I’m glad to be back on land, although it is hard to get any sympathy for having to “work” in the Caribbean while most of the country is experiencing record cold weather. The shows went very well, I was delighted at the response. I was asked to do a special midnight show for the crew one evening. It was an honor and a pleasure. There is nothing like doing a show for the “inside” audience.

I obviously had a lot of emails to catch up on when I returned and I am doing that as efficiently as I can. There were a couple of emails defending my show. There seems to be some Internet chat in the “ventriloquist circles” about the “Two and Only” closing. I don’t usually keep up with that sort of thing. There is an old yarn that goes, “get two magicians together and you have a convention, get two ventriloquist together and you have a fight.” I have always preferred to keep out of the “vent” discussions for that reason. They are generally petty remarks by dilatants that choose to judge rather than up lift the art of ventriloquism. It is not my cup of tea.

David Letterman decided to do Ventriloquist Week II and which ventriloquists got chosen to do the week was the topic. For some reason the “Two and Only” was cast into that fray. I don’t read reviews and certainly don’t read Internet chat, so it is hearsay. But my feelings are not.

It seems some are blasting my show. “If it was any good it would still be running.” “Probably not as good as everyone touted.” “What made him think he could compete on Broadway?” Somehow the length of the run has been equated to the quality of the show.

One would think that practitioners of the art of ventriloquism would delight in another’s attempt to break a glass ceiling. Instead it seems to have engendered some odd resentment.

In hindsight the toughest hurtle of my show was trying to overcome the natural bias against the art form itself. A bias that I now know comes from these very “vents” who choose to belittle everything and everyone. Perhaps if those who snipe from the sidelines would attempt to perform better ventriloquism instead of judging and condemning those who are, we could all get a little more respect.

Not that they are reading this, but to those “vents” who demean my show here is a challenge. If you have all the answers where is your show? The Helen Hayes is empty right now. Go for it. Put up or shut up. I would be happy to come and see it and give an unsolicited mean-spirited opinion. Of course your show will have to run for more than seven months on and off Broadway, because right now… I hold that record.
As you were,
Jay