About Gary
Gary McCubbin was pastor of two rural churches in Western South Dakota at the same time and later he took on a third church. Gary and Ruth were in South Dakota from 1978-2018.
Gary began practicing ventriloquism in the 1980’s when he purchased a monkey puppet in a thrift store in Kadoka, SD. He was loaned a book on ventriloquism and developed a personality for the monkey. He named the puppet Sparky after Sparky Anderson, who was then the manager of the Detroit Tigers.
Sparky had a Detroit Tigers shirt and cap and talked about baseball and other sports. He told riddles and shared about problems he was having at home or school.
Gary used Sparky and eventually other puppets to teach Bible truths during the Sunday children’s message, at summer camps, and at special events.
About Sonny & Friends
In 2004, Gary purchased a puppet named Sonny, a boy with orange hair and a shirt that declared, “Basketball is my life.” This puppet delighted his first grandson who was just 2 years old at the time. The children and adults in the three churches looked forward to the puppets. Other characters also came along.
In 2018 Gary and Ruth relocated to Wadsworth, Ohio to be near their two sons and 12 grandchildren.
As he became involved in the community, he found WCTV. The city of Wadsworth has a local TV station, WCTV, that invites local residents to contribute to the programming. Sonny and Friends is produced at the studios of Wadsworth TV in Wadsworth, Ohio. For more information call Gary McCubbin (605) 454-1297
In 2022, Gary began recording episodes of Sonny & Friends a Christian ventriloquism show at the WCTV studio twice a month.
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