There is one thing that Jeff Dunham's Peanut, Edgar Bergen's Charlie McCarthy, Terry Fator's Winston and Shari Lewis' Lambchop all have in common and that's CHARACTER.  You know what you get with Peanut and Charlie, wise cracks and a lot of fun.  You have an idea how they are going to answer a question before the answer comes out.  There are some things that are out of character for them like an opera or Broadway play.  You won't see Charlie taking much favor in about anything that Bergen says and the same for Peanut.  I like the fact that Jeff has a story about where he met Peanut and Walter.  That's all character development.  In this article we are going to talk more about character development.

You see, to be a good ventriloquist you have to know your puppets personality inside and out.  What they like, what they don't like.  What makes them happy, what makes them sad?  Are they sloppy or clean?  Do they like you or not?  Do they drive?  What do they like to wear? There are many questions that need to be answered to make your character real to you and the audience.

One book that I found extremely helpful in building characters is a book by Judy Buch entitled "Compelling Characters".  This book is now out of print, but an updated version of it can be found in a book from Judy available at One Way Street called, "Mastering and Marketing Your Performance."  A few things that Judy talks about in this book are making your character unique so that the joke that you develop and even the routine are unique to that character making it hard for just anyone to take your routine and use it in their act.  One chapter I really can relate to is the Language chapter where she talks about learning to think in your characters language.  I have personally experienced this many times.  Someone may ask you a question and the puppets answer surprises you (not really but you that have experienced it know what I'm talking about.)  That's true character development because the character is not thinking like you, they're thinking like themselves, through you. I know it's getting freaky now.  Imagine  if you will a time and place....  Back to what I was saying.

In Judy's book, one thing I really like is the character development list.  With permission from Judy, below is the list of questions when developing your character.

1. What is his or her most treasured possession and why?

2. Name a pet peeve and write out a paragraph giving an example.

3. If he or she had $5000 would he or she invest it, save it or spend it? And if they spent it, what would they buy? Explain.  And would they tell you about it or share it with you?  Why?

4. What would scare your character half to death? Why?

5. What energizes this character?  What would they get excited about?

6. What activities would they never do?  Why?

7. What are they really good at? Explain.

8. What do they do that irritate you the most?  Explain.

9. What temperament are they? (Chart is in the book)

10. What does he or she worry about? Why?

11. How do they handle stress?

12. How do they handle failure?

13. What calms them?

14. What private aspirations and dreams do they have?

15. What are their incongruencies? (Example: He loves eating chili but it always give him heartburn or She jogs one mile every day to the donut shop)

Come up with some of your own question!  Keep building your character.  It's a learning experience and a lot of fun.  If you would like to get a copy of Judy's book "Mastering and Marketing Your Performance" just click on the link below.

CLICK HERE