# Has this ventriloquist dummy thing ever been done? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comedian-jokes\ **Created:** [April 4, 2024, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ventriloquist-dummy-thing-ever-been-done/999824 "2024-04-04T16:03:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ventriloquist-dummy-thing-ever-been-done/999824/1 "2024-04-04T16:03:48Z")
I’m imagining a routine in which the dummy is gigantic, and the ventriloquist sits on its lap. Sort of role reversal. It sounds kind of obvious, but I’ve never seen it. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ventriloquist-dummy-thing-ever-been-done/999824/2 "2024-04-04T16:12:25Z")
I kind of think it was done, but the dummy was just a large person. Maybe just a comedy act with no real ventriloquizing. Several ventriloquists use a remote control mask worn by a volunteer from the audience to turn them into a ‘dummy’ for their act. So a smaller ventriloquist could easily sit on the lap of an actual person or large dummy and operate it that way. The point here, at least I think you mean it is the point, is the dummy would be performing the ventriloquist’s role. Hard to believe it’s never been done one way or another. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ventriloquist-dummy-thing-ever-been-done/999824/3 "2024-04-04T16:19:21Z")
Like in [this Mad Magazine comic?](https://images.app.goo.gl/i3v1ymWV7VYGQDa39) ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ventriloquist-dummy-thing-ever-been-done/999824/4 "2024-04-04T16:46:58Z")
There’s a [Twilight Zone](https://files.grizly.com/storage/Question/56122/media.png)e episode that kind of fits; the ventriloquist and doll trade places. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ventriloquist-dummy-thing-ever-been-done/999824/5 "2024-04-04T18:48:51Z")
I am guessing that the reason you have never seen it is, it would be very difficult for the ventriloquist to make such a large dummy’s mouth move while making it talk at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ventriloquist-dummy-thing-ever-been-done/999824/6 "2024-04-04T19:07:37Z")
Packing up a dummy into a special suitcase isn’t much of a chore, nor is taking it to a gig. Imaging a dummy so large that an adult human being could sit on its lap, and yet also stiff and stable enough that an adult human being could sit on its lap. Imagine the machinery that would have to be in it and the amount of set-up it would take. It could work as a one-time joke, maybe on a tv show with a very large budget, but who would want to travel with that act? ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ventriloquist-dummy-thing-ever-been-done/999824/7 "2024-04-04T20:02:42Z")
It might have to be inflatable. I don’t know how you’d get its mouth to move. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ventriloquist-dummy-thing-ever-been-done/999824/8 "2024-04-04T20:21:50Z")
The size is hardly insurmountable when you consider Galligher had (iirc) a chair shaped trampoline and a pedal airship. Making the mouth and eyes move would be trivial. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ventriloquist-dummy-thing-ever-been-done/999824/9 "2024-04-04T20:29:56Z")
The idea of the nominal full-sized “ventriloquist” actually being the dummy and the nominal dummy actually being a shjort person who is the ventriloquist has been done at least three times on 1950s -1960s television. The best of these was arguably on _Alfred Hitchcock presents_, in which Billy Barty played the actual ventriloquist (who masqueraded as the dummy). The episode has a very young William Shatner in it. The episode was called “The Glass Eye”, and it aired on October 6, 1957. It has another twist in it besides the ventriloquist/dummy switcheroo, which is why it gets my vote > **["Alfred Hitchcock Presents" The Glass Eye (TV Episode 1957) ⭐ 8.4 | Drama,...](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0508296/)** > > 33m | TV-14 as I said, there are at least two more examples. That said, I don’t know of a case where the dummy is gigantic and the ventriloquist is normal-sized. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ventriloquist-dummy-thing-ever-been-done/999824/10 "2024-04-04T20:50:39Z")
I saw Raymond Burr being the ventriloquist (who at the end of the sketch was actually the dummy) on some variety show (possibly Flip or Sonny & Cher). I don’t recall who played the “fake” dummy. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ventriloquist-dummy-thing-ever-been-done/999824/11 "2024-04-04T20:59:03Z")
Charles and Buddy did a similar routine on an episode of _Charles in Charge_. (At one point, Charles as the ventriloquist started drinking a glass of water, and Buddy as the dummy opened his mouth to sing….only for water to pour out of _Buddy’s_ mouth.) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ventriloquist-dummy-thing-ever-been-done/999824/12 "2024-04-04T21:04:04Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > I don’t know how you’d get its mouth to move. Remote control ventriloquist mask. [See here.](https://youtu.be/7EcUDAIl5qk?si=jXqOBQd4Cslm56cY) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ventriloquist-dummy-thing-ever-been-done/999824/13 "2024-04-05T11:53:22Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Remote control ventriloquist mask. Sounds like **Supermarionation**. Or **SUPERmarioNATION** > [@](#): > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8BOVvjx5Dg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8BOVvjx5Dg) > **[Supermarionation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarionation)** > > Supermarionation (a portmanteau of the words "super", "marionette" and "animation") is a style of television and film production employed by British company AP Films (later Century 21 Productions) in its puppet TV series and feature films of the 1960s. These productions were created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed at APF's studios on the Slough Trading Estate. The characters were played by electronic marionettes with a moveable lower lip, which opened and closed in time with pre-record... ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ventriloquist-dummy-thing-ever-been-done/999824/14 "2024-04-05T18:38:54Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > SUPERmarioNATION The prelude to SuperMarioGalaxy. ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-ventriloquist-dummy-thing-ever-been-done/999824/15 "2024-04-05T20:51:42Z")
An episode of the 2000s Batman cartoon had the Ventriloquist and Scarface, with Scarface building a giant robot version of himself (see pic [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventriloquist_(character)#/media/File:The_Big_Dummy.jpg)). There’s also a Morecambe & Wise bit along these lines, which you can see [on the Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV3q3f1v8UI).