words: ANDREW COLLINS
Paul Zerdin is one of the country’s leading ventriloquist entertainers. He began a career in show business performing magic at the age of 15. He cut his teeth performing on cruise ships and at variety nights. He has since performed on the Royal Variety Show and made several TV appearances. Paul talks to Buzz about how his live show is a fusion of stand-up, sit-com traditions, and evolving the art of ventriloquism.
Why do you think puppetry appeals to children and adults alike?
I think it’s something that people have been brought up with, really. I was brought up on Sesame Street and so that was a massive influence on me, and then later on The Muppet Show. What I do is I use puppetry and I use “Muppety” kind of puppets in my show but I also use state-of-the-art animatronics as well. My show is a stand-up show first and foremost but there is puppetry and, obviously, ventriloquism in it as well.
What was it like working with the real Muppets?
I worked as a puppeteer on Muppet Treasure Island. I did that for six weeks and that was fantastic. Having been brought up on Sesame Street and then there were all these Muppets around. Jim Henson was one of my heroes, really, so to work on a Muppet film was great. Sadly he’d died a couple of years earlier, but I was working with his son and all the main Muppets guys. I mean, that was like an absolute dream come true.
Do you think there’s been a return to the traditions of show business? Or do you think it’s always been there? Have you noticed any trends?
I think ventriloquism is making a come-back in a strange way because it had this stigma attached to it a few years ago where you would think of a ventriloquist as some old bloke with a spooky-looking doll. I think that’s changing now. I was at the Edinburgh Festival last year and there were three ventriloquist shows – there was mine, there was Nina Conti’s and David Strassman’s – and we all had quite big shows in fairly high-profile venues within the festival and we were all sold out for the whole of the run. So it shows that there’s definitely a market for it. And I think it can happily carry on in this day and age, as long as you do something different with it, and it’s got to evolve. So there’s stuff I do in the show with the puppet characters, and the humour tends to come from the relationship between myself and the character rather than just being a bloke standing there with a puppet doing a joke – there’s more of a reason. Without sounding pretentious – there’s a reason for the comedy, the comedy comes from the problems with the relationship between us. With the 85-year old character, I’m not taking the mickey out of old age; I’m seeing the funny side of it. And these are real-life issues that, hopefully, people can relate to. So there’s more of a sit-com element, and the comedy comes from real life. And I think the best comedy is real.
Your show has expanded to feature three main puppet characters in Sam, Albert, and Baby and the animatronics you mentioned. Have you got plans to expand it even further or do something even bigger?
I have actually. There’s something that I’m doing in the show which I don’t want to give too much away about, but it’s a routine where I bring a man out of the audience and I put a mask over him and operate the mouth and I turn him into my human dummy and that’s been quite a big hit on YouTube. And I’ve now taken it to the next level where I get a couple out of the audience and I’ve had special masks made, so I’ve got a really butch, manly-looking one for the man and a really feminine, beautiful mouth for the woman, and I operate those and I give them different voices. It turns out they have marital problems and I end up counselling them and at one point I leave them on their own to sort their problems out. I don’t want to give away too much but there’s some high-tech technology involved.
You said there are some other ventriloquists doing well on the circuit. What would be your advice to someone interested in getting into this form of entertainment?
Well, that’s it, as you said – the most important thing is it’s a form of entertainment. Therefore, you must entertain. So you could be technically the greatest ventriloquist in the world but if the show’s not funny then what’s the point? It’s a comedy show and it’s got to be funny. I’ve spent years working at the comedy store and on the comedy circuit and doing all sorts of gigs all over the place, and you’ve got to be able to work any kind of audience and entertain and be funny. And so if you wanted to learn you could just type “learn ventriloquism” into Google and you’d find so much stuff on ventriloquism, and there’s courses and books and DVDs you can buy and there’s “How-to” clips on YouTube. Anyone can do it; you’ve just got to really want to do it. And it is a bit of an odd thing to want to do, I must admit. It’s a bit out there. But I have a fantastic time. I’ve travelled the world doing what I do. So, I’m very lucky. I think some people have a natural knack for something and that’s given me a head-start. I always knew I was going to do something that involved showing off, ever since I levitated my sister at the school talent competition I knew showing off was for me. It took me a couple of years to learn the basics of ventriloquism. It’s something you can do, but you’ve got to want to do it.
You’ve performed in pantomimes for a few years now, and you’re going to be Robinson Crusoe this festive season at Cardiff’s New Theatre. What is it you enjoy about doing pantomime?
It’s something I love doing every year. I get the best of both worlds because I spend all year travelling around the place doing my own show where I stand on stage for two hours on my own, talking to myself, and then it’s lovely to go into a panto where you’re in a cast with other people and you’re on stage interacting with people, not just talking to myself, and that’s lovely. I absolutely love that. And I also get the best of both worlds because I get to play the hero, so I get the girl, I get to do all the comedy, I get my characters into the show as well, they’re slotted in within the story. It’s such a nice feeling when you get on with everyone and you can just have an absolute laugh, and when you have that connection with your fellow cast-mates that comes over the footlights and the audience are going to have a good time if you’re having a good time.
Paul Zerdin’s Sponge Fest Comes to the Aberystwyth Arts Centre from Fri 7-Sat 8 Oct