I would say next to finding time to practice, comedy writing is probably the hardest part of being a ventriloquist. Would anyone back me on this? How many of you have actually come up with your own routine? Let me just give you an example. I have a routine that I do with Fuzzball, my cat. Here's how it starts out. I introduce Fuzzball and, while I am introducing him, he is licking himself. I ask the audience how many have cats at home and mention that cats like to clean themselves and that's what he's doing now. I also say that we may be waiting a long time for Fuzzball to finish cleaning himself to which I then ask Fuzzball if he's done yet and he says "Not Yet". He then licks some more and then bites his arm to which I ask, "What's that?" and he replies, "Fleas". Up to this point this is all my routine. From then on it is jokes from various joke books and visuals such as him sneezing and then wiping his nose on a tissue and, while I am not looking, rubbing his nose up my sleeve, complements of Mark Wade. Some other visual routines I do with him is an eye test where he starts out fine but then starts looking opposite of where my finger is. This routine is probably one of the best that I have. I've been doing this routine with Fuzzball for years and everyone loves it and loves Fuzzball because of it.
I've tried to write new routines since then but it is very difficult. I'm just wondering how everyone else comes up with their routines. What techniques do they use. And I'm interested in people who know their routines are funny. I've seen many poor ventriloquists in my day. Ones that may think they're funny but aren't. I'm reaching out to the true professionals. How do you make your routine funny? Where do you come up with new material? How do you keep it fresh? Let's have some input. Email me at danieljay@danieljayrobison.com and let me know so I can post it! Thanks all and God Bless!
