Do you have “ticks”? You should have. No we are not talking about those pesky little blood sucking insects. Nobody wants them. What we are talking about is the type of ticks that your puppet needs to give him/her/it their individuality on stage.
A tick is something like a repetitive nervous twitch. By using arm rod(s) you can give your character a stuffy nose where he can have the sniffles then constantly wipe his nose with his sleeve or just rub his nose with his hand.
A tick is where your puppet (again with arm rods) can scratch his head, smooth down his hair, pat himself on the back or some other such unique gesture that he might make to break up the dialogue that you are using.
He can rub his throat while clearing his throat. If you have a children’s audience he might (with the right character) pick his nose and then show it to you. Sounds crazy but kids are fixated with silly little things like “boogers”.
You can have him scratch under his arm and then put his fingers in your face so that you will know that he either has a body odor problem (or does not). Children and Older characters are prone to do silly things that are not “acceptable” during most of our adult lives, but one is too young to know better and the other extreme has gotten to the age where they are not concerned with what people think or have just forgotten that they should not do some things.
Either way, it can be a useful tool for you to use to get an extra chuckle in your act. Ventriloquist Dan Horn does an excellent job with Orson in this regard. Orson always has some ache or pain that he can use his hands to elaborate all with the goal of getting more laughs.
Use your imagination. It can be a tick that you only use once in a routine, or it can be used several times.
You can have several different ticks that you use in the course of a performance. You be the judge of what your character will do and when. Just remember that everything in your act should be geared toward getting more laughs. When your audience enjoys your shenanigans, they won’t want you to leave and they will want you to come back again.
Keep an open mind and find your ticks – then scratch them.
Until next time,
Steve and JET