BTJ: You do play a whole range of audiences from “mainstream” to “alternative” – in what way, if any, do you tailor/alter your act dependent on where you are. 

PZ: My new show seems to work virtually everywhere. For private functions if it’s looking like a hard night ahead then I will probably play it safe with older material. I have to work a little cleaner on cruise ships. Not that I’m that rude, but I do have to change a bit when I occasionally work on the Disney Cruise line as they are particularly fussy about certain words. I can’t say words like “Idiot or Stupid!” 

BTJ: I presume your dummies are custom-made – are they expensive and how long do they last?

PZ: My puppets are all my design but I have them made by a great puppet maker at Darryl Worbey Studios and he does work for TV, Commercials, Films etc. I decided early on that I wanted Muppety/soft puppets for my show as the old-style doll tends to scare the shit out of people. I love the traditional vent doll but I feel for my style the soft figure is for me. I’m working on a new creation for next year which will look like its just stepped out of a sci-fi movie. I think technology is so advanced now that it makes sense to use some of it. They are bloody expensive but if you want the best…..

BTJ: How many people in the UK make vent dummies? 

PZ: I think there are only a handful that make the traditional kind as it’s so specialised. I remember working on a TV commercial for Honda a few years ago and they wanted a particular look/style for this dummy and there was only one guy, Geoff Felix, who makes them in the UK. More people make the Muppet kind.

BTJ: Have you ever done stand-up or performed without your dummies? 

PZ: I do a whole section in the new show about being a ventriloquist in daily life and using it to my advantage. I show how I can throw my voice to the audience, how I wind up the sound man at the sound check pretending the Mic has become out of sync. I go into the audience and start hearing people’s thoughts throughout the show and this is all ventriloquism without a puppet. I am not one of those ventriloquists who is incredibly shy and hides behind the dummy. I started as a magician so was always used to performing I was just never particularly interested in straight stand-up. I wanted to have a reason to be on stage, to have something to show to the audience like a magic trick or a little man stuck in a box. I never had anything to complain about for straight stand up. I just wanted to be silly and show off. 

BTJ: You and Nina Conti have helped to make ventriloquism more popular and more fashionable, but it is still often seen as a novelty act compared to the stand-up boom. What do you think could change that?

PZ: Back in the early 90’s a fantastic ventriloquist from the US called Ronn Lucas came over to the UK and did a lot of TV then got his own series which was a variety show hosted by him and his characters. Amongst his various characters was this wonderful Dragon puppet which just bowled me over the first time I saw it. He was the first ventriloquist I saw using puppets like this. There was also a comedian, magician, ventriloquist called Wayne Dobson who also had his own TV show on ITV and he used to do ventriloquism for the audience members he used to get up on stage. It was the funniest thing I’d ever seen.

I decided at about the age of 17 that I wanted to be a combination of these two performers. I think these guys paved the way for a new generation of performer and so now myself and Nina can carry on forward with it. Really you are limited only by your imagination. I do think people have had enough of straight stand up on TV and that’s why ITV is doing the Palladium show again which has some great stand up performers on it but is a bit more variety based. It’s thanks to shows like BGT that have given audiences a taste for it again.