...up the puppet's arse.

I've always had a fascination with vetriloquism. I still have my first puppet from when I was 3 years old. A 23 year old puppet, wow?
But the little fucker didn't have a mouth.
My routine was something akin to Sooty, whispering in Matthew Corbett's ear, cute but less talent required.
Although my studies into speaking without moving ones lips continued.
I learned how to speak convincingly without moving my tongue,
(Believe it or not it's possible, only trouble letters are L and TH, which is probably why I never pronounce my TH's) but you sound like you have a speach impediment.
But for vent'ing to work you NEED your tongue, and not your lips.
So I been practicing off and on, to correct my speach impediment and also learn to use the tongue and not the lips. HARD? Yep.

More recently I remembered my earlier fascinations having seen an advert for Jeff Dunham's new puppet Achmed the dead Terrorist.
Well, back when it was kinda new to the world.
But we ALL know Jeff Dunham right?

I remembered my original inspirations of puppeteering coming from things like Gordon the Gopher and Edd the Duck.
Also Seasame Street and Rainbow played a part in it.
I prefered puppets with mouths puppets with bno mouths.
Sue from the Sooty show was a fine example of disembodied voices.
Misdirection can only occur when there is a big enough movement in the puppets direction. A tiny puppet with a tiny voice and hands manipulated with a pinky and a thumb will not suffice for me.
So a mouth is a must.
But also, as you can gather... hands are a big part of my act.
A puppet that gesticulates in a human manner will not only appear more realistic but draw attention to itself.
Cookie monster from Seasame street would be a good example.
He can eat cookies better cos he can pick them up.
Drawing attention to himself, and appearing more human cos he can eat.
(we'll ignore the masses of crumbs on the floor for now)

Does anyone remember a ventriloquist by the name of Paul Zerdin?
He was on the Jerry Springer show thingy a while back, his fiest little puppet Sam called Jerry a "Ho" and told him to talk to hand.
Classic.
Maybe he's not as well known these days as Jeff Dunham, but I saw Paul and Sam on TV when I was maybe 7?
And it inspired me to have a quirky charecter like Sam.

Jeff's charecters don't get any more quirky.
A talking Jalapeno? WTF?

I don't suppose anyone ever saw a female vent by the name of Nina Conti?
She's as british as they come, and her Monkey act was effing hilarious.
Men and women do it, it's not a limited calling.
Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop.
One of the all time greats (sad to say but she's dead) still the fact all of her charecters came outta that one voicebox speaks volumes of her tallent.
Thing is those guys were all small (hand sized puppets) and Sam may have had fingers but they did not operate.
yet still the convincing human quality of the pupets was unquestionable.
So the need for misdirection was lesser because the voice talent and synchonisation of the mouth movemnt was so believable.

Then I ask you...

Should CrackerBox have his own hand?
Or one of mine?
That depends on how well I can throw my voice I guess.

And with currently no lower body...
Although I do think positioning some shoes beneath his hoodie works just fine. But if I lift him the shoes are left behind.
so it only works if I have a desk to hide his "legs" or have a stationary act that starts with me already set up to go...
awkward.

I need to work more on making my puppet and practicing my consonants... especially B, F, M P, Q, V and W.
Try it, you'll see what I mean.

Anyway, basically CrackerBox is the revival of my fascination with a long lost art, which has since been destroyed by Hollywood with C.G and Animatronic animals since.
Another thing we have to thank Hollywood for... yeah. Great one Hollywood.
Bite me.