Paul Zerdin

From Terry Hall and Lenny the Lion to Keith Harris and Orville the Duck, the British have always had a curious fascination with ventriloquism. There is, it seems, something we find irresistible about watching grown men (and it almost always is men) groping puppets while comically throwing their voice. And by the rapturous reception Paul Zerdin receives tonight, its clear the puppet love affair continues in the 21st century.

Zerdin is certainly a remarkable ventroliquist - the UK’s number one. His mouth barely quivers as he introduces us to three completely different characters – cheeky pre-adolescent Sam, incontinent OAP Albert and irate baby..errr..Baby. All come alive with Zerdin’s impeccable comic timing and constant puppet-to-audience interaction has most of the crowd in stitches throughout.

But while Zerdin’s act is clearly one of the most polished at the Fringe, his audience seem so amazed with the ventriloquism they often laugh at anything he does – even though the quality and depth of the humour is more than a little suspect. Pitching jokes somewhere between cheeky seaside humour and Jim Davidson style sexism and homophobia, Zerdin somehow gets laughs out of the most tired and inappropriate comic areas. At one point he invites a member of the audience onto the stage, straps on a fake mouth and proceeds to talk for the poor man, announcing to the audience that he’s actually - gay. There are howls of laughter.

It’s a shame, because with the comic tools in his arsenal, Zerdin could be so much more inventive. Instead he opts to stay within the entertaining yet old-fashioned confines of a tiring genre.