Terry Fator puts a new spin on ventriloquism

By John Benson

The entertainer is booked at the Mirage in Las Vegas for five years beginning in 2009.

What a year it’s been for Terry Fator, who not only hears voices but, as a ventriloquist, speaks them as well.

It was exactly a year ago that the Dallas resident began his improbable journey from hard-working touring ventriloquist to winner of NBC-TV’s 2007 reality show “America’s Got Talent,” which included a $1 million prize.

“It changed my life in ways that I could never have foreseen, no matter how much I tried to dream,” said Fator, calling from Montana. “But I did it for the exposure. In my wildest dreams I never thought I would win the thing.

“Now I believed that I had the talent to win it and that I had something really unusual and different, but I also knew that I was a ventriloquist and there’s a prejudice against ventriloquism that I’ve been fighting against my whole life.”

A working performer for more than 20 years, Fator wows audiences with his innovative stage show, which combines the art of ventriloquism with singing celebrity impressions. His puppets Cowboy Walter, Emma Taylor and Winston the Impersonating Turtle effortlessly perform the singing styles of an eclectic and unexpected group of stars such as Tony Bennett, Elvis, Maroon 5, Garth Brooks, Nat King and Natalie Cole, Roy Orbison, Etta James, Gnarls Barkley, James Blunt, Brooks Dunn, Louis Armstrong and even Kermit The Frog.

As for prejudice against ventriloquism, it mostly stems from what Fator said is being constantly pigeonholed as unfunny and children’s entertainment.

“What I do is just as much for adults and kids,” Fator said. “Everything I write is clean, but I write sophisticated jokes. I write intelligent jokes and shows, and it doesn’t matter what age comes. I think that’s what America was able to see past on ‘America’s Got Talent.’”

Weeks before winning the reality television show, Fator’s career was already beginning to take off when he was booked as a headliner at the Las Vegas Hilton and his shows quickly sold out. If that wasn’t surreal enough, what happened next was a complete dream.

Earlier this year, the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas announced it had signed Fator to a five-year $100 million contract to begin performing in February 2009.

“It’s my ultimate dream to headline in Las Vegas, and headlining at the Mirage is so far beyond my ultimate dream, it’s not even funny,” Fator said. “I would have never dreamed that I would be the Mirage’s main headliner. It’s the greatest honor, and I’m just so blown away that all of this has happened to me in the past year.”

Considering Fator’s performance schedule will soon be limited to Sin City, it’s pretty special that the celebrated ventriloquist is making his Youngstown debut tonight at the Ford Family Recital Hall. The show is sold out.

“I can promise people will see things they won’t see anywhere else in the world,” Fator said. “Not only will they laugh, but I can guarantee they’re going to have fun. I encourage people to come out. And I promise I’ll put on a Las Vegas style show for you right there in Youngstown.”