Nina Conti likes to play with her monkey

Ventriloquism is fun. The ability to throw your voice into an inanimate object, and then convince an audience that the object has its own personality and essence separate from your own, while trying NOT to move your lips throughout the whole performance – that’s tough. And there are a few legendary and famous ventriloquists who have turned that skill into an extended career. Let’s see. Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop, Willie Tyler and Lester, Jeff Dunham and Peanut, Jeff Dunham and Walter, Jeff Dunham and Jose Jalapeno … on a steeeeek…

And to that crew, I must introduce you to actress / comedienne / ventriloquist Nina Conti. Nina has created a long career in stand-up, and if you’ve seen her stage shows or her YouTube videos, you can’t get through three minutes of them without completely losing it. She’s funny, she’s ribald, and she’s drop-dead gorgeous.

And all that talent gets shared with her favorite ventriloquism sidekick, Monkey. Oh, yeah. It’s a puppet that looks like a monkey. And Monkey KNOWS it’s a puppet. And Monkey knows that Nina controls him. But you have to see this show to believe it.

You know what? How about I make your morning.

At times, Monkey will deconstruct the ventriloquism gimmick, showing that he’s completely dependent on Nina’s commands, while trying to convince the audience that he is independent.

Here’s a performance from Nina Conti and Monkey when they appeared at the Montreal Comedy Festival.

Oh, and at times, Monkey will try to actually control Nina. I know this sounds like the plot of a Twilight Zone episode, but it’s still pretty funny.

And in this clip, you discover why ventriloquist dummies appear on the right side of their partners; mostly because ventriloquitsts are right-handed, and Monkey wants to try the left-handed approach.

And if you’re wondering, yes she can do her act for a PG-rated audience, as she showed on an episode of The Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

So if this blog post made you smile in these turbulent times … you’re welcome.