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Edgar Bergen
Born
Charlie McCarthy on The Chase and Sanborn Hour radio show
Here is the proof that a ventriloquist act lives or dies on character. Bergen became a star on radio, where nobody could see his lips at all, so every laugh had to come from Charlie, the monocled wise guy in a top hat. The pair landed their own radio show in 1937, and the Academy gave Bergen an honorary Oscar carved from wood for creating Charlie. Start with the surviving radio episodes and listen for how the comedy rests entirely on attitude and timing.
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Señor Wences
Born
Johnny and Pedro on The Ed Sullivan Show
No dummy in the usual sense: Johnny was Wences's own hand as the face, on a little stuffed body with a blonde wig, and Pedro was a head in a box who answered everything with a heavy "S'awright." The props sound thin, yet the act kept coming back to Sullivan's stage; the show's own records count 23 appearances between 1950 and 1971, and other accounts put the number higher. The clips still work because Wences plays it fast and deadpan. It is the purest lesson on this list in how little a puppet needs.
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Paul Winchell
Born
Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff on early NBC television
Winchell took ventriloquism to television early, hosting an NBC program from 1947 with two dummies, Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff. The two-dummy setup gives the act its comedy: Winchell referees an argument between two characters who each sound nothing like him. He later voiced Tigger for Disney and received a 1963 patent for an artificial heart design, but the old TV clips are where his double act shines.
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Shari Lewis
Lamb Chop testifying before Congress in 1993
Lewis made her name on children's television, which this list otherwise skips, but her craft deserves a look from adults, and one appearance shows it at its sharpest. At a 1993 House hearing on children's TV, she argued that good programming could be made fast, and Lamb Chop chimed in with a plea for "the best you grownups have to offer." A sock puppet working a congressional committee is a great joke, and Lewis plays it completely straight, which is exactly why it lands. Her variety-show spots with Lamb Chop make a good follow-up.
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Ray Alan
Born
Lord Charles on British TV variety shows, from The Good Old Days on
A drunk is a gift of a character for a ventriloquist, and Alan built a whole career on one. Lord Charles was a monocled, tipsy aristocrat with a roving eye, his face modeled on Stan Laurel's, and his catchphrase "you silly arse" caught on with British audiences. American viewers may not know him, which is the reason to look: the posh-drunk routine is a masterclass in letting a character's manners carry the insult.
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Willie Tyler
Born
Lester on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, from 1972
Willie Tyler and Lester are a classic straight man and wisecracker pairing, with the dummy getting the sharper lines. Their big break came on Laugh-In in 1972, and the act kept turning up on variety shows such as The Flip Wilson Show and game shows such as Match Game for years afterward. Tyler was also the first ventriloquist to appear in David Letterman's Ventriloquist Week, a later clip that shows the timing still sharp decades on.
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Wayland Flowers
Born
Madame in the center square of Hollywood Squares
Madame was a bawdy old grande dame with a filthy mind, and Flowers gave her brazen double entendres that landed harder coming from a puppet than they would from a person. The best place to see her is Hollywood Squares, where she took over the center square after Paul Lynde and could fire off a zinger in a few seconds. The 1982 syndicated sitcom Madame's Place lasted one season and is more curiosity than classic. Grown-up humor throughout, though innuendo rather than anything explicit.
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Spitting Image (1984)
7.4/10on IMDb
First aired
The original ITV series, 1984 to 1996
Puppetry as a weapon. Peter Fluck and Roger Law's grotesque latex caricatures turned politicians, royals and celebrities into monsters, and the show's producer aimed for it to be as topical as the great satire shows and as dense with ideas as Monty Python. Viewers outside Britain will miss some targets, but the sheer nerve of the sculpting carries plenty of sketches on looks alone, and the Thatcher material is the place to start. Strictly adult in tone. A revival launched in 2020 if you want the format with current targets.
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Jay Johnson (ventriloquist)
Born
Jay Johnson: The Two and Only!, his one-man Broadway show
TV audiences met Johnson as Chuck Campbell, the ventriloquist on the sitcom Soap, with his dummy Bob, whose original is now in the Smithsonian. His real showcase came later: The Two and Only!, a comedy about finding your voice and throwing it, which played Broadway in 2006 and won the 2007 Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event. Bob is at the center of it, alongside a cast of other characters. Look for the filmed release; it is the most thoughtful piece on this list about why people believe in a puppet.
More about Jay Johnson (ventriloquist)10
David Strassman
Chuck Wood and Ted E. Bare in his stage show iTedE
Strassman's trick is making his characters move without a hand inside them. He wires them with remote-controlled "puppetronics," so the foul-mouthed Chuck Wood can come to life on his own. In iTedE he runs and voices five characters at once, with the lovable Ted E. Bare as the foil to Chuck's contempt, and the show doubles as a sly comedy about everyone glued to their screens. Chuck's mouth makes it a grown-up night out. American viewers may know him less well than Australians do; he once hosted his own talk show there.
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Avenue Q
The stage musical, in any touring or regional production
What if the puppets from a children's show grew up, got bad jobs and worried about money, sex and their twenties? Avenue Q answers with songs like "The Internet Is for Porn," and its puppeteers stay in full view the whole time, so you watch actor and puppet at once and quickly stop noticing the actor. It won three Tony Awards in 2004, including Best Musical, and ran 16 years on and off Broadway before closing in New York in 2019, so catch it on tour or at a local theater. Adults only, and proudly so.
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Jeff Dunham
Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity, his 2007 Comedy Central special
Dunham became one of the top-grossing comedians in America, and this is the special that turned him into a phenomenon, introducing Achmed the Dead Terrorist alongside his established cast, led by the cranky old Walter. Dunham is at his best as the exasperated straight man while his characters run riot. Be aware that his humor leans on broad stereotypes, and Achmed in particular has been criticized as offensive, so this is the entry most likely to split a room. Walter's grumbling is the safest place to start.
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Terry Fator
His winning run on America's Got Talent season 2, 2007
Fator's gimmick is the hardest thing in ventriloquism: singing, in other people's voices, without moving his lips. His puppets do celebrity impressions in full song, an Elvis impersonator puppet among them, and the AGT performances that won him season two still hold up as the clearest showcase. The win launched a 16-year run on the Las Vegas Strip, starting at the Mirage in 2009, which ended in September 2025. He has since taken his act on the road, so check for tour dates.
More about Terry Fator14
Nina Conti
Nina Conti: Her Master's Voice, her 2012 documentary, then her mask shows
Conti has two great acts. One is Monkey, the scruffy puppet at the center of her work for years. The other is her mask improv, where she puts masks on audience members and voices them, turning strangers into her dummies. Start with Her Master's Voice, a funny, odd and moving film in which she takes the puppets of her late mentor Ken Campbell to a ventriloquist convention in Kentucky. Then find her live work: she brought Nina's C*nti Cabaret, with Monkey and the masks, to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2026.
More about Nina Conti15
Paul Zerdin
Born
His America's Got Talent season 10 run, ending with Sam in the 2015 finale
The British ventriloquist beat stand-up Drew Lynch on the public vote to take the season 10 title and the $1 million prize, and the run is worth watching in order through to the finale, where he took the stage with his puppet Sam and was joined by Terry Fator. Zerdin's soft, expressive puppets look like cartoon characters, and his comedy moves at a modern pace. For anyone who only knows ventriloquism from old variety clips, this is the craft brought up to date.
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Darci Lynne
Born
Her America's Got Talent season 12 audition, singing "Summertime" with Petunia
A singing ventriloquist who was 12 when she won season 12 in 2017. Her audition, a rendition of Ella Fitzgerald's "Summertime" sung through Petunia, a rabbit puppet, earned Mel B's Golden Buzzer, and it is the clip to start with: a big, jazzy voice coming out of a puppet. She performed with Petunia and Oscar throughout the competition. Now grown up, she still tours with Petunia and friends. The act is squarely family-friendly, and the singing is what lifts it beyond novelty.
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Randy Feltface
Randy Writes a Novel, his 2016 Edinburgh Fringe hour, or any of his filmed specials
Randy is not a ventriloquist's dummy but a stand-up comedian who happens to be a purple felt puppet, operated and voiced by Australian comic Heath McIvor. That frees Randy to rant, philosophize and work the crowd like any human comic, and McIvor can wring real emotion out of a tweak of the sponge. The 2016 Fringe show was nominated for Best Show at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Expect swearing and adult themes; this is the late-night end of the list.
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Team America: World Police (2004)
7.2/10on IMDb
Released
The South Park creators' marionette action movie
Trey Parker and Matt Stone made a full-scale action blockbuster parody with marionettes in the style of Thunderbirds, and the comedy comes as much from the strings as the script: stiff, wobbling puppets staging the kind of mayhem a big-budget action film would. It is the funniest proof that puppetry can send up a whole genre. The film first drew an NC-17 for a puppet sex scene before a trim earned it an R, which tells you everything about its taste. Grown-ups only, and best with a crowd.
More about Team America: World Police
