Interview Puppet master: April Camlin brings her dummy and Wham City to Chicago

Most comedians wouldn’t touch the nearly perfected discipline of ventriloquism. From the foppish poise of a Wayland Flowers and Madame to the down-home bigotry of a Jeff Dunham, this stagecraft is, at minimum, a tough tradition to follow. Yet April Camlin, comedian and member of Baltimore artist collective Wham City, manages to add something new and refreshing to the one-man conversation. The A.V. Club spoke to Camlin and to look forward to Wham City’s nationwide comedy tour, which hits Chicago Nov. 14 at The Hideout. 

The A.V. Club: How did you and Wham City come together?

April Camlin: I moved into [Wham City building] the Copy Cat in 2005, and that’s how I met all of those people. It just kind of naturally happened because we all have very extreme and dramatic personalities, and the performances became extensions of that. We all did a Jurassic Park play together in 2008, which was pretty much a shot-by-shot remake. We used lots of cardboard props, and we tried to make the costumes as close to the movie as possible.

AVC: Baltimore is a thriving artistic community. What drew you to Chicago?

AC: I had been in a long-distance relationship for a year or so. I had been coming to Chicago a lot, and I felt very inspired by the scene here and the people I met who were creating and performing. I was starting to feel too comfortable and stagnant, and I needed a challenge. Sometimes you have to get your butt kicked a little bit, and Chicago was the place for that.

AVC: Ventriloquism isn’t exactly easy. Where does the interest in it come from?

AC: Actually, it’s kind of funny. I had a pretty intense jaw surgery in 2002, where they surgically broke my jaw in seven places. They didn’t wire my jaw shut either. I spent an entire summer in too much pain to speak, so I had to learn to talk without moving my mouth. I inadvertently learned that part of ventriloquism. Then, later, I was working in a vintage clothing store, and something kept brushing against the top of my head when I was stocking. It turned out to be my dummy; I knew then I had to own him. I had him for a while, just trying to figure out where to go with it, until I figured out how I would perform with the dummy.

AVC: There’s more than one way to perform?

AC: I’ve seen it happen a lot, watching other ventriloquists, where the dummy is a perverted old man hitting on the audience, and the performer acts offended saying, “Hey, I’m sorry, he doesn’t mean it, honest!” It seems like there’s an equation people follow, but I want to think about how I can do it differently, because really the possibilities are endless. Just weird stuff, like what do the ventriloquist and the dummy do in their free time?

AVC: You roomed with Dan Deacon for a few years. What was that like?

AC: When I first met him, I was blown away with how funny he is. And I was definitely inspired with how vast and insane his projects are—like the Baltimore Round Robin tour. I was on the tour doing comedy with 25 bands; 54 people touring together. It sounds totally impossible logistically, physically, in every way. But he makes it work. He’s a great guy. A little messy though.

AVC: This month, Wham City is going a nationwide comedy tour. How did that come about?

AC: I found out I was going on tour when I went to see Dan at a show, and when it was over we hung out. He just threw out there, “We’re doing a nationwide tour; you’re coming, right?” It wasn’t like I was going to turn down a chance to go on tour with my friends.

AVC: I can’t imagine it will be typical. What’s the format going to be?

AC: There are going to be a bunch of different variables. There will be stand-up, but we will probably keep it to a minimum. There will be skits, videos, a dance routine that will be themed by [ABC’s] Home Improvement. Actually, Home Improvement runs through a lot of the show.

AVC: Are there going to be wipes from scene to scene with hammers and people on lawnmowers?

AC: I wouldn’t be surprised. You never know.