Taking the hit

Well... I stuck by my guns: no e-mail interviews with ventriloquists. I asked. They declined. They offered, I giggled and wrote back saying I wished him the best of luck. Meanwhile, without the sound, I scoffed at the idea that a touring ventriloquist saving his voice by not doing the occasional phone interview with the local paper. I piss on the very notion. Chances are when he calls room service at the motel, he doesn't send an e-mail down to the kitchen for his grilled cheese and caviar sandwich. When he hails a cab, he doesn't send smoke signals. He is not going to use ASL to communicate with the crew backstage. It is a bullshit excuse.

Bottom line... what he does is a vocal performance that is very much in line with what an a Capella singer would do, what a stand-up comedian or an impressionist might do. I'd argue he's not doing anything more vocally challenging than what the lead singer of Kitty does when she switches abruptly from a sweet melodic schoolgirl voice to the throat crushing devil voice.

Yeah... I don't think he's so much saving his voice as saving his ass. A lot of comedians just aren't funny when they're not on stage. I appreciate not wanting to look bad. If you suck at interviews, you should practice.

Of course, I don't know the competition will do. I'm actually curious to see.