Chaos and quiet, People.
Interesting combination.
Here in the house and out on the street, peace. Down the street in the ER and in the hospitals and urgent care clinics, chaos. Pain. Death. Not in my house. It could happen to anybody though. That is becoming clearer.
So, make your masks, keep your distance, cook some good things, think about what happens now and who you are. Be objective. Honest. If this ever passes, it will be nice to enter the new world being true to yourself and knowing who you are and what you are made of.
All that being said, I talk to a ventriloquist today. I know. You’re wondering why, perhaps. Well, it’s some kind of closure for me.
I’ve certainly known of Jeff Dunham practically since I started doing comedy. We started around the same time I think. He was the puppet guy. I was a ‘real’ comic. He fell into the category of prop comics, guitar acts and hacks. He became huge. I floundered for years in obscurity. Of course I did. I was the ‘real deal.’ He was the guy with the puppets. Pandering.
There was definitely an ‘us and them’ mentality for some of us when it came to a certain type of act. Now that I’m older I can see the performers that have found their place. He’s a very popular act. He has been for years. He’s an entertainer. He came up in comedy clubs. He’s not a ‘shitty’ comic. He’s an amazing ventriloquist. I knew that years ago. I also knew that when you watch him you can’t help but be impressed and wonder, ‘How the hell does he do that?’ It’s like watching magic. I don’t really watch much magic or ventriloquism but when I happen upon it I’m always impressed somehow.
So, when Jeff was pitched as a possible guest the old me thought, ‘Fuck no. The puppet guy?’ The new me thought, ‘Why not?’ Then I had to sit and think about how I would approach the talk. I got honest with myself.
When I was a kid, probably 7 or 8 years old, I was obsessed with ventriloquism. I imagine that’s when most kids are. I talked my parents (or maybe my grandparents) into getting me a dummy which was a pricey toy at the time. There was really only a couple available then. Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. Edgar Bergen’s dolls. It was an outdated, old timey type of show business when I was kid but there was something about the idea of ‘throwing your voice’ that was exciting. I read about the real dummies being made out of wood and I wanted one of those. I was, in that moment, more fascinated with the doll itself than learning how to use it. My interest waned and eventually the dummy ended up stripped of its clothes and eventually just a head in a high school art project.
The point is, I loved ventriloquism for a while as a kid. So, I went back to that place as an adult and started there to get mentally ready to talk to Jeff. It was a great talk.
On Thursday I talk to Fran Drescher about being Fran Drescher. Good talk.
Enjoy!
Love,
Maron