Joseph Smith has been making people laugh for as long as he can remember.
“I always say that my first stage was the front steps of my childhood home. People would literally knock on my mother?s door and ask if I could come out and tell jokes,” he said. “I always had a love for making kids laugh, even when I, myself, was a kid.”
The Baltimore native, whose stage name is the Amazing Josini, is a one-man show bringing storytelling, ventriloquism, magic and song to audiences all over the country for the last 30 years.
A completely self-taught artist, Smith was inspired by black performers he saw on television. “I saw [ventriloquist] Willie Tyler on TV, and it was the first African-American guy that I ever saw doing that type of act, and it blew me away,” he said. “Then I saw another guy named [Arnon] Goldfinger. These were the type of people that inspired me.”
Smith started his own act in 1976, frequenting jazz clubs in the Baltimore area. He was approached one night after a show by a Baltimore City Public Schools administrator. “He wanted me to perform in the school, but he said that I had to make [my show] educational,” Smith said. “It was the best piece of advice that I got. It revolutionized my career.”
“I developed a program that suited an educational aspect,” Smith said. “Now I have book shows and reading shows, shows on safety, self-esteem, dealing with peer pressure and bullies.”
Smith has performed in venues like the Kennedy Center and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., and has appeared on “Showtime at the Apollo.” He now regularly performs for private parties, corporations and schools.
“I consider myself an artist/motivational speaker,” Smith said. “My program is geared towards uplifting young people and encouraging them to achieve. The storytelling, the ventriloquism, the magic ? those are just the tools that I use to deliver my message.”
“It?s a one-man, off-Broadway production for young audiences and the young at heart,” Smith said.
If you go
The Amazing Josini presents Holiday Magic
» Venue: K Productions Live, Northwood Plaza, 1570 Havenwood Road, Baltimore
» Times: Dec. 28-30 and Jan. 1 at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m.; Dec. 31 at 4 p.m.
» Cost: $5
» More info: 410-338-6979
