FWIW, I don’t get it either.
Is Jeff Dunham the “onna Stick” guy?
That was kinda funny.
Best ventriloquist act ever - Chuck and Bob from Soap.
Yeah.
Back when my family watched “An Evening at the Improv” on A&E in the early 90s, Dunham was known to us as “On a Stick.” The best part was when he’d rapidly cycle through all his puppets’ voices as they tried to convince him not to do the drinking-water trick. “We’re all going to choke to death!”
The guy with the dragon was the only other one I liked. Ronn Lucas (who also made a horrible TV show starring said dragon).
I never cared for ventriloquist acts until I saw Chuck and bob on the old Soap TV series. Then it clicked for me. Chuck’s anxiety when separated from Bob was hysterical, as were Bob’s sojourns to places like the inside of the refrigerator and the men’s room on his own.
Terry Fator has also been doing pretty well with the puppets, although they’re not so much the point of the act as a backdrop for his singing abilities. Though it did lead to one of the funnier puppet jokes I’ve seen:
Terry: “Hang on, let me get a drink.” sip
Puppet: “Hey, can I have one too?”
Terry: “Sure.” sip
Puppet: [beat] “Jackass.”
Here’s one way to look at it: You don’t see too many comedy teams/duos around any more, like Abbott and Costello or Burns and Allen. A ventriloquist and his dummy can do that style of comedy.
Here’s another way: Some stand-up comics have a persona, and they perform their acts from the point of view of that persona (e.g. Rodney Dangerfield, Larry the Cable Guy), so that a lot of the laughs come (if they come at all) not just from the jokes but from who’s telling them. A ventriloquist like Jeff Dunham or Edgar Bergan can do that character style of comedy, and can even switch characters (hopefully before they wear out their welcome).
It’s the characters, obviously, as this circumstance makes clear. Stage actors who are successful–at the craft if not in terms of money–create characters to a sufficient extent that the audience will suspend their disbelief. So it is with ventriloquists, who really are a type of actor. Hearing Eddie Bergen and Charlie McCarthy on the radio worked because of Bergen’s skill at characterization. It probably also didn’t hurt that a lot of people had seen the act in person, or at least on film.
The technical part of this is like a musician knowing how to play an instrument; but when you hear a great musician perform on radio or recording, you don’t particularly care that you can’t see him work the valves, press the keys, or pluck the strings. Anyone can “play” a recorder, but a good musician creates and communicates with it.
How would everyone characterize Triumph,the insult comic dog? Personally, I thought he was great.
I didn’t enjoy Dunham’s series, but I love his standup. I was watching one of his earlier ones on the youtubes when he and Peanut did a bit and I said to myself, I said, “Damn, Peanut set him up perfectly for that…”
:smack:
Just a puppet, not strictly a ventriloquist. I don’t know if Robert Smigel can even throw his voice.
Jay Johnson has a one-man, many puppets show called The Two and Only. It’s both autobiographical and a paean to the history of ventriloquism. Johnson is as much better than Jeff Dunham as Dunham is better than me. If you didn’t think ventriloquism was an art form, then this should convince you otherwise. Extraordinary.
And way further back than that. I went to high school with Jeff in the late 70s (though I didn’t know him personally) and he was already working on it then.
In one of those weird coincidences, Jay Johnson also went to the same high school we did, though way before us. Maybe something in the water? :dubious:
Nobody realizes that Jeff Dunham is the puppet and the puppets are the ventriloquists (they’re really bad at it if you ask me, shouldn’t Jeff be moving a lot more if that’s the case?). Oh no, what have I done!..now everyone knows…SSSHHHHHHH!!!
I agree, Jeff’s act gets old after a while, but his skill is amazing, and the comedy is hilarious. With so many bad comedians out there being paraded around like they’re the best, it’s nice to see someone who actually deserves to be on the stage for once. However, the thing that peeves me is that when CC gets some good stand up, they play it to death until you almost don’t even like the person doing it anymore. Sure, playing it one or two weeks later is fine, but after that, they need to wait a couple years to play it again. I mean, we all know when they’re gonna’ play it, it’s not like we all haven’t seen it, hell, I even skim through and DVR something if I think it might be good. They should either get some new material, or simply don’t play it at all, jokes only work once…
I like Jeff Dunham, but only with Peanut, Walter, and Achmed.
Yes, I know Achmed is un-PC, but that’s what comedy needs these days. Un-PC is hilarious if it’s done right. And Achmed is done right.
Absolutely hate it. HATE IT. Those ppl & mimes should be sent beyond the pale.
I hear ya. I was about to rip into unfunny performers in general, but you convinced me to pity them instead.
So, Recovering Ventriloquists and Card Trick Guys and Canned Improv Schticks and Classic Rock Cover Bands: keep plugging away. But stay in your tech school classes, too.
Jon Cryer, he of Alan Harper fame on 2.5 Men plays an amateur ventriloquist sometimes on the show, his dummy being “Danny”. Danny brings out how deeply screwed-up Alan is.
The only thing I wonder about is why people used to make such a big deal about how they were throwing their voice. I’ve yet to see a ventroloquist who wasn’t 100% obviously doing the talking. In fact, the better they are, the more likely you can actually even see their lips move.