In the picture above, the person…er, creature on the left is Scorch, a very silly dragon. The creature…uh, person on the right is Ronn Lucas, who is probably the best ventriloquist working today. That's a larger field than you might think, because we so rarely see ventriloquists on TV these days. But there are a lot of them out there working clubs, cruise ships, conventions, etc., and Ronn is at the tip-top of any list.
Don't believe me? Then go to Las Vegas, where Ronn is currently booked for an open-end engagement at the Rio Suites Hotel. It's an afternoon show, which means it's reasonably-priced, even if you don't factor in the amount you're not losing in the casino instead of attending the show. I haven't seen him there yet but I've seen him elsewhere, and it's really one of those shows where you realize you're in the presence of someone who's doing what they do about as well as it could possibly be done.
Ronn is mentioned in an old column that I just posted to this site — one I wrote in 1996, right after the first time I met him. But the piece is really about the greatest practitioner of them all, Dr. Paul Winchell. Click here to read about the both of them.