Ventriloquism: I don't get it

[Nava]

@Thudlow_Boink

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).

Also, a ventriloquist can have personas which aren’t possible with two people. Spanish ventriloquist Mari Carmen had among others a lion (Rodolfo) which… well… if that boy ain’t gay, he sure leans funny… and its being a puppet allowed him (her) to say and do things which would have brought the censors out in full force or which would have fallen flat if said/done by a man playing a part, because they didn’t match what was expected in a “gay man part”. Her Daisy, a tween who can’t wait to grow up juuuuust enough but who is too rude to be a Lolita, would also have been impossible as an “acted” part under the political and social mores of the time.

[Broomstick]

Jeff Dunham has staying power because he understands it’s not just about making the dummy work - he also needs to be a comedian as well as a puppeteer. Hence his dummy-free warm up routine.

Whether or not you, personally, find Mr. Dunham funny is of course a matter of personal taste (or lack of it, depending on who you ask).

[billfish678]

I just remembered years ago Jeff Dunham was working on one of these. Looks like he finished it. Wonder how many thousands of hours he spent working on it? (probably more than some people do getting college degrees. God help you when Walter is your copilot though. Link safe for work.

- YouTube

[hogarth]

@BigT

Well, I define best as funniest. That’s the point of what they do, right?

I thought there were non-comedic ventriloquists as well – people who would drink a glass of water while reciting the alphabet or singing “Lady of Spain” or doing other tricks that are impressive but not especially funny.

From Wikipedia:

The most familiar type of ventriloquist seen today is a nightclub performer sitting on a stool with a wooden dummy on his or her lap. This comedic style of ventriloquism is, however, a fairly recent innovation, which began in the days of vaudeville in the late 19th century. The vaudeville acts did not concentrate on humour as much as on demonstrating the ventriloquist’s ability to deceive the audience and his skill in switching voices.

Nowadays, I agree that most ventriloquists are just comedians with puppets.

[Ike_Witt]

@billfish678

And your damn good when the dummy can magically guess what your holding while he’s blindfolded

It’s Burt’s reaction that makes it so priceless. Richard Mulligan was a great comedic actor.

[ministryman]

@Leaffan

My wife just called to tell me that Jeff Dunham is coming to Ottawa and she’s getting tickets. Have fun! I said.

She knows i don’t like ventriloquism and will be taking the kids without me.

I really don’t get it though. Sure it takes skill and talent to be able to make a puppet talk, without moving your lips, but otherwise, so? Maybe I’m just a jaded old fart, but I really don’t see much humour in talking puppets. It’s not like the jokes are that particularly clever.

What do the rest of you think of ventriloquism?

It’s not Paul Winchell up there with Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead, or Jerry and Caesar from “The Twilight Zone”.

Dunham is GOOD. IIRC he has been doing this since the 80s. His material tends to be current, and he will try to slide some off-color jokes by the audience.

Most ventriloquists use one puppet. He uses 4. With 4 different voices.

Depending on how old you kids are, you might want them to stay home. I saw him post-divorce (his, not mine), and he was doing a sketch about “A Taste of China”, using a asian-sounding voice.

My teenage boy got the joke (his mother and I did not).

A Taste of China was actually

A Taste of Vagina

But wait until he has a three or four way conversation with the puppets. Now we are talking.

I say go for it.

[priapus]

I found Franklin and Gob pretty funny on Arrested Development

[Broomstick]

@ministryman

But wait until he has a three or four way conversation with the puppets. Now we are talking.

For those unfamilar with what is being referred to here, I offer the following YouTube clip:

Jeff, Peanut, and Jose arguing, with an offstage comment from Walter

[Shodan]

Right - that’s the key to good ventriloquism. Not just talking without letting them see your lips move, but making the audience feel that the puppet is another character.

Morley Safer interviewed Jim Henson many years back, and was repeatedly drawn into interviewing Miss Piggy as if she were another person separate from Henson. Henson was a puppeteer rather than strictly a ventriloquist, but he had the gift.

Watch this. The key line is at 1:10.

"Who else could make them believe?’

Regards,
Shodan

[Broomstick]

Gosh - it’s been 21 years since Jim Hensen left us?

[Thudlow_Boink]

@Shodan

Morley Safer interviewed Jim Henson many years back, and was repeatedly drawn into interviewing Miss Piggy as if she were another person separate from Henson.

Wait—are you sure it was Miss Piggy? Piggy was Frank Oz’s character.

[Bryan_Ekers]

Safer probably spoke to Henson at some point, along with other Muppet Show performers, but I recall him unable to keep a straight face while “interviewing” Miss Piggy.