MAGICIAN, comedian, and ventriloquist Paul Zerdin has been performing for more than 20 years, combining multiple stage crafts with his signature humour.
Zerdin had already made numerous TV appearances, including with Bruce Forsyth, before he won America’s Got Talent and rose to international fame.
Now he’s added new dates to his tour, Puppetman, this summer.
He said: “It’s a stand-up comedy show also featuring ventriloquism which toured last autumn, but now we’ve added more dates.
“I have three main characters: Sam, Baby, and Albert – they’re a little dysfunctional family and I’m like the babysitter, almost.”
They’re not the only colourful characters who join Paul on his travels, however.
“There’s also, Roger, an American bodyguard who has taken it upon himself to follow me around after I won America’s Got Talent.
“He’s convinced there’s someone out to get us, so he interacts with the audience to check them out, as well as the urban fox who has come on tour by accident.”
“It’s a one-man Muppet sitcom.”
Paul has been gracing stages for more than two decades, but performance was in his blood from a very early age, he explained.
“I started in about 1990 and got a break on a TV show with a magic act on Tricky Business, after which I appeared on Hanger 17, where I did my first ventriloquism spot.
“I was always a bit of a show-off; I come from a family of show-offs really.
“Both of my parents trained as actors and worked for the BBC, so we were always in and out of studios.
“It was a world we just knew, and which we found interesting–there’s a photo of me in a dress doing an impression of Margaret Thatcher.
“Silly behaviour was always encouraged.”
As for what he feels people enjoy about ventriloquism, he said: “It’s something different.
“I’ve worked the comedy circuit and been on and off TV, and stand-up has definitely had an amazing profile especially in the last 20 years.
“Comedians sell out stadiums– it’s the new rock and roll, really – but you see stand-up after stand-up.”
Ventriloquism is something different, he explained: “People often aren’t too sure about it when they hear there’s a vent on the bill, but I just love the improvisation, the playing with the audience, and people really go along with it.”
This is most obvious with his work in using audience members as puppets through the use of a remote-operated mask which looks like a mouth.
“I’ve been doing the routine with a member of the audience since about 1992, when I was at the Palladium with Bruce Forsyth.
“We made a special Brucey chin and gave him a silly voice, and I created these animatronic masks.
“Lots of ventriloquists have since developed their own versions of it– people react differently, so the bit always changes.”
The show also includes a tribute to one of magic’s classic and most recognisable acts.
“It has to be funny, otherwise you’re just an adult on stage talking, which can be quite weird.
“One of my favourite bits to do is an homage to a classic stage act: the illusion of the Zigzag Lady originated by Robert Harbin.
“I’ve had a special version built for one of the puppets, and nobody’s done that one before, so I love doing that bit.”
Paul Zerdin’s show, Puppetman, is coming to Norden Farm, Maidenhead, on Friday, May 31
Details and tickets available via: paulzerdin.com/tour
