Ventriloquism is an art that has been fading away with time. It used to be children’s favorite thing to go and see. My father used to tell me that ventriloquists and puppet shows would garner the most attention back in the days. It was a different time back then, and children were more easily impressed. There were no computers involved, no technology or way of faking it.
The first time I saw a ventriloquist act, was one time that I went to see a local circus. It was my first time at the circus and I was very excited. Back then, animals were still widely used because we were not aware of all the abuse these animals experience over the course of their lives as we are now. After the show with elephants, out came a guy dressed in a suit, with a puppet in his hand.
It was one of those puppets that has a very hard head, you know, old school. He sat down on one of those funny stools and started with his act. I was mesmerized! How could he do that with the puppet? Was the puppet alive? I kept asking my father all these questions. I tried to see what he was doing to see if I could catch him cheating some way, but I couldn’t.
Fast-forward many years to 2017. I am watching America’s Got Talent and I see a little girl with a puppet come out. All the ventriloquists I had seen before had been people over 30 years old. I mean, being a ventriloquist takes time. It is not an easy art to master. How was this little girl supposed to be any good? She looks like 12 years old.
Anyway, she starts her act and it turns out she is very good at it! Not only that, but a few minutes into the act, the ‘puppet’ suggests that they sing together. I thought, “OK, this is going to be one of those jingles that people sing with puppets.” Making the puppet talk is difficult enough. How would this girl make the puppet actually sing? Well, she did, and it sounded great.
Would I ever get to see another ventriloquist act that blew my socks off? I thought I wouldn’t until I saw the guy in the next video. He has a very nice-looking puppet. He starts his act, and everything is going great. That is until they start arguing and the ventriloquist gets upset, leaves the puppet in the stool, and tells it to try performing without him. He then leaves, and the puppet is left there. A few seconds later, the puppet moves…
https://youtu.be/me5ihmdlAk4
