An Interview With Ventriloquist Mike Palma - Part 2

Mike Palma shares his background as a ventriloquist figure maker.

Video Transcript:

I always saw these vent figures, whether in a magic shop or somewhere else, and I thought, “Man, I wish I could make something like that. That’s so cool.” That kind of helped light the fire for me in that part of ventriloquism too.

So when did you actually start making your own figures? Was it when you first started?

I probably started getting interested in building figures when I was about 17 or 18 years old. I’d get clay and try to do the plastic wood techniques from Paul Winchell’s book, and I experimented with some things from the Maher Course too. It was… interesting, to say the least. I had quite a few failures and plenty of ugly-looking dummies that never stayed together long enough to be used.

As I delved more into figure making, I came across three people who really changed my life in that area.

The first person was Conrad Hartz. I had bought a dummy from him, and when I told him I wanted to try building, he was so encouraging. I’d send him pictures of what I was working on, and he’d give me constructive critiques — what looked good, what didn’t, proportions I should work on. At the time, I was really into making the classic characters like Jerry Mahoney and Charlie McCarthy. Conrad still helps me to this day whenever I have a question. He’s just a wealth of knowledge and makes some of the most beautiful wood-carved figures you’ll ever see.

The second person was Mike Brose. Mike helped me a lot with mechanics. He took the time to write me, saying, “Try this, try that,” long before his book came out. When his book Figure Making Can Be Fun was released, I knew I had to have it. It still sits in my workshop, and I go back to it constantly for reference. I admire how clever his designs are and how smooth his mechanics are — that’s exactly what I wanted to strive for.

The third gentleman who influenced me was Bill Nelson. When I was about 18 and getting back into ventriloquism, I sent away to Maher Studios to see what kind of figures they had coming out of the workshop. At the time, Chuck Jackson was building them, and the photos I got back blew me away. I thought, “I’ve never seen figures like this.” They were just amazing. Years later, I had the chance to talk with Bill Nelson, who offered an online course in painting. I took it, and he’s been very helpful ever since.

From Bill I learned a lot about painting — which I realized was one of the key things I had to improve to take my figure making to the next level. Every time you build or paint a figure, you pick up little lessons. You write down the important stuff — what mistakes not to repeat, what techniques worked well — and over time you just keep getting better.

Those three — Conrad Hartz, Mike Brose, and Bill Nelson — were the people who really helped me in the beginning with figure making.

Today, Mike has his own Ventriloquist Figure Building Course available on Maher Studios! It is like a college course on the art, taking you from design to sculpt to cast to …. well, all the way to a finished original figure, including how to paint it! Check out Mike’s course by clicking the image below!