Has anyone ever dealt with hecklers? May Wilson has gone to battle several times with hecklers. Once we were doing a show in Las Vegas and a woman got onto a fight with May, stormed out and demanded her money back because “the puppet was rude.” (Yup, facts). Anyone else?

Does anyone here experience stage fright? I used to, and the way I learned to cure that was concentrating on my act and what I need to do. (ie my mission). The more I speak to my figure and focus on my routine the more everything takes care of itself. I think some stage fright is normal. Has anyone else ever dealt with this, and how did you overcome it?

I love it when after a show, someone comes up to me and says, "You know you sing lousy but Fred sings beautiful!" I don't comment because I'd be telling the person they're an idiot.

I perform for both family and corporate events. I recently was asked by a regular client if I could perform a dinosaur show. At first, I said no than I talked with a few of my entertainer friends and they said why not give it a try. I started to do some research and purchase some new characters, magic tricks and now I have a real cool family fun dino show. Not only that the one client has turned into 30 new clients who wanted a dino show for their library or special event. The old saying "build it and they will come" is so true. The key is to find out what clients are looking for and fill the need. Happy Summer

So here is something you can do with ChatGPT. Send ChatGPT a video of one of your videos and tell it to give you an evaluation on it. Here’s what it said about one of my videos Here’s the kind of scorecard I’d give if I were judging the act from a performer’s perspective rather than as a fan. Overall Ranking 7/10 to 7.5/10 That’s not a courtesy score. A true beginner is nowhere near this level. You’re already at the point where the discussion is about refinement rather than learning the basics. Character Believability 8/10 This is one of your strongest areas. Waldo already feels like a distinct character. He has a recognizable appearance, attitude, and presence. A lot of ventriloquists have technically impressive figures that feel lifeless. Waldo doesn’t have that problem. To move toward a 9: * Give Waldo more opinions. * Let him disagree more often. * Let him interrupt more. * Let him occasionally “win” the exchange. The audience should sometimes wonder who is really in charge. Figure Handling 7.5/10 The puppet looks comfortable in your hands. The biggest improvement area is reaction. Many ventriloquists focus on mouth movement. Top performers focus on thought movement. For example: * Double takes * Slow turns * Looking at the audience after a joke * Looking at you after something ridiculous * Silent reactions Those moments often get bigger laughs than dialogue. Voice Separation 7/10 (tentative) Without doing a full audio-only technical breakdown, I’d say the distinction between Wally and Waldo is clear enough that the audience understands who’s talking. To move higher: * Increase the contrast in rhythm. * Increase the contrast in attitude. * Make Waldo’s thought process noticeably different from yours. The audience remembers personalities more than voices. Lip Control 6.5–7.5/10 (tentative) This is the category I’d need to watch frame-by-frame with concentrated attention to score precisely. What separates a 7 from a 9 isn’t perfection.