After much consideration and practice, I decided that if done right, I could let Vern have his moment in the sun in my first B-day show. The plan was to start out with the whispering in my ear bit and then move to Vern asking me to help him talk. (Something I read on the Café). I went on about how I couldn't do that because they would see my lips move, to which Vern replied they wouldn't care. Ok, so a bit of this and then I asked the children if I should help Vern talk. I had planed on a yes and then asking them if it mattered if my lips moved. I would follow this up with the very best lip control I could muster (which is decent as long as I'm careful about what I say).

To my surprise, when I asked if I should help Vern talk, the reply was a resounding "NO!" Vern got upset and got a case of the sniffles. The crowd then relented. Ok, so all is going well and then comes the ad-libbing.

I have a bit about how Vern sometimes thinks he's a dog, and we went about convincing him that he is really a bird. Right about that time, a real dog in the next room starts to bark! I seized the moment and Vern started calling out for his Daddy, and trying to bark like a dog. Then the kids decided that Vern should do animal impressions! I've been doing them all my life so I went with it and we had frogs, cows, ducks and whatever else. I do a really good MULE!

All in all, it went well and even I was entertained. Never did anyone look at me instead of Vern when HE was talking. I didn't get called out on moving my mouth and I think I could have spoken completely normally (movement wise) and gotten away with it. But then, what's the point of learning vent, so I didn't.

It was fun and it worked.


Best,
Jim

Congratulations, Jim. That sounds like a very successful start.

Oliver

Glad you got your feet wet! I hope Vern likes wet feet because it's likely you'll have vent fever now.

Regan