# Clowns or Ventriloquist Dummies? (Bozo vs. Charlie McCarthy!) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 19, 2004, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085 "2004-10-19T19:00:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/1 "2004-10-19T19:00:25Z")
The [Creepy Clown Thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=281602) got me to thinking: what’s creepier, clowns or [ventriloquist dummies](http://www.horror-wood.com/dummies.htm)? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/2 "2004-10-19T19:06:54Z")
Go to [this site](http://www.pariarts.com/mus/vent/other/other1.html) and just keep clicking “next” till your brain snaps. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/3 "2004-10-19T19:42:31Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Go to [this site](http://www.pariarts.com/mus/vent/other/other1.html) and just keep clicking “next” till your brain snaps. :eek: Gerry Gee is definitely a gay dummy. Too bad his mother dressed him so funny. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/4 "2004-10-19T19:42:35Z")
Dummies. But not by much. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/5 "2004-10-19T20:02:27Z")
**Eve’s** link includes a _dummy that looks like a clown!_ My two biggest phobias rolled into one. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/6 "2004-10-19T20:51:26Z")
Ventriloquist Dummies. I’ve never been afraid of clowns that much, but just imagining one of those dolls sitting on a chair in the dark gives me the willies. If you ever see a ventriloquist and his doll talking back and forth when no one is around, run. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/7 "2004-10-19T21:03:16Z")
Ventriloquist Clown Mime Dummies. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/8 "2004-10-19T21:25:03Z")
Equally creepy. I opened the clown thread and read a little of it, but didn’t click on any of the links. I just know what I’d find would be fodder for nightmares for weeks. I’m not clicking on any of the links here, either. Just thinking about clowns and dummies gives me the heeby-jeebies. Dolls are creepy, too, just so you know. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/9 "2004-10-19T22:03:11Z")
My SO likes clowns but is deathly afraid of dolls of any shape or form. This includes ventriloquist dummies and marionettes. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/10 "2004-10-19T22:30:18Z")
> [@Agrippina](#): > > If you ever see a ventriloquist and his doll talking back and forth when no one is around, run. There was a standup comic in the late 80’s who did this as part of his act. He and the dummy would “argue” causing the comic to storm off stage. After he was gone, the dummy would start trash talking the guy. It was pretty funny since the dummy didn’t look evil. Otherwise, most dummies are creepy. Check out the one in _Devil Doll_, for example. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/11 "2004-10-19T23:05:10Z")
There are some clowns I’ll admit don’t appear sinister or evil, but I don’t think that’s true of ventriloquist dummies (especially sans ventriloquist). ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/12 "2004-10-20T01:34:03Z")
Let me take this opportunity to mention the movie **Magic** , about an extremely unstable ventriloquist and his extremely creepy looking dummy. The dummy itself isn’t evil, but it _looks_ evil, and that’s enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/13 "2004-10-20T01:53:03Z")
Ventriloquist dummies. Some clowns are a little creepy but mostly they’re not. I was even a card-carrying clown myself for a short time. I learned to make little doggies out of balloons, the only problem was I didn’t have the lung power to blow up the balloons making my doggies rather sad and mostly just big tails. Um … anyway, Dummies creep me out me because when I was a kid I saw an episode of _Twilight Zone_ or _Alfred Hitchcock presents_ involving the ubiquitous evil ventriloquist dummy. (I still can’t believe my parents let a little kid like me watch those shows.) I also shared a room with my older brother for a while, he was only 3 years older and we were both young enough that they thought a brother and sister in the same room was okay. My brother had a Charlie McCarthy doll, which is of course a ventroloquist dummy, that he would leave sitting on a tiny chair staring blankly in the direction of our beds. I woke up many times during the night to that thing staring at me with that stupid grin on it’s face. Sometimes I could have sworn I saw it move. _shudder_ Yup, it’s dummies hands down. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/14 "2004-10-20T14:15:38Z")
> [@Wile E](#): > > I was even a card-carrying clown myself for a short time. I learned to make little doggies out of balloons, the only problem was I didn’t have the lung power to blow up the balloons making my doggies rather sad and mostly just big tails. Also, that unfortunate incident when you tried to make a balloon out of a little doggie, and they made you hand in your clown card. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/15 "2004-10-20T14:21:17Z")
Dummies, definitely. Gonna have screaming nightmares for a few days, thanks to Eve… Anybody see the clowns in that last update Lileks did? It was from a 70’s Icecapades show and the picture was full of completely identical clown hobos and they were all staring at the camera with their soulless eyes…_shiver_… ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/16 "2004-10-20T14:23:32Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Also, that unfortunate incident when you tried to make a balloon out of a little doggie, and they made you hand in your clown card. Who told you … er … _think plausible deniability_ I have no idea what your’re talking about. LOOK! _points_ A CLOWN-FACED VENTRILOQUIST DUMMY! _runs in the opposite direction_ ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/17 "2004-10-20T14:37:25Z")
**Use me. Use me.** ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/18 "2004-10-20T15:21:11Z")
To me it’s a tie. Some dummies are scarier than others. Same with clowns. Both are pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![moonstarssun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@moonstarssun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moonstarssun)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/19 "2004-10-20T21:46:27Z")
I have to vote for ventriloquist dummies. I’ve seen clowns that don’t creep me out, but not so with dummies. I also can’t stand dolls. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085/20 "2004-10-20T23:10:16Z")
> [@Doctor Jackson](#): > > Ventriloquist Clown Mime Dummies. Hmmm, a ventriloquist mime, that I’d like to see. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clowns-or-ventriloquist-dummies-bozo-vs-charlie-mccarthy/270085.md?page=2)