An Interview With Ventriloquist Lisa Laird – Part 6

In the final part of our six part interview, Lisa shares some exciting news about a new television show she is involved with. That’s right! Lisa Laird’s children’s shows are coming to tv! It’s a great story about how connections can lead you to exciting places.

Video Transcript:

I’ve been doing some television work too. I’m on a weekly television show, and working with a teleprompter is totally different than doing a live show.

What kind of TV show are you doing? This sounds exciting.

It is! And it’s kind of a funny story. A couple at our church introduced me to the woman’s brother, who happens to be a Santa Claus. Now, he’s not a ventriloquist Santa like some we see at Vent Haven, but he’s a fabulous Santa. He’s been to Santa School in Hollywood, his costume was made by a Hollywood seamstress — the whole bit.

She said, “You and my brother need to talk, because I could really see Lily, your little girl puppet, and Lyall — Santa — getting along well.” So we started communicating and decided to make a DVD called Lily and the Legend of Santa Claus.

My husband wrote the script. In the story, Lily is all annoyed because Christmas is coming and nobody believes in Santa anymore. She says, “Besides, he didn’t even give me what I wanted last year!” So we take her on a little trip. Santa comes to see her and tells her the real story of Nicholas. We even used some shadow puppets to illustrate the legends surrounding Santa Claus.

We produced that DVD in time for the Sioux Empire Fair — the regional South Dakota state fair. Santa and I were there together. I had Lily with me, chatting with everyone who came through, and we were promoting the DVD. While we were there, someone asked if I’d ever considered doing TV work. Of course, you don’t say no to that!

They explained that a regional television show, produced by the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church in South Dakota, was looking to change things up. They really wanted someone who did puppets. I’m not Lutheran, so I had to go through an approval process, but they brought me on.

So now, once a month, we record four or five TV shows, depending on how many Sundays are in the month. They’re broadcast on both an NBC station and a Fox station all across South Dakota. They’re also uploaded to YouTube, which lets me link them to my website.

It’s been a huge learning experience. When the camera zooms right in on your face, you notice every single time your mouth moves. On top of that, I’m reading from a prompter because the show has to be closed-captioned for the hearing impaired, so we have to stay exactly on script. I never want anyone to watch those first couple of episodes again — they were rough!

At first, I was working with someone else, but after a while they gave me my own segment. That’s been both exciting and challenging — not only watching myself on TV, but also coming up with so much new material. We have to follow the curriculum of their Sunday school program, so every show is written to match that. I write scripts for myself and my puppet, and sometimes for the other cast members too.

It’s been demanding because I have to write and record multiple shows at once, and this summer it’s going to be especially tough since I’ll be traveling. But overall, it’s been such a good exercise for my brain to constantly create new material.

That’s incredible. I’m sitting here thinking I might be talking to the next Shari Lewis.

I don’t know about that! But I am having fun. It’s been a lot of fun.