As I finished my interview with Kenny Croes he asked to learn about my career. So today’s clip is Kenny turning the tables as he interviews Tom Crowl!
Video Transcript:
I’d love to know more about what you do. You tour a lot and do all kinds of shows. Do you still like it?
Oh, I love it. I started out doing magic for years. My wife used to work with me — we got married in ’91, but we started working together in ’89. From then until 2005 we did magic shows. Eventually, she decided she wanted to pursue her own career, and I was left with a choice: either keep doing illusions and hire someone, or go back to doing a stand-up kid show.
I didn’t want to do kid shows. There’s nothing wrong with them, but I wanted to entertain adults. I met Ken Groves back in the mid-90s, and I realized I could do that. I contacted Ken and he said, “Come on out.” So I went out to Ohio, spent a couple of days with him, and realized I was in some serious trouble — I had a lot of work to do.
Had you done ventriloquism before that?
I had. When I was little, I got a Simon Sez figure out of a catalog — this was in the ’70s — and I played with Simon Sez a lot. But at that time David Copperfield and Doug Henning were on the scene, so magic kind of won out for me. I had the figure and had read the books, but I never really got it.
It wasn’t until I started working with Ken that I realized what I had to do. I took the Maher Course, bought every book I could find on the subject — Paul Winchell and others — and I learned something different from each one. Ken also taught me a technique I reveal in my Learn Ventriloquism course: watch your video over and over again, until you get sick of it, and keep looking for ways to improve.
So I did that. I started out doing little bits of vent in between my magic effects, and then I just kept switching over. Within about a year, year and a half, I was doing vent full-time. It was a pretty quick transition. Not an easy one, but I stuck with it.
I also lucked into some work at resorts down in Mexico. These were five-star resorts, gorgeous places, and I was working almost every night. I’d do 45 to 50 minutes of vent, and during the day I was off. We had a condo down there, and they’d drive me out to the resorts at night.
All day long, I’d practice my show in front of the camera, then review it and critique it. Every night I’d videotape the show, and the next day I’d go back and watch it. Because I did that for over a month, I got pretty good, pretty quick.
After that I started doing street performing. On the streets I’d do four shows a night, each about 45 minutes, every night for over a month. It was a lot of work, but it gave me a ton of stage time. I got to the point where people started coming up saying, “Hey, we want to hire you for this” or “We want to hire you for that.”
At that time, I was still selling my show based on what I’d learned from magic, but I eventually moved into corporate work. I’ve been blessed — they fly me all over the country. I usually do after-dinner programs, and it’s been very good to me.
Then, last year, I decided to start the Learn Ventriloquism course. Someone had shown me some software they were using for another project, and I thought, “That’s brilliant.” When I was learning, I read every book I could, but I just kept going straight through. Ken was the one who made me stop, work on a skill, and only then move on.
So I thought, why not build that same step-by-step process into an online course? And it took off. It’s gone through the roof. I appreciate you being one of the affiliates for it, helping me promote it and spread the word. It’s just snowballed from there, and I’ve been enjoying the ride.
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