The idea of a Ventriloquist dummy being mean and even shockingly offensive is as old as ventriloquism itself, my favourite example of this is Chuck and Bob in the seminal American comedy of the 1970s called ‘Soap’. The dummy has always been given licence to get away with stuff that even a comedian might not touch. Nina Conti’s show is not for the faint hearted.
Nina, daughter of Tom Conti, was born into show business and is a fine ventriloquist. You quickly forget that her filthy mouthed, nasty little monkey, named Monkey, is not an independent character in the show, despite the fact that he keeps reminding you she has her hand up his bum. Nina is a charming and delightful contrast to Monkey and seems genuinely shocked and even horrified by his antics, though he constantly points out that she’s doing it.
Nina’s first full length solo comedy show was a series of unrelated skits that weren’t tied together terribly well. Nina rather irritatingly kept asking Monkey throughout “What shall we do now?” which created a sketchy, slapped together feel to the show. I felt that she was too quick in introducing her new dummies as we had not really gotten to know Monkey very well yet. The new dummies were not terribly impressive and were tossed aside quickly after their job of making Monkey jealous was over.
Monkey was soon magically sent off into the audience for an amusing take on Jerry Springer, where Monkey became Jerry and Nina remained on stage playing the English version of troubled white trash. Later we met her ventriloquist Scottish Grandpa and grandma and a one armed South African Voodoo specialist. These were all excellent characterisations that included clever accents, voice throwing and some interesting dummies, but she often wasn’t quite sure where she was going with the sketch after she made her point or got the shocked gasp she was going for. She actually said at one point “I’m not sure how to finish this sketch”.
Her penultimate set piece I will give away. It involved a large talking penis and was similar to something that was done a few years ago by the excruciating My Brother & I Are Porn Stars. It was actually done brilliantly and hilariously last year by the wonderful Heath McIvor in his poignant exploration of Male sexuality Tyrannosaurus Sex. Nina had the audience screaming in shock, but the segment was only redeemed for me by a killer punch line that was the best in the show.
Nina’s final act was perhaps the show’s most original and unexpected bit of fun for the night and left the audience on a happy high. I didn’t find Nina a terribly original or even proficient entertainer, she seems to be still finding her feet. But if you like your comedy nasty and filthy you will find plenty of joy here.
Visit the comedy festival website for bookings and further details