How to Learn Ventriloquism

Studying Ventriloquism

Take lessons in ventriloquy. Ventriloquy lessons can provide you with valuable knowledge about creating characters and voicing and animating your puppet. Look for a performing arts school in your area that offers classes or workshops in ventriloquy. If you can’t find classes in your area, you can take online courses for ventriloquy. Do an Internet search to find courses and read reviews to help you choose the most helpful course available.

Attend theatre, improv, comedy, or acting classes. Studying any of the performing arts will help you develop the showmanship needed for ventriloquy. Taking theatre, improv, comedy, or acting classes can give you the confidence and skills you need to become a successful ventriloquist. You’ll learn how to cultivate stage presence, play to an audience, and think on the fly.

Research famous ventriloquists. Read books and watch videos about ventriloquists to learn as much as you can about the art. Some famous ventriloquists you may want to research include Ronn Lucas, Shari Lewis, Edgar Bergen, Jeff Dunham, Terry Fator, Paul Winchell, and Jay Johnson. Try to go to as many live shows as you can to find out what kind of show would be best suited to your own personality and skills.

Go to the Vent Haven International Ventriloquist Convention if possible. Each year, the Vent Haven International Ventriloquist Convention is held in Kentucky over the course of 3 days in the summer. If you can make it, it’s a great opportunity to meet and interact with new and seasoned ventriloquists, including famous ones! The convention also offers courses for both kids and adults to learn ventriloquy. For more information, go to http://vhconvention.com/. Registration for the convention costs $145.

Developing a Character

Choose a character. Spend some time thinking of a funny character that you think you could make come to life. It’s a good idea to make the character somewhat different from your own personality. Contrasting stage personalities will make for a more interesting and entertaining performance. However, you’re not limited to a human character—a robot, animal, or object could work too! For instance, Jeff Dunham has a figure of a pepper that he calls José Jalapeño. If you are shy and conservative, make your character more outgoing and liberal.

Create a backstory for the character. In order to make your character believable and three-dimensional, you’ll need to spend some time developing a backstory. Think about how the character came to be here, with you, on stage for a performance. Consider the character’s family, education, socioeconomic status, religion, experiences, likes, dislikes, goals, and dreams. For instance, maybe your character comes from a religious family in the deep south. Alternatively, your character could be an Egyptian prince.

Pick a figure that matches the character. The figure can be an animal, person, or object, so let your creativity shine when choosing a figure. A simple sock can work well to start with, and you can move to felt figures and carved puppets later. Choose a figure whose mouth you can move, and that can be animated in another way as well, like by moving their eyebrows or raising their hand. If you’ve chosen a sports fanatic for your character, a human figure dressed in football pads and a jersey would work well. Look online for a wide range of available figures.

Practice animating the puppet. It’ll take some time for you to get familiar with your puppet, so you’ll need to practice making the puppet’s mouth and other parts move realistically. The goal is to make the puppet come to life. Carry the puppet with you to school, while running errands, or visiting friends and family. Practice making the puppet speak and move while you’re talking to people to give you practice without the additional stress of performing a comedic routine. For instance, have the puppet raise its eyebrows when asking a question or considering something. Move the puppet’s head to nod when agreeing with something.

Speaking for Your Puppet

Choose a vent voice. A vent voice is a voice for the puppet. The vent voice should sound different from your own voice to make it more believable. Your puppet may have an accent or use different slang than you do. The vent voice may also be slower or faster than your own voice. For example, if your puppet is a valley girl, make it say “like” frequently and have an enthusiastic voice.

Practice speaking without moving your lips. While looking in a mirror, smile with your lips parted and your teeth lightly touching. Practice moving your tongue. If you can see your tongue moving, adjust your smile until you can’t see it moving. Work on saying the letters a, c, d, e, g, h, i, j, k, l, n, o, q, r, s, t, u, x, and z without moving your lips. Make space in your mouth to speak by dropping your tongue. This way, they’ll be more room to articulate your words. For the trickier letters, you’ll make substitutions. Say d for b, “eth” for f, n for m, t for p, “thee” for v, and “oi” for w and y.

Learn to throw your voice. Throwing your voice means making it seem as though you are not the one talking. To make your voice sound distant from your body, begin by taking a deep breath through your nose. Raise your tongue so that it’s almost touching the roof of your mouth to create a muffled sound. Tighten your stomach muscles and speak while exhaling slowly. Practice speaking this way as much as possible until it feels natural and convincing.

Performing an Act

Create dialogue for a scene. You’ll want to create original material for your scene, rather than choosing jokes that people may have already heard. Work on creating an original scene with convincing back-and-forth dialogue between you and your puppet. Pick a topic that people can relate to, like family vacations, relationships and romance, or traffic jams. Study the way people speak to each other so you know where to incorporate sighs, pauses, and words like, “um” or “er.”

Direct the audience’s eye toward the puppet when it is “speaking.” What makes ventriloquy work is the fact that people will associate the sound they hear, which is your voice, with the movement they see, which should be the puppet’s mouth, rather than your own. So, when the puppet is speaking, move the mouth and make gestures to grab the audience’s attention. For instance, raise your puppet’s arm when it is saying “Me, me, me!” or have it slump over when you deliver bad news.

Practice in the mirror or record yourself. Once you’ve come up with dialogue for a scene, practice it in the mirror or record yourself and watch the video afterwards. Take note of which words or sentences look and sound believable, and which don’t. Pay attention to the way your puppet looks while you’re moving it and try to make it seem as life-like as possible. Keep practicing until the routine is flawless.

Play to the audience. If you are having fun on stage, chances are the audience will be enjoying themselves as well. Let your passion for ventriloquism shine through. Speak as loudly and clearly as you can, and don’t forget to use facial expressions and gestures for both yourself and your puppet. Make eye contact with audience members or even include them in your skit!