by What a week for Nina Conti.
Conti, a British comedian, actress and ventriloquist, found success for herself on multiple fronts here in American TV land during the past week. First, Conti appeared on Ellen, and had Ellen DeGeneres in stitches as she made an audience member say whatever she wanted, via a ventriloquist mask on his face. Roll the clip.
Then she brought out a different ventriloquism trick — removing the dummy altogether so she literally could talk to the hand — on Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Press the Nina Conti button at the top of the video to fast-forward to her segment.
And now today comes word that Christopher Guest has cast Conti in his upcoming HBO series, Family Tree, which stars Chris O’Dowd. It’s a single-cam documentary-style project — hardly a new concept for Guest, who has employed that method on most of his feature films. Conti appeared in Guest’s movie, For Your Consideration. The series will have O’Dowd’s character uncover a mysterious box from a relative he never really knew, and inside said box are many secrets and seemingly tall tales. Conti will play his sister.
Her ventriloquism appearances on TV helped promote her DVD, Her Master’s Voice, which hit retail outlets on Oct. 16.
Nina Conti’s Her Master’s Voice is available on DVD via iTunes and Amazon:
Meta-ventriloquism… Interesting. I did like the line “Most ventriloquists…. die on cruise ships.”