Ventriloquists Dunham, Fator reflect on shows’ popularity

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They both have sidekicks named Walter. Between them — and all the other puppets they bring to life — Jeff Dunham and Terry Fator about have it covered these days.

“I think what we’ll do is between the two of us, we’ll just entertain everybody,” Fator says.

“I’m booked in stinkin’ China,” Dunham says. “All this is thanks to YouTube. … Now I’m actually cool to my teenage daughters. I never thought that would happen.”

Dunham has unofficially joined Cher and Jerry Seinfeld as a tenant in the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, a far cry from the Riviera Comedy Club where you would have found him in the ’80s.

Fator just celebrated his first year as the resident headliner of The Mirage. “The show is as good as it has ever been,” he says. “It’s tight.”

He has introduced a new character, a crash test dummy named Wrex, and now is focused on a Christmas album and TV special.

In separate interviews, the two talked about their popularity and why it doesn’t begin and end with ventriloquism.

What They Really Are

Dunham: “I don’t pay any attention to the (technique) of ventriloquism. To me, I’ve always approached it as a comedian.”

Now that Dunham has been on Comedy Central and plays big arenas, “The technical aspect of ventriloquism is gone. No one cares anymore. You’re left with the jokes and the characterization.

“I know that’s why numbers have gotten as big as they have. People keep coming back because they like the dummies, they like the humor, they like the characters and they like the relationships in what goes on onstage.”

As with a magic act, a suspension of disbelief is involved. “People really want to believe the little guys and I have lives offstage somewhere, and they really do argue when they’re in the dressing room.”

Fator: “I think what we do is similar only in that we’re both ventriloquists. We have completely different vision as to what we want to accomplish. He’s a ventriloquist act — and that’s not an insult — and I’m more of a variety show.

“I think that instead of just a ventriloquist doing comedy, it really does seem like you’re seeing a lot of people. It doesn’t feel like a one-man show.”

Bring the whole family?

Sure, the puppets are cute. But what they say isn’t always kid stuff.

Dunham: “I never aimed my show at a family audience. I always aimed it at whatever I thought was funny, and I think that’s always kept a little bit of an edge on it. People say, ‘Is your show family-friendly?’ Well, it depends on your family.”

Fator: “(Dunham) wants to appeal more to Comedy Central, whereas I want to appeal more to the CMT crowd.

“I really want my show to stay — not dirty, I guess. The word ‘family- friendly’ is kind of a dirty word in Las Vegas. My show is not squeaky clean by any means; I do have a lot of double-entendres. But I never want to move into that realm where it’s just outright dirty.”

Multimedia platforms

Last fall’s premiere of “The Jeff Dunham Show” was seen by 5.3 million viewers on Comedy Central, but the series was canceled after it declined to the more typical basic-cable levels of about 2 million.

Dunham: “Our show was double the expense of everything else on (Comedy Central). If it had same ratings as those shows, it didn’t make any economic sense to keep us on the air.

“In all honesty, I was taking a huge pay cut making that television show” compared with what he makes on the road.

Dunham also is working on an autobiography. “I’m just trying to get down the basics of what’s happened in the past 40 years to see how I got to this point.”

Fator: The Mirage star will follow last fall’s “Live from Las Vegas” DVD with a Christmas show to be filmed in December and released in 2011.

“I’d like to have a new national DVD and broadcast special every couple of years. I’m not going to press it and say every year, because I think the material would suffer.”

No strangers to Vegas

Both ventriloquists share humble beginnings on the Strip. Fator fronted a country band called Texas in the Excalibur’s steakhouse. Dunham was part of the rotating lineup in the Riviera’s comedy club.

Dunham: “I don’t think there’s been a time in the last 20 years when I haven’t come to Vegas and at least done something somewhere.” Well before his arena days, guesting on “The Tonight Show” landed him big-room gigs at the Sahara, Sands and Monte Carlo.

“Coming to Vegas was a treat. That was a luxury for me, to be able to do some of those bigger rooms. The rest of the year, I was doing 300-seat comedy clubs, week after week, month after month, year after year.”

Fator: “I knew one thing. I was not going to end up getting a show in Las Vegas and going, ‘OK, I’m done’ — just zombie through the show, not paying attention. … You’ll never see me phone a show in. It’s hard. Sometimes you’re exhausted and you don’t feel like it. But you just can’t let yourself.”

Jerry Lewis visited backstage a few months ago and said, “I can think of two times in my entire career that I phoned a show in, and those are the two biggest regrets of my life.”

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.