'America’s Got Talent' Ventriloquist Continues To Fool Judges

Now in its semi-final rounds, America’s Got Talent featured ventriloquist Paul Zerdin again last night, and he continues to sail through the judging rounds with raves from the panel. As I’ve said before, I’m rooting for ventriloquism in general — this unfairly underrated sub-genre of entertainment needs to be nurtured and encouraged lest it fade away from 21st-century showbiz.

But, contrary to the raves of judge Howard Stern and others, Zerdin is simply not among the top tier of vents. On Monday night, he applied a mechanical device to Howie Mandel’s jaw, enabling Zerdin to control the artificial mouth and speak for Mandel. Aside from the fact that it momentarily kept Mandel from doing his own talking, it was only mildly amusing and, as you’ll see, not remotely innovative.

Zerdin’s act was praised effusively by the judges, with Mel B saying she’d never laughed so hard and Stern saying Zerdin’s act is fresh and novel and that he thinks Zerdin could win it all. Indeed, given the slew of mediocre singers and novelty acts (like The Professional Regurgitator and the magician-with-a-costume Piff The Magic Dragon) that dominate this season, I’d agree that I’d rather see a ventriloquist walk off with the top prize.

But let me point out that the mouth mask Zerdin deployed is a standard ventriloquist gimmick, used to better effect by (among many others) Nina Conte, Todd Oliver, and Ronn Lucas, who claims he invented the device. Here is Taylor Mason, not the most elegant of vents, but nevertheless doing a deft job with the mask, and to greater effect than Zerdin.

As I said, I am pro-ventriloquism; I’m probably the only TV critic you know who’s looking forward to next week’s Jeff Dunham NBC special. But one must uphold the high standards of the art form one loves for it to retain its perennially wobbly dignity.

America’s Got Talent airs Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. on NBC.