4 Misconceptions about Ventriloquism

My life has been ventriloquism. Since I was 7 I was interested in it and started performing in front of live audiences at the age of 12. There are many interesting things I have learned through the years by going to ventriloquist conventions and hanging out with ventriloquists both, in person and online. Today I'm going to give you 4 misconceptions of ventriloquism.

1. You are born with the talent to talk without moving your lips - this is a misconception of the older crowd really.  I don't think anyone now a days believes this but at one time people actually believed that ventriloquist's had two throats or that their mouth was formed differently than "normal" people.  During my early years of performing I actually had adults come up and say to me, "I wish I was able to do that.   You are lucky you are born with that talent."  I was thinking, "Born with it?  I had to practice my butt off to learn this.  And, guess what, I'm still learning everyday."  Maybe instead of being called a performing ventriloquist we should all be called practicing ventriloquists. The great thing about ventriloquism is that anyone committed to learning it can do it.
   
   
   
2. The best ventriloquist's have the best lip control - Now if I was to give you a list of my top ten when it comes to ventriloquism, Edgar Bergen would definitely be in the top five.  As a matter of fact, if you ask most professional ventriloquist's where Bergen would rank they would most likely say in the top five.  How was Bergen's lip control?  Well, I've heard it said that when he performed in vaudeville it was fantastic!  The only thing is, I never saw him on vaudeville, the only time I saw him was on film and TV and let me tell you, his lip control was not top notch.  But that was by choice.  You see, Bergen got his big break in, of all things, RADIO.  Now I know what you're thinking, "A ventriloquist on the radio?" But that is where he got his start.  His attitude was, "I would rather the thousands of people listening to me and Charlie over the radio understand what I'm saying than the few that are in the studio watching the show not see my lips move."  Guess what, his manipulation with Charlie was so great that Charlie became real to the people.  He took their attention from his lips directly to Charlie.
   Now don't get me wrong, I believe that ventriloquist's need to do their best to talk without moving their lips.  If you call yourself a ventriloquist you need to practice that.  If not, your a puppeteer not a ventriloquist.  And when your not good at manipulating a puppet OR talking without moving your lips, your just fooling yourself.
   
   
3. Ventriloquist's are Psychos - Yes we've all seen how Hollywood wants ventriloquist's portrayed. If you've ever seen the movie Magic or any of the Twilight Zone shows about ventriloquist's their all nuts.  They're not playing with a full deck.  They're a few fries short of a happy meal.  They're a few bricks short of a full load.  OK, enough of the cliches already.  But there's something about a person with a dummy that makes thing all a little creepy.  Especially if they think the dummy is real.  What if it get control of you, becomes you and even makes you kill someone.  The truth of the matter is this.  To be a good ventriloquist you have to be a good actor because when you're on stage you're playing two rolls, the ventriloquist and the dummy (I'm sure at this point some are upset I'm using the work dummy and not figure, get over it!) So when it is so believable that the dummy is real that is just the ventriloquist doing a great job.  Does it mean we believe that he is real?  No.  Do we pretend he's real?  Absolutely. It adds to the illusion, the magic.  It's probably best to say that a ventriloquist is a magician with his voice and dummy creating the illusion of life, but not believing the dummy is alive.  That being said (yadda, yadda, yadda) I have met some very strange ventriloquists in my day.  Would I call them psycho?  No, but I would say some are a little strange.
   
   
   
4. Ventriloquist's have split personalities - I don't want to talk about this. You have to talk about this. But I don't want to. You have to!  You have no choice.  I'm not going to tell you again!!  Just talk about it.  WAIT......... where was I.  Oh yeah, split personalities.  Thank God I don't deal with that.  As I said before, good ventriloquists are good actors.  So you may think that he deals with a split personality but he doesn't (at least for the most part, I'm sure there are some exceptions out there). We, ventriloquists that is, are just normal people with a love for a crazy art form.  We aren't freaky, we aren't unusual, we don't belong in a mental institution. We are having fun and just want to entertain you with the characters we have created.  We don't talk to ourselves when we're alone (unless we're practicing).  So if you think that we're like one of those people on the street corner that has a nervous twitch and yells at themselves, we're not.  We put on an act when we're on stage.  That's it.  No split personality.

So there you have it.  4 misconceptions about ventriloquism that have now been cleared up.  I hope everyone enjoyed this and if you have any questions or comments please email me at danieljayrobison@gmail.com.  What's that?  Well, I have to go, Ziff's calling me. He's got a new joke!  I can't wait to hear it!!  I'LL BE RIGHT THERE.