Terry Fator: Fans keep ventriloquist focused

By Jerry Fink

Tuesday, March 3, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Terry Fator’s dressing room still has the scent of newness — freshly cut wooden shelves, fresh paint and new furniture, carpeting and big screen TV.

Aah, the sweet smell of success.

The room, with its deeply-padded sofas and recliner lounges, is still relatively bare. Danny Gans has moved his memorabilia down the street to the Encore, and Fator is just getting settled into his new digs at the Mirage after ending an extended engagement at the Las Vegas Hilton.

The 43-year-old ventriloquist from Texas, whose parents owned a janitorial service when he was growing up, debuted his new show on Valentine’s Day.

“The interesting thing is that it is exactly 34 years to the day that I started doing ventriloquism,” says Fator, as genuine and unassuming as he was in the days when he was performing at state fairs. “It’s pretty unbelievable.”

Life has become unbelievable in many ways for Fator, who took home $1 million for winning the second season of “America’s Got Talent” in 2007. He landed a $1.5 million deal at the Hilton for 15 engagements in 2008 and then a five-year contract at the Mirage worth a reported $100 million.

He has a unique talent that combines ventriloquism, singing impressions, comedy and a cast of dummies.

Fator isn’t one of them.

Q: What has been the most dramatic change in your life in the past 18 months?

The most amazing and best change is that my creativity is no longer stifled. Now I can create any character my mind can conceive. Before I had countless characters created in my head but I couldn’t afford to make them so I just threw the ideas away. Now, when I get an idea for a character, I call up the puppet maker and say, “Here’s what I want. Let’s go. Lets get a drawing.” I’m hiring Disney animators now to do the drawings for my characters. It’s phenomenal to be able to get the best people in the world to make the characters that I envision. I created a Beatle puppet which was created exclusively for the Mirage to tie in with their “Love” show — it’s an actual beetle bug that looks like a morph of all four of the Beatles. It’s fantastic. To be able to have that kind of freedom is phenomenal. The beauty is not only do I get rewarded by no longer being restrained by my financial inability to create these puppets, but the fans win because they get to see all these creations and characters that my brain can conceive. That’s the favorite change in my life. It’s wonderful not to worry about money anymore.

You do a lot of impressions, but they are all singers. Can you do impressions of celebrities talking?

I probably could but I just don’t have a whole lot of interest in it. I’ve got ADD (attention deficit disorder) really bad. My mind tends to wander. If I’m not very interested in it, it’s hard for me to concentrate. I love music, I love singing the vocals. But it takes lot of focus to learn how to do talking impressions, at least for me it does, and I get bored easily. When I’m just learning a voice I get bored. But I can listen to a song a hundred times and sit and practice and I don’t get bored. I’m sure it’s just my ADD. Given I can impersonate almost any singing vocalist, I could probably do talking ones as well. One of these days I may do that.

You have ADD?

Massive. It’s very difficult for me to rein it in. I was a B and C student. I was able to do that only because I’m very intelligent and I was able to retain most of what I heard anyway. Even if I didn’t pay attention in class I could still retain the information. I could also study for tests the night before, just scan over all the material and pretty much remember all the dates just by scanning. So I very rarely paid attention in class.

Do you speak to the public about your ADD?

It’s all over my book (“Who’s the Dummy Now?”). My brain, as I’m thinking a thought, it shoots from one direction to another in these very strange and random ways. I just allowed myself to do that. I didn’t rein it in. I told people at the beginning of the book, “I want you to feel what it’s like to be inside my head so I’m not going to correct this.”

How do you cope with the disorder?

I’ve found the best way to handle it is to have something else going at the same time I’m trying to focus. I always have a television or radio on. My brain is able to allow the noise to come in, and I focus better. I always do my best writing or rehearsing when I’m driving or flying because I’m bored. I learned that growing up. We were janitors when I was growing up, cleaning buildings. I was so bored while I was working so hard and I would be just out of my mind, so I would rehearse and practice my ventriloquism and write routines and practice singing without moving my lips. I would be listening to my Walkman. Who knew it was going to bring me to Las Vegas? Even today if I have something going on in the background it’s a lot easier for me to focus. A lot of times I will play video games while going over notes for the show. Whatever works.

How has the bad economy affected your thinking about ticket prices?

It definitely has affected my thinking on ticket prices, but it’s not really what motivated me to keep my ticket prices at a reasonable level. Before the economy was struggling I had already decided to talk to the people at the Mirage and tell them I always want to make sure my ticket prices are reasonable. You can have the premium seats that are close up and get the extra things, like first in line to get autographs. That’s fine. I don’t have a problem with that. If they can afford it I don’t mind charging them. But some of the back areas — I don’t care if I’m here for 20 years, I want to keep some seats available for those families that can’t afford to spend a thousand dollars to go see a show with a family. I never forget that what I do is useless without my fans. The fans are what make it. I don’t understand how a lot of entertainers forget that. The fans are what drives you. If you don’t have the people sitting there watching you and enjoying you, you’re nothing, you’re back to playing the shows like I did for the one kid. I absolutely refuse to allow myself to forget that.

Will you be doing other shows, in addition to those at the Mirage?

I will be doing some corporate shows. We’re already getting some calls. I have two days off a week and a vacation — a month off every year — so I will do some corporate things in the future. But right now I want to focus on this show. My main focus right now is putting on the best show anybody has ever seen. I want to go down in history — and I usually accomplish the things I set out to accomplish — I want to go down in history as one of the best shows, if not the best show, that ever hit Las Vegas. I’m a driven man.

Do you have other dreams and aspirations?

You know, I’ve said before, “When your dream comes true, make new dreams.” I’ve dreamed of being a Vegas headliner since I was 15, and it has happened — way bigger than I dreamed. Now I have a DVD and I want it to be a million-seller. I’m working on television shows and I want them to be hits, but if none of that ever happens, I’m OK.

What kind of TV show are you working on?

I really would like a talk-show format, but not like they’re doing right now. I want to showcase new talent as opposed to someone who interviews people who are already famous — like Ed Sullivan did, something like that. I want a show that tries to find the next famous person, the next few famous people. There’s nothing out there like that. “America’s Got Talent” doesn’t count. The show spends a lot of time on horrible stuff. I don’t want to put bad acts on, only good acts. Ed Sullivan never had bad acts. He searched the country trying to find the next big thing and he did, numerous times. I’d like to be the next Ed Sullivan.

If you do that type of show, will your little buddies be with you?

Absolutely. Everything I do will include them because they are part of who I am. In the early ’90s I was to sign a record deal with Warner Bros., but I turned them down because they wanted me to stop doing ventriloquism. I said absolutely not. I love doing ventriloquism. It’s part of my persona.

Do you talk to them?

Not if I’m not practicing. If I’m rehearsing I do. I’ve never crossed the line between reality and fantasy. Some do. I don’t. And I don’t have a problem with people touching them. Some ventriloquists are very anal about it, “Don’t touch my puppets. Only I can touch my puppets.” I’d rather have someone else set them up for me onstage. I’ve got a lot of other things to do.