In the final part of my interview with Kenny, we finally start discussing how he became interested in ventriloquism. I hope you enjoyed our conversation as much as I did. Thanks Kenny!
Don’t forget to check out Kenny’s Blog!
Video Transcript:
what got you interested in ventriloquism
i think it must have been Howdy Doody and
Paul Winchell as a kid and you know this
is a real common story i mean I I can’t
I hear this all the time but um my my
mom and dad bought me a little 24inch
Jerry Mahoney um and how to how to uh
ventriloquism for fun and profit and I
read that I was six years old and I read
that book uh cover to cover and I I
practiced had a little hand mirror uh
practice and I learned how to do it and
then they bought me a Jerry Mahoney that
had the the the hollow body and the you
know the post um and then they
eventually went up to a V a Jerry
Mahoney with the moving eyes which boy I
wish I still had that and um so uh and I
performed a lot as a kid you know for
service clubs and churches and talent
shows and stuff like that so um um
that’s what got me going but I I didn’t
do it and I I only did that till I was
about 12 and then I stopped doing it and
I never really got into ventriloquism
until I was an adult in my 20s um and I
did a ventriloquism bit um as part of a
magic show and you know mostly to freak
my friends out to start with but um but
then that’s what kind of got me doing
ventriloquism again and it was part of
that little bit that was part of my
singer songwriter routine and then part
of that magic show that we did so
So yeah well you had other
ventriloquists near you so were they
able to help you and work with you or uh
or didn’t you do that kind of thing back
then well me and the the the the
neighbor kid down the street uh we we
would play together and and do
ventriloquism with each other and for
each other he also had a little Jerry
Mahoney um the policeman I I went to see
him once down the street but um you know
I never really you know worked with him
or anything like that um but um but me
and the other kid we always you know be
I think we lived on the same street for
maybe a year or something like that and
so we would get together and do that all
the time so
now do you do shows not anymore i I it’s
been several years since I did and and I
actually the shows I did do I did with a
soft puppet not with a hard not with a
hard puppet um I had a little sharp dog
um that I would do shows with and um and
I I you know I’d say I started doing it
back in in 2004 again and would do
mostly variety shows in theaters you
know local theater you know theater type
things
um
and you know I just got so busy um you
know I had a job you know I was I
retired from my regular job um about a
little over a year ago now year and a
half ago and uh so um you know between
the dummy making and plus I’m a musician
and I love to play music and and stuff
so I um it was just hard to find time to practice ventriloquism as you
know you’ve got to be pract We practice
practice practice so um you know I don’t
practice i don’t practice i don’t
perform and you know I just build
dummies
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Kenny – You should have mentioned your act with Harry Anderson