Joe Gandelman spent many years as a freelance writer overseas and full-time reporter on the staffs of two newspapers and as a professional ventriloquist. Gandelman interned on The Hindustan Times in New Delhi, and wrote or worked for various newspapers including the Chicago Daily News, the Wichita Eagle-Beacon, the San Diego Union-Tribune, and The Christian Science Monitor. His work appeared on National Public Radio's “All Things Considered,” and in the Argus South African Newspapers, The (Baltimore) Sun, The Miami Herald, Winnipeg (Canada) Free Press, Sydney Morning Herald, Aftenposten (Norway), and Haaretz (Israel), among others. Gandelman received a B.A. in political science from Colgate University and a master’s from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. He performs as a ventriloquist across the country and is included in the nationally distributed The Great Ventriloquists trading cards.

Gandelman wrote for NEWSWEEK as a special stringer in Spain during the final turbulent months of the Franco regime.