offers valuable perspective, inspiration, and information on how ventriloquism continues to thrive and evolve.

Transcript

Announcer 0:04

This is another episode of Stand Up Comedy, your host and MC, celebrating 40 plus years on the fringe of show business. Stories, interviews, and comedy sets from the famous and not so famous. Here's your host and MC, Scott Edwards.

Scott Edwards 0:21

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the podcast. Man, I got an exciting interview and some great information coming up. So happy to have you back here with us on Stand-Up Comedy Host and MC. Well, right now on the phone, I have not only a world-class comic ventriloquist who's been doing private and corporate shows for a number of years, but he's also the director of the ventriloqual convention. It's called the Vent Convention. It's being held in Cincinnati in July. But let's get uh the information straight from the horse's mouth. Please, ladies and gentlemen, welcome the one and only Al Gittler.

Al Getler 1:08

Well, wow. Scott, I I am honored by that, humble and humbled by that applause. Thank you so much.

Scott Edwards 1:16

Uh we've both been talking for a while now. You've got a great event coming up. We want to talk about that. And once again, folks, in mid-July, uh ventriloquist in convention in Cincinnati that's uh gonna be amazing. You can't wait to hear who's gonna be there. But let's learn a little bit about you, Al. When did you get started as a ventriloquist?

Al Getler 1:38

So, you know, I grew up in the New York City area, Scott. So every day after school, there were after-school shows with Chuck McCann and guys like that who had ventriloquists on Mike Douglas, the old talk show. Oh, yeah. I used to watch that to see Jimmy Nelson and Paul Winchell and Sherry Lewis and you know, all that, and Edgar Berg and all the ventriloquists, you know, kind of uh, you know, from the 1960s, 70s, Willie Tyler. All these folks were on talk shows in the afternoon, and my brother, who's older than me, kind of you know, observed me how much I loved uh the ventriloquist and how much I also loved uh Ralph the Dog and Jim Henson's you know uh first television appearance on the Jimmy Dean show and bought me a dummy for Christmas, bought me a David dummy for Christmas in 1969, same year, by the way, the Mets won the World Series. I don't know why I had that in, but I think it was important. Oh, please. And since then, I've been suffering ever since, right? But uh that being said, you know, it it just was an art that I loved. Fast forward to when I was 12. My old man took me to a firehouse and I did a show there, and the chiefs handed me 20 bucks, and I went, Whoa, there goes lawnmower, put that away. I'm gonna start doing birthday parties. Uh and an entrepreneur was born and an artist. Entrepreneur was born, and I've got on to have just uh an amazing career of you know, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, uh, you know, like you said, corporate gigs, all kinds of stuff. Today I uh I really shoot down the middle, perform at a lot of uh family-based resorts, you know, think uh, you know, think dirty dancing, right? But fast forward to this day, we're fully inclusive resorts, one of my favorite places to play, and then everything else, still corporate fairs, festivals, all that stuff.

Scott Edwards 3:18

Yeah, and there's a lot of work in the at the senior centers. And it's so funny because I I'm older now, and back, I don't know, 20, 30 years ago, these senior centers were not places you wanted to visit. You know, it's like people went there to die. Now, I guess because of the baby boomers, I've been to a few of these places with some comics. They're like cruise ships on land. I mean, they're fancy, they got showrooms, there's some amazing opportunities to entertain large groups of people that are still enjoying life. So lots of opportunity, but it all started as a child, and I think it's interesting because ventriloquism of all the variety art really captures uh kids in a in a way that sounds like it got you. What do you think, kids? You like that? All right, good, good. Well, it is true that uh children have uh a special connection to ventriloquism and magic that they may not have with stand-up comedy and some of the other, you know, tap dance and some of the other art forms. But I think that it's great that back in 1969 you kind of got your start, and it it's a really tough art form. Uh ventriloquism is tried by many and expertly done by few, right?

Al Getler 4:38

Well, yeah, but you know, you you tap into something really important. It's an art that that that really touches the child inside everybody if they just relax and enjoy it. And you know, you mentioned like a cruise ship on land. So uh one of my favorite places in the Poconos that I play is a place called Woodwalk Resort, you know, and it's a 750-seat theater, you know, on uh on a Friday and Saturday night, it is full, and I've got the full spectrum audience, you know, from grandparents that have been coming to this resort for for many, many years, who have their kids, their grandkids, and the grandkids are college kids and teenagers and little and and even small kids. But at the end of the show, Scott, I do this thing where I call it puppet mouth photos. And people come up with their cell phones and they take pictures with me and the family. First they smile, then they do puppet mouth, right? I gotta tell you, I have, but my line can last up to 45 minutes long. Now, who in the heck is gonna stand in line and take a picture with a ventriloquist for 45 minutes? But that's what they do because it it taps into everybody's childlike love and fantasy of just the comedy and the fun of it all. And I I am honored by the fact that the audiences will do that, you know. And I've just got I have literally uh I've got over a thousand photos of families that that do that.

Scott Edwards 5:56

That is uh incredible, Al. Congratulations. And what that means is that uh not only those thousands, but I'm sure tens of thousands have been touched by your talent, your entertainment, your humor, and ventriloquism using a ventriloqual figure, we never call them dummies, is is uh such a great way to uh help people escape. I mean, one of the reasons I'm in comedy is that it's uh and I used to own a chain of clubs, as all my listeners know, it helps people not think about their bills, not worry about anything, just sort of forget and enjoy the moment. And I think ventriloquism, especially for kids, but I think as you said, kids of all ages find that escapism and that entertainment, that inner joy that is brought on by having two people, basically, a a character and the artist uh entertaining them. Now, you ended up doing and still do a lot of corporate work. Was that a big adjustment?

Al Getler 6:58

No, you know, it's really funny. The way I even got into, I mentioned you as a young guy, I was doing birthday parties well into my twenties, and one day I'm in a in a very large uh I let's call it a mansion in Alpine, New Jersey. Eddie Murphy lived there, Stevie Wonder lived there. It's outside New York City, right? I do the show, a guy walks up to me and goes, look, but the the the adults are laughing as much as uh more so than the e the kids even are, because they're getting the jokes that you're you're shooting their way. Would you come back in a few weeks and do my wife's 40th birthday party? And when that happened, I went, oh, and I killed it. I just absolutely killed it.

Scott Edwards 7:34

So I started looking more towards I'm I'm gonna interrupt, Al. I'm assuming the comedy material has to be a little different or not.

Al Getler 7:42

Very much so. You know, what I do is I when I when I do a corporate gig and I do adults, and I'll talk about comedy clubs in a minute. I uh I do uh a lot of research. I want to find out about Scott. What what's what's he like? What are his hobbies? What are some of the things that happen that are kind of funny about him? What are the idiosyncrecies of people that know about him that are his friends that they laugh about? And and then I write a whole uh material about the guest of honor, but then about the other guests. Corporate gig, you know, I I have obviously go after the top rats. It's so funny, too, because the person booking the show, you know from all your experience, books a show once a year. And the first thing they tell me is, hey, whatever you do, please don't go after the CEO, you know, he or she. I don't want you to do that, right? And of course, what I do, they they sit the CEO right in the front row. I throw a softball out there, and if I get a good reaction, you know, you know, the handcuffs are off. I have a great time.

Scott Edwards 8:34

You know, and and the employees really appreciate that because it brings them down to their level. It's it's everybody, everybody in the audience, whether you're the CEO or the janitor, are on one playing field when you're in an audience at a at a variety art show. Well, exactly right.

Al Getler 8:52

And you're a comedy club guy, and the only thing I skipped in over 40 years of show business is I would get phone calls to be a middle and a closure at comedy clubs for people who had seen me at private events for corporate events, and I would say, look, all due respect, man, I uh I'm making a lot of money during the day, and I want to go home at night and get some sleep. And that's exactly what I I just I never got into the comedy club circuit just because I was making so much money at private stuff.

Scott Edwards 9:21

Well, ladies and gentlemen, Al Gettler is the only entertainer I know that lives a day life. Yeah. That's exactly right.

Al Getler 9:31

I spent, I spent over 40, well, I spent 38 years in the in the newspaper, media, business, magazines, websites, and today I still am part of a nonprofit organization, community of heart and soul, that I'm very proud of. But alongside me is a buddy of mine named Jeff Dunham, who I tease, I taught him everything he knows, which I did not, but it's a good joke. And I say the only difference is uh he became a millionaire and I became a thousandaire, Scott.

Scott Edwards 9:56

So uh that's well, uh we're gonna get to Jeff in a in a minute. Before we get to that, I did a little research myself, and I know that your ventriloquical figure is Floyd. Your main. That's correct. Now, do you do now before we get to Floyd, did you try to expand like Dave Strassman and do multiple characters, or were you more like Willie Tyler and kind of stuck with Floyd?

Al Getler 10:23

No, no, I, you know, Floyd's actually the closer. Uh, I start off with a dog that, you know, regardless of the audience, whether they're adults only or their families, uh, the dog comes out and and teaches them what ventriloquism is because one of the things I, you know, always never take for granted is we're we're kind of a lost art sometime, right? But I make fun of myself as a ventriloquist because let's face it, an adult man is up there talking to a puppet. You know, let's just admit what it is and have some fun, right? But that sets it up. And then I do uh a couple of audience participation bits. One is I have two young people up there who I give voices to and they sing. And then later on in the show, something that's become pretty popular with with ventriloquists is uh is using a mask, you know, which um people just adore. And uh, you know, Nina Conti from uh from the UK has made it a masterful, you know, almost full part of her act. Uh, but it's a feature in my act. And then I have an old lady puppet that comes out who's an old maid but never been married, and she is just uh, you know, uh kind of the uh if you call it, what would you say, the feminine side of my personality, right? You know, sharing your female side. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, I'm probably you know, inspired by uh Effie Clinker, who is uh Edgar Bergen's old old maid character. Uh, you know, so inspiration from that. But but then Floyd comes out at the end, and Floyd's kind of the ripper. He's the one that, you know, starts uh uh and I know again, we're gonna talk about two things about hack, right? First of all, stand-ups consider you know, ventriloquists hack because they're a prop comic, and I just call BS on that, number one.

Scott Edwards 11:56

By the way, I have to interrupt. As a producer, I was a huge fan of the variety arts, whether it was juggling, music, ventriloquism, magic, you name it. Uh I had a professional tap dancer in my clubs. Whatever it is, as long as it's entertaining, it's good for the audience, and comics are just jealous that ventriloquists have a tool, but it's still entertaining the audience. There's nothing wrong with using a tool. In fact, some of the most famous comics are prop comics.

Al Getler 12:28

That's exactly right. And even though I've been called a tool, uh, I'm telling you that it is it is really uh a wonderful art. You know, I just think that the the fact that you can get up there and have some fun. But then, of course, you know, the other thing that I hear comedians say is that crowd work is hack, right? Which again, I'm gonna agree with you. The reason why some comics say it is because it's scary and a lot of them aren't necessarily great at it, you know. But uh, you know, like I've seen everybody from from Paula Poundstone to you know to George Carlin talk to the audience. And so Floyd's job is just uh rap with the audience for a little bit, you know. And um the the biggest challenge that I love about it is like, can I come up with a joke for every person that I talk to? And it's to me my my favorite part of the show. It's actually my wife's favorite favorite part of my show, too. Oh she loves to see what I come up with.

Scott Edwards 13:20

It's so cool, and it's so important to have, and it does make it easier to have a friend with you up on stage. Is Floyd there? I might have a question for Floyd. I can I can find out. Uh hold on one second.

Floyd 13:31

Hey, Floyd, yeah, what do you want?

Scott Edwards 13:33

Hey, come here for a second.

Floyd 13:34

Oh, right, killer.

Al Getler 13:35

Funny, come to the phone.

Scott Edwards 13:36

Hey, Floyd. Floyd, nice to have you on my podcast. Hey, you've been working with Al for a long time. Uh, how's it going? Is he doing okay?

Floyd 13:48

Well, you know, can I just say this? It's uh it's kind of a weird deal, dude. You know, I come out, I'm the star of the show, the chicks dig me. Uh, you know, it's all about me. And then what happens? He puts me in a suitcase and locks me up and and Scott, between you and me, he lifts my damn head off, too, you know, and puts me in there. So, but uh that seems fair to you, doesn't seem fair to me. Yeah.

Scott Edwards 14:12

Wow. Well, well, Floyd, you you must uh be finding something positive out of it to spend all these years with Al. And I just wanted to say thanks for coming on the podcast, Floyd. I I hear you're a huge successful entertainer. Uh keep up the good work.

Floyd 14:28

I am and be where's the camera? I don't see a camera. There's no camera. Huh? There's no camera. What are you talking about? It's a podcast. What? A podcast? What the hell is that? Well, we'll see everybody has it on their phone. I seriously, yeah? There's no camera. No, he's a podcaster. Okay. I don't know what that means, but okay. All right. See you later, Scott.

Scott Edwards 14:49

Thanks, Floyd. We'll have to have a whole nother show and explain audio podcast to Floyd. But yeah, I would, you know, if we uh uh you know, we'll have to uh get you on my video podcast, the Tag Team Talent Podcast, and and maybe we can share Floyd with the audience. But I do appreciate he had time to come on the show. So Al, let's switch this over to a little bit of marketing. You are the director of the it's it's called the Vent Convention, but it's a ventriloquist convention. It's happening July 15th through the 18th of this year. It happens at the Cincinnati Holiday Inn right there by the airport. So it's real convenient. And you have some amazing talents, everybody from Jim Barber and and Don Bryan to Jeff Dunham and Darcy Lynn from America's Got Talent. Even my good friends Jay Johnson and Willie Tyler, who I've worked with for decades, are going to be there. This is a big event. Can you share a little bit with the audience?

Al Getler 15:48

Yeah, absolutely. So this is our 50th anniversary, Scott. And uh, you know, to me, uh this this family that we have, I have known some of the people from this convention for you know, probably some of them have been friends longer than a lot of my friends that I see on a day-to-day basis or keep in touch with. I mean, Jay Johnson, um, just a dear friend. I love him to pieces, a true artist. I I keep forgetting he won some kind of an award. Can you remember what it is? I don't know. Anthony uh Tony, he won a Tony Award, that's what it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh not an Anthony Award. No, yeah. Can you imagine though? I mean, if ventriloquists won a Tony Award, you know, it's just to me, it's incredible. Well, so you know, Jay will be there. He is he is a true like artist. He keeps what's called a lot of people.

Scott Edwards 16:32

I'm gonna interrupt and just let people know. If you don't know Jay Johnson, be sure to look him up. He was one of the stars of a very successful uh comedy show back in the 70s called Soap. And he uh is so talented. I used him many, many times at my clubs. But I just wanted to give people a reference. If you don't know these names, Google them, Jay Johnson, you go, oh, that guy. It's like Darcy Lynn. You may not remember the name, but she's a huge star from America's Got Talent. And Willie Tyler and his pal Lester, I mean, they started back in the the days of early Chicago blues. They go way back.

Al Getler 17:08

Oh, they're Motown, man. I mean, they are absolutely Motown. Yeah, and you know what? Like, you know, people ask me about singing ventriloquists. You know, there was a singing ventriloquist that went America's Got Talent. Willie is the he Terry Fader, right? Willie is the OG of singing. I mean, he's got an amazing voice. Interestingly, uh, so does Lester, too. But um, but yeah, I mean, he's fabulous, you know. And in fact, we are gonna have at this convention Willie Tyler and Darcy Lynn on a panel talking about singing during your ventrilicus act. So can you kind of envision that? You've got this young lady who's just kind of finding her fame, and you've got this guy that has done everything from Laughing to the Jeffersons to, you know, McDonald's commercials that played over and over and over again, and everything and he's been in he's been in Motion Pictures, uh Willie Tyler.

Scott Edwards 17:59

He was just in Adam Sandler's Netflix special that came out this past year. You are here some uh weird trivia, Al. I did uh uh three different TV series, and one of them was a one-hour special for the Fox Network. Um, I was the producer director, but the host of my show was Willie Tyler and Lester. Isn't that something? Yeah, I mean it it he's done it all and is such a pro. So to get people like that and Jeff Dunham up on stage at your convention, along with, you know, literally dozens of other ventriloquists, is really gonna make this a fantastic event. Now, is it open to the public or just ventriloquists?

Al Getler 18:38

Well, I mean, look at anybody that buy a buys a registration can come come to the convention, obviously, you know. And uh you mentioned the uh website before, uh VHconvention.com. Yeah, any, I mean, anybody certainly who is, but I would recommend that someone come who has it uh if you want to come, have an interest in ventriloquism, at least as a hobbyist, you know, and and and want to come. Because it's the daytime is still with with seminars and lectures. It's about being a better ventriloquist. And about 90% of the people that come to the convention are not going out there and and and performing for money, per se. They may be performing at church or at school or during a fire safety program or just for their family. But the goal for me is as executive director is I want everybody to go out there and display the best example of the art possible. You know, and so that is why Jeff shows up year after year after year and supports this convention. Jeff Denham grew up at this convention. He's been there almost from the very start. And you know, the guy that started it all, two people that started it all really, Edgar Bergen, and some of the people can look them up if they're him up, if they don't know. I didn't know that, Edgar.

Scott Edwards 19:45

He's history.

Al Getler 19:46

Edgar, he was there from the beginning. Uh, and if if you look him up, he was the number one radio show in America from in the 30s and 40s. And I like to tell people he's the original Howard Stern because they're Always keeping a very close eye uh at what was said. Mae West got banned from radio from one of her uh the episodes that she did on his on his radio program. But then there's another guy named Jimmy Nelson that people remember from the Nestle's Quick Commercial, uh, you know, of a certain age. And is he STES MSF? Sure, okay. And a clap of the dog's mouth. Wow. Jimmy was the guy that we all learned from. Jeff and I learned from Jimmy's 33 and a third record album. Jimmy came for many years. He we lost him a few years ago. He was there year after year. So the reason why we're doing this 50th is because all of these people that have come before us and are now gone, uh, we want this thing to go on for another 50 years. We want it to continue because this is a great art and it's a lot of fun.

Scott Edwards 20:47

Well, ladies and gentlemen, ventriloquism is a terrific variety art, but I am so impressed that the convention, the ventroloquist convention, has been going on 50 years. Yes! Yes, that's so exciting! Congratulations. That is something that doesn't happen every day, and obviously, because it's been 50 years, and for you to be the director means that you have your heart and soul in this hobby of yours, this business of yours, this art form of yours called ventriloquism. Now, I know on Wednesday night and Saturday night there are pretty much big shows, and you have some of the bigger stars, Jeff Dunham, host it, but you have different people like Darcy and Willie Tyler, amongst many others, performing. Are those open to the public?

Al Getler 21:35

No, they're all part of the full registration.

Scott Edwards 21:37

You know, that's uh years ago we were dumping to ventriloquism, not only experience it, learn about it, but see it, go to this convention. Uh and tell the people uh the uh remind them of the dates and the and maybe the cost or how to get tickets.

Al Getler 21:53

Yeah, absolutely. It's July 15th to the 18th, 2026. If the town is Erlanger, Kentucky. Uh it's the Greater Cincinnati Airport Holiday Inn. And the secret to this thing, Scott, is we keep it affordable. You know, we're not at the Ritz, we're at the Holiday Inn, but these guys work hard to keep it uh nice for the folks. Registration before uh May 1st is only $185 for the first person or $135. That's it.

Scott Edwards 22:20

That's it. People pay that to see Jeff Dunham alone, let alone 14 or 15 other comics.

Al Getler 22:26

You know, I say that to people. We've got a guy on Saturday night on Jeff's show named Max Fulham, who will be, you know, internationally known, but you know the Edinburgh Festival. Uh Max was probably the most written about act during the uh during the Edinburgh Festival in 2025. Wow. You know, he's the middle before before Willie. He's a brilliant young man. You mentioned Don Bryan before on Friday night. Don is an international uh guest because he's in Canada. Don't 84 and still headlining on cruise ships all year long. I mean, he's incredible. So you know, on Thursday night, Lynn Lynn Trefsker, who's a Disney Cruise. If some of your listeners, if they've ever been on a Disney cruise, they may have caught her, you know, in the big showroom, and then Taylor Mason, who's just all over America performing. I mean, we've got them all, man. I'm really proud. Oh, by the way, Saturday night too, we have a Muppet performer from Sesame Street who's also a ventrolloquist. So beautiful gamma, man.

Scott Edwards 23:19

Al Gettler, you have put together quite an event. Ladies and gentlemen, go to V VH, VH, V is in Ventroloquist, Hconvention.com, and you find out all the information, get these affordable tickets. You get four days of education and entertainment all about ventriloquism with some of the biggest stars in the industry. Al, I thank you so much for coming on the podcast and sharing not only valuable information about your convention, but really interesting and fun background on you as a professional entertainer. Thank you so much.

Al Getler 23:54

Scott, it's my pleasure. I'm wondering how big your living room is, because I hear that applause, and there has to be hundreds there. So uh good on you about it. Oh, I'm telling you. Yeah.

Scott Edwards 24:04

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we uh know you enjoyed uh listening to Al Gettler and myself about ventriloquism and this great convention coming up in July 15th in Cincinnati. And you should get a chance to join us. Go to VHconvention.com and be sure to keep listening to this podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us. Al, thanks for being on the show and letting Floyd join in. My pleasure, Scott. Absolutely. All right, thanks everybody.

Announcer 24:35

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