Items18The creator’s order
  1. 1Edgar BergenEdgar BergenBorn Feb 16, 1903Charlie 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…0
  2. 2Señor WencesSeñor WencesBorn Apr 17, 1896Johnny 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…0
  3. 3Paul WinchellPaul WinchellBorn Dec 21, 1922Jerry 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…0
  4. 4Shari LewisShari LewisLamb 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…0
  5. 5Ray AlanRay AlanBorn Sep 18, 1930Lord 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"…0
  6. 6Willie TylerWillie TylerBorn Sep 8, 1940Lester 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…0
  7. 7Wayland FlowersWayland FlowersBorn Nov 26, 1939Madame 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…0
  8. 8Spitting Image (1984)Spitting Image (1984) 7.4/10 on IMDbFirst aired Feb 26, 1984The 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.…0
  9. 9Jay Johnson (ventriloquist)Jay Johnson (ventriloquist)Born Jul 11, 1949Jay 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…0
  10. 10David StrassmanDavid StrassmanChuck 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…0