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Speaker ROSS SHAFER Subjects emcee, entertainment, humor         Video Clip

  
 
Ross didn't start out to be the world's funniest motivational speaker. He was reared in the rugged timberlands of the Pacific Northwest where his father worked for Arco and his mother had her hands full managing Ross and his two youngest brothers.  In Junior High, Ross mowed enough lawns to switch buy an electric guitar. Unfortunately, he didn't mow enough lawns to buy an amplifier.
 
As a senior in High School, Ross made an unlikely Student Body President and All Conference football player, Ross was awarded a scholarship to play for the University of Puget Sound – a small NCAA-II school where he was often the player voted most likely to be “shaken up on the play,” he did obtain a Business Marketing BA degree within four years…an achievement he's convinced is a football team record.
 
After college, Ross worked hard writing ad copy for desperate carpet companies. “3 Rooms for $399” may have been his writing peak. He also blew his savings on what he was sure would be the “next big thing.” Ross invested everything he had (and lost it) in "SOUNDS OK, America's Only Stereo and Pet Shop." 
 
Business failures aside, he started getting laughs at various comedy "open mic" nights. In fact, he won the 1983 Showtime Comedy Laugh Off…and soon Ross began to open shows for Dionne Warwick, Eddie Rabbitt, Crystal Gayle, Neil Sedaka, and other famous people with good voices.
 
In the summer of 1984, Ross was approached by Seattle television station (KING-TV) to write and produce a weekly comedy/talk show. The concept took off! And in the five seasons Ross was at the helm of Almost Live, the show collected 36 Emmy Awards; six going to Ross for his work as Host, Actor, and Writer – as well as the prestigious IRIS award for the “Best Local Entertainment Series” in the United States. In fact, it was at "Almost Live" that Ross actually created Bill Nye, The Science Guy! These were busy times for Ross; who also hosted a daily four-hour afternoon drive radio program on KJR-AM. 
 
Ross also became a regular contributor to Dick Clark's “TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes” and appeared with Dick as a guest when he led a campaign to change the Official Washington State Song to, Louie, Louie.” 5,000 people stormed the capitol...chanting Louie, Louie...forcing the governor out of his office to address this important issue. The Louie, Louie campaign became an Esquire Magazine Dubious Achievement of the Year."

By now, Ross was getting a lot of national attention and the USA Network hired him to host their game show, “Love Me, Love Me Not.”  He also hosted game show pilots for NBC and ABC.  Ross also wrote and produced (2) Ross Shafer Comedy TV Specials, and had a recurring role on Fox Television's “21 Jump Street.”
 
In l988, the Fox network released Joan Rivers as the host of their flagship late night program, “The Late Show." which competed against Johnny Carson and David Letterman.  After a bevy of rotating celebrity hopefuls, Ross was hired as the permanent host and remained in that chair for nearly a year.
 
Ross continued to hone his stand-up act and was a frequent guest star on, “Evening At The Improv” “Comic Strip Live,” and “The A List.". Next came, “Days End, a nightly ABC entertainment magazine co-hosted by Ross, Matt Lauer, and Spencer Christian. 
 
Ross also became a published author with the comedy cookbook, “Cook Like A Stud”…38 recipes men can prepare in the garage using their own tools. And, he wrote and produced the highly acclaimed comedy CD, “Inside the First Family,”  which The White House Weekly called, "The funniest send up of the Clinton Scandals."  Oh yes, and there was the successful run as the host of ABC-TV's “New Match Game.” The show still plays every morning on the Game Show Network.
 
Corporate audiences were fascinated by Ross's story of the 'Pet Shop Manager turned Network TV Host' so Ross was was able to simultaneously develop a career as a Keynote Speaker and seminar leader.  In l994, he started writing and producing funny Human Resource films on the subject of customer service and motivation -(14) to date -which are now distributed worldwide in (7) languages. Because he has spent so much time on the speaking circuit, he noticed another disturbing trend. He found that a lot of the so-called 'motivational speakers' had never worked in the trenches. They were preaching cliches - not truth. So, he wrote the critically acclaimed book, "Nobody Moved Your Cheese!" to encourage people to trust their own gut and be accountable for their own success. As you can probably tell, Ross reinvented himself and went from comedian to "expert" while maintaining the humor. In fact, his friend Jay Leno says, "Finally a motivational speaker without the speech!"
 
Ross' latest books "The Customer Shouts Back!" and "Customer Empathy" are a result of 11 years of customer response research. 
 
Ross has also recently formed The Customer Empathy Institute because he is convinced the reason customer service hasn't improved is because we haven't tried to understand the customer's emotional state before, during, and after the transaction.
 
 
  

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