Jay Johnson brought the art ventriloquism into the era of modern television.
Born in Texas, Jay proceeds other famous Texas born ventriloquists Jeff Dunham, America's Got Talent Winner Terry Fator, and 1980's Disney featured special performer, Ronn Lucas.
From Jay's website monkeyjoke.com/ :
"Jay started performing at 11 years old when he discovered his natural ability to make a cousin’s doll come to life and began a career using his imagination. His acute dyslexia disappeared in this world of imagery where he was able to find his self esteem and compete. In high school he produced and starred in his own local television show sponsored by a car dealership. This led to summers performing in theme park shows at Six Flags over Texas, Six Flags over Georgia and Astroworld. The summer Jay graduated from high school he logged 918 performances at the Crystal Pistol theater at Six Flags over Georgia. (That’s 10 shows daily for thirteen weeks) About the experience Jay says, “After a summer like that you’re either burned out or fired up… fortunately I got fired up. “
In the mid 70’s Jay moved to Los Angeles to pursue his ideas for television. To date he has done over thirty national commercials, hosted three comedy specials, produced and performed in two network television specials, two HBO specials, hundreds of guest appearances on variety shows and starred in four television series (“Soap” was in production for 4 years and still runs in syndication all over the world)."
Jay and I spoke early on in the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. You will hear references that are before the devastating effect the virus had on so many.
About the interviewer: Al Getler is a world class ventriloquist and hysterical comedian. Combining his sharp wit and skills, Al’s shows are filled with laughs for audiences of all sizes, age groups, and performance venues.
Al has appeared on the A&E Network hundreds of times. In addition, he has been featured on Good Morning America, the Wall Street Journal, and the USA Today newspapers.
Al has performed in Las Vegas and Atlantic City show rooms, in theaters throughout the USA, corporate events, trade events, and hundreds of other venues.
Being held over for months at a time in resorts is not unusual for Al. His audiences love his performances, and his bookers find him to be the consummate businessperson.
Al Getler is an entertainer known as a “true professional” and an “audience pleaser”. Al has appeared in about every venue with great success.
With his strong characters, Al’s comedy draws audience members into his hilarious world. He performs for a full range of audiences from families to adults.
From casinos to theaters and nightclubs to corporate events, cruise ships, festivals and fairs, Al has been a hit.
See algetler.com/