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Learn How To Be a Ventriloquist

ventriliquist

Over the past 25 years, Ronn Lucas has entertained four U.S. presidents, Queen Elizabeth and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. He has had three TV series and numerous TV specials, performed on Broadway and starred in his own Las Vegas show for nearly a decade.

The constant in all his acts: Boys’ Life magazine.

“My earliest shows were for my fellow Scouts,” Lucas says. “I often used jokes found in Boys’ Life. To this day, I’m pretty sure there is at least one joke floating around my act that was borrowed from Pedro.”

Lucas started with Boys’ Life. Now, you can, too, as this awesome ventriloquist shares the secrets of his art.

WHAT IS VENTRILOQUISM?

Ventriloquism (say ven-TRIL-o-kwism) is the art of talking with the tongue and not moving the mouth or face. When a skilled ventriloquist does this sitting beside a figure (or “dummy”) that has a moving mouth, it looks like the figure is talking. It works because humans use their eyes to find sound sources. When the ventriloquist is not moving his mouth but the puppet’s mouth is moving, people think they “see” the figure talking.

LEARN THE EASY ALPHABET

Sit in front of a mirror and make a slight smile with your lips parted. Make your teeth lightly touch. Your tongue should have room to move. If you see your tongue moving in the mirror, then change your smile until the tongue is hidden. Your goal is to breathe easily and read aloud these 19 letters without moving your lips:

A, C, D, E, G, H, I, J, K, L, N, O, Q, R, S, T, U, X, Z.

Practice the following sentences until they sound clear but your lips don’t move: “Hey, this rocks, dude! It is sooooo easy. Anything you can say, I can say, too!” If you sound muffled, try making your voice come from some higher place in your head as well as your mouth.

MOVE ON THE THE TRICKY LETTERS

There are seven trickier letters: B, F, M, P, V, W and Y.

These letters normally require you to move your lips. To say them without moving his face, the ventriloquist borrows from the easy alphabet, some other letters or combined sounds to “fake” the tricky letters. Use these substitutions:

B = D
F = “eth”
M = N
P = T
V = “thee”
W and Y = O+I

B = D

Instead of saying “The Bad Boy Buys a Basket” the ventriloquist says, “The Dad Doy Duys a Dasket.” Try this in the mirror. At first, this substitution won’t sound right; but with practice, D can be made to sound like B. [Hint: When your tongue rises to the top inside of your mouth to make D, let it stick to the roof of your mouth a little longer before releasing. Also, say D but think B.]

F = ETH

Instead of saying “Phil is a Frisky, Funny Fellow,” try saying, “Thil is a Thrisky, Thunny Thellow.” Say the “eth” sound but think F as you do it.

M = N

“Mary Mashes Many Mangos” becomes “Nary Nashes Nany Nangos.” Make the N vibrate against the roof of your mouth. Keep thinking M.

P = T

“Peter is a Practice Pilot” becomes “Teter is a Tractice Tilot.” Try holding the T a little longer, then release with a little puff of air behind it.

V = THEE

“Vinnie Very much Values Victory” becomes “Thinny Thery nuch Thalues Thictory.”

W AND Y = O+I

W and Y are treated alike. By quickly sliding the letters O and I together you can say “O-Aye” and it sounds like Why. Try putting a fast O to the front of the following: “Why Would Wally Walk?” You’ll be saying “O-Aye O-ould O-olly O-alk?” Now drop the O (or say it silently in your head), and you’ll be saying a clean W sound without using your lips.

In a short time, these substitutions become automatic. Practice for 15 to 20 minutes a day and in about a week you’ll see some serious results! Practice your ventriloquism with a relaxed puppet-like voice that is higher or lower than your own.

34 Comments on Learn How To Be a Ventriloquist

  1. This was defidently helpful. Anyone who says otherwise doesn’t know what they’re talking about.

  2. ur fav brunette // April 27, 2024 at 11:29 pm // Reply

    great now I can make my hand a puppet

  3. Just started my research on how to do this and glad to have found this page so early. It’s now on my Desktop for rereading over and over. Thnx!! Working up a live performance where I play 2 persons utilizing lighting to help with the illusion, but when pondering showing my reaction shot while the other person is talking I quickly realized I needed to learn this.

  4. "Rusty's Dad" // December 17, 2023 at 2:09 pm // Reply

    I learned Vent. from “Boys Life” 1948 – a book still in my office, bought on line as the orig.1948 copy I had lost over the years – ad-vocation for 75 + years (I’m 86) Make/made my own Figures =

  5. SandyBeach // June 17, 2023 at 4:31 am // Reply

    This is amazing! The more I read the comments without moving my mouth, the easier it became!

  6. I atila Think That the b is the hardest but I’ll keep working on it this helped with the rest though

  7. Really helped me!!
    Thank you!!

  8. Classified // April 13, 2023 at 8:36 pm // Reply

    This will definitely help me understand how Jeff Dunham does it.

  9. I’ve been wanting to do ventriloquism for a while and this is turning out real great! I’m getting better!

  10. Helped me

  11. I got the M, W, and V all on the first try 😀 EEE TIME TO CAUSE SOME CHAOS LOL

  12. OMG!! i’m getting a hang of it! This website’s really helpful.Thanks!

  13. This is just too hard

  14. Wow,this site has been helpful

  15. Scout Life // March 30, 2022 at 7:36 pm // Reply

    This is the best site EVER. There is fun sites to sign up.

  16. J Does Ventriloquism // March 26, 2022 at 9:59 am // Reply

    I am in focus at school and i am doing a project on this sebject. This website helped a LOT!

  17. wassa duude // March 3, 2022 at 9:50 pm // Reply

    just started with this and its already starting to make a difference

  18. Wow! I’ve been watchi Jeff Dunham, I now know how much of a genius he is.

  19. This is really fun. I’m just having trouble getting the different voices but I’m doing pretty good!

  20. This will help a lot becuase I’m learning how to be a ventiriloquist

  21. Thx. .This is a major part of my plan

  22. This is so cool! I found this super useful!!!

  23. This helped a lot

  24. This is definitely helpful

  25. This helped me, because I started from only a little bit to knowing a lot!

  26. This is useless!!!

  27. omgosh im so excited to learn now.

  28. THIS DID NOT HELP!!!!!!!!! IVE BEEN PRACTICING FORA LONG TIME NOW AND IT STILL DIDN’T EVEN WORK!!!!!

  29. i want to do a ventriloquist and i think this will help a lot

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