DARK SIDE OF THE DUMMY 1
For me Ventriloquism has always been the most sinister form of light entertainment; the internal dialogue on display, the disproportioned body of the dummy, the glazed look and strange head movements, and the strained expression of the ventriloquist have always added up to the stuff of nightmare for me. Brilliantly captured by Michael Redgrave in the film Dead of night.
Hugo
Steve Coogan’s comic creation Duncan Thicket; an inane stand up comic with inferiority issues, has unleashed an addition to the pantheon of nightmare with his new routine for Duncan that involves the comic’s brother Darren Thicket as a dummy given life by Duncan. At first it’s just crap ventriloquism but the sketch takes a turn for the dark side with Darren blaming Duncan for the death of their mother and threatening to beat him up. Basically Thickett get's bullied by his dummy.
Funny yes, dark, very. But then I find them all dark; always have, always will.
*Performance currently unavailable-Features in: Alan Partridge and other less succesful characters-now showing on Conedy Central
Thicket solo
Quite agree. By a strange coincidence a couple of days back I watched the classic DEAD OF NIGHT with Michael Redgrave's superb performance as a Vent bullied by his dummy. Seen it many times and still find it disturbing.
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