How to talk without moving your lips
Along the same lines as my previous post about how to be a ventriloquist without even trying to be one, watch master ventriloquist Bill Demar use nothing but puppet manipulation skills, a great script and some terrific timing to entertain some kids. May not be so funny for adults, but just the way in which he goes about with the show and entertains us, without the frog uttering a single word, is something all wannabe ventriloquists (and entertainers) should learn from.
This awesome video from the show “Britain’s Got Talent” is a classic example of the fact that it is far more important to be an entertainer, than worry about how well you can talk without moving your lips or about how much people can see your lips move.
This is classic proof that the audience really doesn’t care if you can “throw your voice” or not. You will see that the artist is not really a ventriloquist. He doesn’t even attempt to be a ventriloquist. He doesn’t make the monkey talk, doesn’t have a witty script, nothing!
All he has is sheer timing, a great setup, basic puppet manipulation skills, but most importantly, the ability to make it all come together in a funny, entertaining way.
Yes, you can learn how to be a ventriloquist – it is dead easy.
But no, you can’t learn how to be a great entertainer.
This following clip is insanely funny! The “Achmed” dead terrorist character has been brilliantly conceptualized. Jeff Dunham exposes the funny side of being a terrorist (if there is such a thing), even though it sounds a little cliched at times. It just doesn’t get much better than this.
Character development:
The key to being a successful ventriloquist, is that your puppets need to have a personality.
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Puppet: Punchline
You: Comment
Puppet: Punchline
This routine tends to get old very fast, and your audience will lose interest very quickly. The key to keeping your audience involved, is to create a character out of your puppet. The puppet should have a life of its own, likes and dislikes, quirky behaviour – and all of this has to be consistent.
For example, if your character is a rude, old, wise cracking, know-it-all male chauvinistic pig like Wilson then the character has to be consistently the same. You can occasionally go off on a slight tangent (like when your puppet is supposedly having a good day, say) but you cannot suddenly turn your grumpy-old-rude-man puppet into a kind, decent man who loves and respects women.
If you want to learn about character development, this is one of the videos to watch and learn from.
– Ravi Jayagopal
Kevin Johnson is another favorite of mine. Extremely talented artist. Unfortunately, there’s not much video of his out there, but here’s his act on David Letterman kicking of “Ventriloquist Week”.
Don’t miss the “Godzilla Theatre” bit at the end.
Jeff Dunham is arguably the greatest ventriloquist ever. He is so good at what he does, mainly because he is an insanely funny comedian who happens to know how to talk without moving his lips. He is a brilliant comic first, and a ventriloquist next.
I own the “Arguing With Myself” DVD whose clips are shown below. If you love comedy, you’ve simply got to get it. I’ve watched it over and over again several times, but I just can’t seem to get enough of Peanut and Walter.
Walter: Marriage:
Walter: The Intro
Walter: Part 2
Walter: Part 3
Peanut: The Intro
Peanut: Part 2
Peanut: Cracker
Peanut and Jose Jalapeno
Sweet Daddy Dee
Bubba J
On David Letterman’s show:
Ok, I finally gave in to my alter ego (“Wilson”) and started a channel on YouTube.
Had a lot of fun creating the videos. Here’s what I ended up learning (and buying), in order to make a half-decent video:
The channel home page is: YouTube.com/WilsonTheWiseOne