Ventriloquism.org

Ventriloquist

Mark Wade

America's foremost children's ventriloquist — and the man who wrote the book on kidshow work, in 26 countries and counting.

  • From US
  • Active 1970s–present
  • Figures 1

Overview

Mark Wade is the working ventriloquist other working ventriloquists learned from. He grew up in Baltimore, Ohio, outside Columbus, built a career as a children's performer, and was named Ventriloquist of the Year in 1980.

What set him apart was writing it down. Kidshow Ventriloquism and its sequel, Kidshow Ventriloquism Encore, are the standard texts for performing ventriloquism for children — in use in 26 countries, including a Japanese-language edition, and read well beyond ventriloquism by magicians and clowns working the same rooms.

Behind the scenes

Wade has spent as much of his career organizing the art as performing it. He has sat on the Board of Advisors of the Vent Haven Museum since 2000, and served as Executive Director of the Vent Haven International Ventriloquists' ConVENTion. In 2013 he co-founded the International Ventriloquist Society with Ken Groves and Tom Crowl, and he served as Executive Director of Maher Ventriloquist Studios, the oldest studio teaching the art.

He has since stepped back from both the ConVENTion and Maher. He writes for the KidAbra Journal and for the UK magazine Rubber Chicken, and has written scripts for other performers.

Figures

  • Wally the Wandpuppet

Timeline

  • 1980 — Named Ventriloquist of the Year
  • 1996 — Publishes Kidshow Ventriloquism (S&S Books, 132pp)
  • 2000 — Joins the Board of Advisors, Vent Haven Museum
  • 2013 — Co-founds the International Ventriloquist Society with Ken Groves and Tom Crowl

Books

  • Kidshow Ventriloquism Mark Wade · S&S Books · 1996 The standard text on performing ventriloquism for children — in use in 26 countries, with a Japanese-language edition. 132pp, ISBN 1881099156.
  • Kidshow Ventriloquism Encore Mark Wade The sequel. ⚠️ Publisher and year not yet confirmed.

On video

6 performances cataloged in our archive. needs research: curate + embed the best 5–8; the rest 301 here

Sources

  1. Mark Wade (ventriloquist) — Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-08-13.
  2. Ventriloquist Mark Wade — International Ventriloquist Society. Accessed 2026-08-13.
  3. Vent Haven ConVENTion — contacts — Vent Haven ConVENTion. Accessed 2026-08-13.
  4. Kidshow Ventriloquism — Open Library. Accessed 2026-08-13.
  5. The Dummy Blog archive — The Dummy Blog. Accessed 2026-08-13.
  6. Jimmy Vee, first-hand — Ventriloquism.org. Accessed 2026-08-13.

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