Jay Johnson seems extremely cheery for a man who gets asked the same questions all the time.

Isn’t ventriloquism a dying profession? Aren’t those hand puppets creepy? Are you a repressed person who can express himself only through a wooden doppelganger?

Perhaps that’s because Johnson, 60, is at the top of his admittedly rarified art form. He has been a familiar act ever since his character, Chuck Campbell, and his smart-mouthed puppet pal, Bob, became famous on ABC’s opera parody “Soap” (1977-81), one of the riskiest and most popular TV comedies of its era.

Johnson gained even more respectability when his one-man show, “The Two and Only,” won a Tony Award in 2007. Pretty good for a boy from Lubbock, Texas, whose biggest dream was to land a job, any job, in show business.

Johnson brings “The Two and Only” to the Laguna Playhouse from June 11-20. (The title is deceptive – Johnson’s act includes 11 puppets.) We talked to him about his art, his show, and the love/hate relationship people have with ventriloquism.

The Orange County Register: How did a small-town Texas kid turn into one of the world’s most famous ventriloquists?

You can read the rest here http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/johnson-251605-register-ventriloquism.html#article-comments

Technorati Tags: Famous Ventriloquist, Jay Johnson

Best known for playing the schizophrenic role of Chuck and Bob on the groundbreaking television comedy, “Soap,” Jay Johnson is widely regarded as one of the world’s great living ventriloquists.

Read more about Jay Johnson and his show here: The JAY JOHNSON TWO AND ONLY

Here is a great a video of Jay performing with Bob on Soap:

Technorati Tags: Famous Ventriloquist, Jay Johnson