 As his friend Jay Leno put it, "Finally a motivational
speaker, without the speech!" Ross Shafer didn’t start out as one of the
country’s funniest motivational speakers though. A native Pacific Northwesterner,
he was an All-Conference football player in high school and played four years of
college football; graduating from the University of Puget Sound – a small NCAA
II school where Ross was often the player voted “most likely to be shaken up on
the play.” He earned his BA degree in Business Marketing within four years…an
achievement he's still convinced is a football team record.
After college, Ross blew his savings on what he was sure would be the “next big
thing.” He invested everything he had (and lost it) in "SOUNDS OK, America's
Only Stereo and Pet Shop." Business failures aside, Ross started getting laughs
at comedy clubs and his first big break came when he won Showtime’s Comedy Laugh
Off in 1983. Soon Ross began to open shows for Dionne Warwick, Eddie Rabbitt,
Crystal Gayle, Neil Sedaka, and other famous people with good voices.
Within a year, Ross was hosting KING-TV’s weekly comedy/talk show, “Almost
Live.” With Ross at the helm, the show won 36 Emmy Awards and the prestigious
IRIS award for the “Best Local Entertainment Series” in the United States. It
was also during his time at "Almost Live" that Ross actually created Bill Nye,
The Science Guy!
Over the next several years, Ross hosted a daily afternoon radio program,
contributed to Dick Clark's “TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes,” hosted the USA
Network’s game show, “Love Me, Love Me Not,” wrote and produced two comedy TV
specials, and had a recurring role on the hit show “21 Jump Street.” He moved on
to become host of Fox’s flagship late night program (cleverly titled “The Late
Show”), which competed against Johnny Carson and David Letterman. During this
time, Ross continued to work on his stand-up act and regularly performed for the
Improv, Comic Strip Live, the A List, and eventually moved on to a nightly ABC
entertainment magazine show, called Days End, that he co-hosted with Matt Lauer
and Spencer Christian. One of his most proud entertainment achievements was the
successful run as host of ABC-TV's “New Match Game.” The show still plays every
morning on the Game Show Network.
Surprising, but true, Ross is also a published author. He practically invented
the genre of comedy cookbooks with Cook Like A Stud, featuring 38 recipes men
can prepare in the garage using their own power tools. He also wrote Nobody
Moved Your Cheese! - How to Ignore the Experts and Trust Your Gut and his latest
book, The Customer Shouts Back – 10 Things You Must Know If You Want Their
Lifetime Loyalty, which is the culmination of Ross’ 11 years as a writer and
producer of human resource training films. Ross recently founded the Customer
Empathy Institute™ because he’s 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.
Corporate and association audiences have become fascinated by Ross’ story of
“Failed Pet Shop Manager, turned Network TV Host.” Nowadays, he is in demand as
a keynote speaker, seminar leader and event emcee. His clean, funny and relevant
programs have made more than 3,000 meeting planners look like heroes and he’s
worked with hundreds of companies that span various industries, such as
Microsoft, Toyota, Safeway, Nordstrom, GE, Pfizer, Xerox, Verizon, Blue Cross,
Wells Fargo, Ernst & Young, Allstate, Federal Express, as well as a slew of
professional associations. When you book Ross Shafer for your event, your
audience is guaranteed to laugh, see their business in a new way, be inspired to
trust their gut and fulfill their own potential.
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