Part Five of Seven with Learn-Ventriloquism member Lew Newton.
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Video Transcript:
the U script writing master class has uh
uh let’s see we interview Steve Petra Uh
we interview uh Mark Wade starts it out
Um we have uh oh boy I’m going to get
slapped by these people because they’re
my friends Um S Sarah Jones Well no
one’s going to watch this you know And
then the last the last uh chunk of the
thing is Ken Groves who Ken was my
mentor Ken’s great Oh he is awesome And
everyone up to Ken pretty much talks
about their the way they write scripts
It’s their insights and their philosophy
But when you get to Ken he teaches you
how to do it So all the early stuff in
that course is you know just the mindset
and the the thought patterns and they
give you some tips But yeah but when you
get to Ken he actually gives you stuff
and you’re like I can do this and uh it
he’s a lot of fun He’s a he’s a great
interview Um I noticed one thing with
Ken though With most ventriloquists you
have the conversation between the
ventriloquist and the dummy back and
forth back and forth you know question
answer statement you know call back
whatever But how going going on With Ken
the puppet talks to the audience almost
entirely and Ken very seldom talks If he
does just one or two sentences then he’s
off again with the puppet which is
different from most Yes he is uh he is a
incredible talent I mean every time I
every time I see him work I’m like “Oh I
wish I was that good.” That’s his labial
work is terrific It’s terrific man I
tell you what it that’s that’s that’s
mind-blowing Yeah Yeah And he’s he’s a
good one to study He really is It’s hard
to hard to believe that he’s actually
substituting letters and making it sound
so good Oh I know I know It uh Well he
was I uh I’m kind of coming at
ventriloquism from a different angle I
went through um magic I was always
interested in magic Uh you know Mark
Wilson started me out in the world I saw
him last week Huh I saw Wilson last week
Just last weekend Yeah It’s amazing I
saw him a couple of months ago down in
Baltimore at Denny shop But uh yeah Mark
is was inspiring to me And then of
course you know Marshall Broaddin and
his TV Magic Deck and I had to get one
of those as soon as it came out Uh Doug
Henning all that And I got a chance to
meet Doug and uh just that was what I
wanted to be And I liked ventriloquism
I’d always liked ventriloquism I had you
know Ron Lucas and and Jay Johnson and
and earlier that Edgar Bergen and and
Sherry Lewis and just all the all the
greats Jimmy and I I saw them but I was
a magician Yes And uh it literally I
guess as I I got older and I got to
doing magic professionally I worked with
some ventriloquists and I wasn’t overly
impressed Um you know most
ventriloquists move their lips Most
ventriloquists um they had you know
pretty poor puppets They weren’t you
know they didn’t have a lot of
personality They did stock jokes that
were out of the 50s Well it’s all
selftaught Yes Yes And um all selft talk
So and that’s what it was And uh then I
saw Ken and I didn’t really want to
watch Ken’s show because I had seen a
lot of bad ventriloquist But I watched
his show and I was blown away I mean
here was a guy who just took everything
I expected about Vent and turned it on
in And after that Ken and I became
really good friends And um just over the
years you know we would talk we would
hang out whenever our paths crossed And
about 2005 my wife said you know I’m
tired of traveling with you You know I
want to I want to get a job I want to do
something She gone to college She wanted
to pursue her own career right So I was
all of a sudden stuck with a magic show
that was illusions and no assistant and
traveling with another female wouldn’t
have done too well with our marriage
Yeah I understand I called Ken and I
said “Hey Ken I want to pick up
puppets.” And uh he said “Come on out.”
And uh so if you’re looking for a mentor
I know Ken does uh do coaching Okay Um
you might want to check with him He’s an
awesome awesome guy And uh uh I don’t
know what he charges for it but I can
guarantee you if you listen to what he
says Oh yeah you will be 20 times better
than you already are
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