So we're Kazoobie Kazoos.
We are a place that spreads joy around the world. [kazoos buzzing]
A kazoo is a mirliton instrument
so it works off of vibration.
It needs a little resonator in there,
so you've got to make a lot of noise.
You can sing, talk or laugh,
because you want that little resonator
to shake around and give you that vibration.
>> So if you go 'ooooo...'
That is how you get your sound.
We make about a million kazoos a year,
and then we ship them all over the world.
[kazoo buzzing and tooting]
>> I got in the kazoo business. I just lucked out.
My background was in theater.
I grew up in Beaufort, South Carolina,
got connected with a guy who was the king of kazoo,
Rick Hubbard.
I was Rick's production manager
and Rick had this custom motorcoach
that we traveled around the country in.
He had everything from a whole stage full of bubble machines
to confetti cannons, to lights and lasers.
It was really a rock show for kids and for adults,
but all through music and all through using the kazoo
to really bring people in, have a good time
and celebrate together.
I got tired of living out of a suitcase
and living on the road wasn't as glamorous
as I thought it was going to be,
so I made an offer to take over the e-commerce business.
I was 19 years old at the time,
so the partners that I worked for
they flew me to Detroit, so we bought all the assets,
moved it to Hilton Head Island,
and we just celebrated 20 years in the kazoo business.
♪ [upbeat instrumental music] ♪
So the history of the kazoo is a bit unsure.
>> Since we don't know how the kazoo was invented,
we've had people come up with their own ideas.
>> We truly think that it's probably been around
for a really long time.
>> In 1850, Ancient Aliens introduced them
to speak to humans through music.
>> Most likely it kind of originated from ancient times
where tribes and things like that
would take things like gourds and bone, hollow them out.
>> The kazoo was developed as a homing call for Aaron's donkeys.
>> Use things like leather, or even the egg sack of a spider
>> As a medieval torture device.
For that mirliton, that resonator,
that vibration part.
>> To seduce women and men, so seductive,
almost like Kenny G. on the sax.
>> One theory about how the kazoo got its name
was that George Smith had bought the rights to the kazoo,
taken it to his factory in New York.
It was called the 'down south submarine' at that point,
and they had filed a patent for the down south submarine.
And the patent office came back and said
"ah, submarine's already taken,
you got to come up with some other name."
And so sitting around the factory, someone said,
"How about kazoo? That's what it sounds like,
let's call it a kazoo."
They've always kind of been used for both
music and mainstream music, professional music,
and they've also been kind of a novelty toy at the same time.
So even from the turn of the century,
we would get little kazoos
looking like little fish for kids,
all the way up to a kind of more modern day
where they were adapting them into fast food, happy meal toys,
things like that.
[kazoo buzzing]
>> It is a fun business, and most of the people
who come and want to give us their money to buy kazoos
are really fun, cool people.
>> What would not make me come to Kazoobie Kazoos?
I'm going to get the very loud horn.
I'm going to toot it the whole way back to Maryland.
>> He's going to be walking back to Maryland
if he blows that loudest kazoo.
♪ [kazoos buzzing a tune] ♪
The Kazoo love is out there.
[Laughing] There's lots of it.
>> The demand is good. We do a little over a million
of our basic plastic kazoo, and then several 100,000
of other noisemakers, accessories, and adaptations
that we've manufactured over the years,
and we are a global company.
We have customers in 30 countries now.
>> So our kazoos are made of polypropylene, polyethylene,
which is heavy duty durable medical grade plastic.
The melting of the plastic happens down in Tampa, Florida.
It's in St. Pete. That's where they have our mold.
It is our patent but they're melting it there,
so they're still made in the United States.
They send all the parts and pieces to us here
and we hand assemble every kazoo here in Beaufort.
[kazoo-making machine snapping]
The museum really starts
from what we could find on the beginning of the kazoo history,
which starts in the late 1800s.
So we've kind of collected kazoos
that have spanned over the last probably 140 years,
>> We just completed a major renovation of the museum,
so it's been here a little over a decade.
We're really proud of the museum because the kazoo
is a part of American heritage, American legacy,
and we think it's our responsibility
to help promote that.
So we've got kazoos from the first patent
to kind of handmade kazoos
and just showing you different styles
and how they've evolved over the decades.
♪ [kazoo buzzing a tune] ♪
I think i'm good at it,
but I think alot of us are good at the kazoo.
It's an instrument you can pick up quickly and
you know, it's you making the noise,
So the more passion you have behind that instrument,
the more passionate your kazoo sounds.
>> For me, it's about being able to make something,
creating some joy in the world,
and then I've got this really great team of people
that come in every day, work really hard
and really proud of the product that we produce.
So I don't intend on getting out of the kazoo business
anytime soon, as long as people
are still willing to buy our products.