Edgar Bergen

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.