The ultimate 21st century ventriloquist, Paul Zerdin has redefined the art for the Twitter age and continues to push the boundaries of puppetry. Serving up a show chock-full of colourful characters, shocks and surprises, side-splitting skits and some seriously naughty humour, Paul may have his hand in some cute and cuddly creations, but it might be best to leave the kids indoors for this one!
With more than 3 million YouTube hits, 3 sell-out Edinburgh festival shows, numerous Royal Variety Performance appearances and lashings of critical acclaim, ventriloquist Paul Zerdin is back for a storming new nationwide tour, kicking off, in Great Yarmouth, on Tuesday 2 September and making three stops in our region.
As he prepares for his tour, Paul took some time out to answer a few questions…
So, tell me how you first got into puppetry.
I used to watch Sesame Street and then The Muppet Show. I remember getting a teddy bear and I cut the back open, took all the stuffing out and put my hand into the mouth and made a puppet out of it. I’d been given some puppet marionettes by a friend of the family and we built a puppet theatre. My family all recorded the voices with me. I come from a family of show offs [laughs]. I started doing that for friend’s birthday parties about the age of 12 and I was interested in ventriloquism but I didn’t know how to do it properly. Me and my friend used to do shows together for our friends, which included me doing magic. I wanted to be a magician first and foremost and I forgot about the puppetry initially and became a magician when I left school.
What were your very early performances like?
I did shows at school, and normally someone would recite a poem, sing a song or do a tap dance… but I levitated my sister! I got an agent when I left school, but she had lots of magicians on her books and told me I needed something different to stand out. So I started learning ventriloquism properly. I got a puppet built and did a bit of Tommy Cooper-style comedy magic and some gags with the puppet. Eventually I phased out the magic
When did you discover your talent for voices and mimicry?
I could always do silly voices. As a kid I was always fascinated by voices and constantly mimicked cartoon characters. I had a short career in radio, too. I did airport information radio; travel information on all the flight times at Heathrow on medium wave. I had a mid-morning show on a satellite radio station too. I used to do all crazy voices, like Donald Duck reading the weather. Sadly, you can’t understand a word he says, so it didn’t quite work out and I only lasted four months.
Fast forward to the present day and you’re about to embark on a new tour, The Paul Zerdin Show. What we can expect?
If you liked the last show, you’ll love this one. The old man, Albert, is determined to find me a girlfriend from the audience, so we’ll be getting the crowd involved there. Sam has delusions of grandeur thinking he can enter himself in to Britain’s Got Talent and the baby is becoming a rap artist. Throw in some audience participation a little bit of magic and you’ve got a truly sponge based night of comedy. Sam is doing ventriloquism himself too and he has a little dummy of me. I can’t wait to test that out and see how that goes down.
Do you often have a temptation to throw your voice in everyday life?
In my act I talk about how I fooled my girlfriend into thinking we’d got the latest Sat Nav by pretending to be its voice. I did a hidden camera show for Sky where I did the voice of the lift, telling people to get out as they were too fat. I also ordered room service in hotel rooms and food in restaurant for me and the puppets, and both of our orders would be taken with some strange looks. Knowing you’re being filmed for TV makes it even more fun!
Do you have to keep training to practice the voices and make sure you don’t mess up during a show?
Yes I do practice if I’m not working but I work most of the time so my voice is used regularly. Sam is a falsetto voice. If I have to do an interview early and I’ve been working late, the next morning Sam takes a little more warming up. During the show I do ad lib quite a bit which keeps each performance fresh, but I’ve been doing it for so long, I know what I can do.
What do you feel are the major differences between ventriloquism and more traditional stand up?
I do stand up sections within the show about being a ventriloquist, to give that real life element. But ventriloquism is a form of stand up, but it’s just me talking to me. I’m talking to something stuck on my arm. Ventriloquism is a very old tradition but it’s not traditional stand up, it’s kind of like a sitcom. A situation is developing and out of that will come a joke between myself and the character. I don’t do observational stuff, it’s about their lives. It’s almost like interviewing. Like Albert: I’m the interviewer but he misunderstands my questions, then that enables me to do jokes about his old age. I’m acting and reacting all in one.
Is a television sitcom something you’d like to do?
Yeah, I did a mini pilot for a production company and I’m writing one with a friend of mine for Children’s BBC, which is quite a grown up sitcom really. I have a wife and children in the show and it’s about my relationship between my kids and the puppets and it’s going down the right road. It’s based on my life as a jobbing ventriloquist and all the things I’ve done. I’ve flown out to Iraq and Afghanistan to support the troops; you really do get to do the most amazing things and it shows how I balance a family life with that. It’s still early days, but it’s exciting.
One of my favourite parts of your show is when you get audience members on stage to participate. How do you identify who would be the ideal guests?
Mostly, it’s random. A couple that aren’t too old to get on to the stage is a help. I’m looking for people who look like they’re having a nice time and aren’t going to be panic stricken or freak out when they get on stage. There’s nothing worse than seeing people who look like they don’t want to be there; that’s not fun for anyone. Similarly, you don’t want someone who’s too much of a show off as it looks like they’re set up. It’s a fine line. I’ll ask them if they’re up for it, if they’re not I’ll leave them alone.
Tell me more about the animatronics you use, particularly the puppet mouths you strap on audience members. It sounds like complex, expensive technology.
I work with a guy called Tim Rose who is a master puppeteer and has worked on Star Wars and Muppet films. If I needed to control puppets off stage, I did the old routine with a wire which opens the mouth and I thought if they’re animatronic that opens it up. I can walk around the stage and sit in the audience operating them. I love doing those voices. The bloke mask has a big chin so he gets a deep voice and the woman’s face has a real feminine structure to it, so let’s give her a silly womanly voice. I’m getting them to do some magic too, you can kind of do anything so long as you’ve got a willing couple, and people always react differently.
Can you pinpoint both the best and worst moments that have happened during one of your shows?
The worst thing was opening night at my show in Blackpool. A guy got up and stage and punched me! He didn’t like being called ugly by Sam. He didn’t punch the puppet, that would have been funny, but he punched me. I’ve had people punch Sam too, which, for me, is the ultimate compliment. I was coming out of a London comedy club one night and a guy who I picked on was waiting for me outside. He said, “You better tell your little mate to watch his mouth”. I laughed it off but he said, “No, seriously!” That was for real. That was funny. The best thing is getting to work with some lovely people from the audience. It’s a really nice feeling to know you’ve come up with something original and they love it. I had a couple who sang Time of my Life and they actually did ‘the lift’, too. Probably a huge health and safety issue, but the audience loved it!
If you could pick one special guest star to perform with, who would it be?
I would say to work with a Muppet, working with Miss Piggy would be fun!
The Paul Zerdin show appears at The Capitol, Horsham on Saturday 6th September, the White Rock Theatre, Hastings on Saturday 4th October and The Corn Exchange, Brighton on Saturday 18 October, with full details of times and prices directly from the venues and at www.paulzerdin.com