Becoming a ventriloquist isn’t hard, but there a few things you’ll need to learn. To create the illusion of life with your figure you have to be good at three things. Technique, material, and finding an interesting personality for your side-kick. If you master these three things you can entertain any audience.

The first thing you need to do is find a figure. Any figure that has a moving mouth will work for ventriloquism

You can choose a soft, foam puppet. These are available as people or as animals. If you’re working with preschool children, an animal is sometimes better. Shari Lewis started out with hard figures but switched to a simple sock puppet that we learned to love as Lambchop.

Another choice is the classic hard figure. This is what you think of when you remember Charlie McCarthy. Jeff Dunham uses a classic figure named Walter.

Now that you’ve chosen your figure you need to give it a personality. Write a bio for your figure. What does he like to eat? What’s his favorite television show? It may seem silly at first, but giving the character his own personality is an important part of the process.

Give him his own voice and make sure he doesn’t sound like you. His voice can be higher, lower, faster, or slower. Maybe he’s from the south and needs an accent. Just make sure the accent isn’t so strong that he’s hard to understand. Whatever voice you choose you need to practice it enough to make it consistent. You don’t want him to talk like a Texan for awhile then suddenly turn into a New Yorker.

After you’ve adopted your figure and given him a life of his own you need to work on your technique. There are lots of DVD’s, books, and articles written about this. But the basic concept is you have to learn to talk without moving your lips.

Practice with your figure in front of mirror or with a video camera. The tough letters are: B, F, M, P, W, V, and Y. Most vents use a substitution system and use other similar letters instead of these. When said in context the ear hears the correct letter. The best way to learn this is practice, practice, practice.

Another part of technique is manipulating your figure. Your figure should never be lifeless, even when you’re walking on or off stage. He needs to be moving and looking around. When you’re talking to him make sure he’s looking at you or the audience. He needs to be life-like even when you’re talking.

Also, work on his mouth movements. When you’re talking for him his mouth needs to synchronize correctly. You don’t want to look like a badly dubbed movie.

The last thing you need is good material. You can start with a short five minute act and slowly build it to fifteen or twenty. Some people write their own jokes and some buy material from books or from writers. The one thing you don’t want to do is steal material from other vents. If they’re selling their material in a book they’re giving you permission to use it as your own. But don’t steal from another performers act. Watch their acts and learn from them.

When choosing material you have to think of your audience. An act for a children’s birthday party will be totally different than a gig at a comedy club. If you do your comedy club act for your child’s Sunday School class you’ll probably get kicked out. So always gear your act towards the audience.

Have fun learning and working with your figure and before long you’ll be a master ventriloquist.