David Strassman

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David Strassman with 'Chuck Wood'

David Strassman (born: 1957) is a performer, who is best known for his ventriloquism acts with the characters Ted E. Bare and Chuck Wood. He began performing at the age of twelve after a visit to the Magic Castle in Hollywood.

[edit] History

Strassman began his career performing for the neighborhood kids and the occasional birthday party. It wasn't until attending the prestigious high school, New Trier West, in Chicago, where David took up acting and theater seriously. He performed in plays and musicals and learned improvisation through a master class with Second City's Viola Spolin, the "mother" of Improv.

Strassman then went on to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York where he got accepted to the prestigious second year. He declined, opting for the bohemian life of a street performer on the sidewalks of New York, London, and Paris.

After two summers of busking, Strassman took his budding Ventriloquist act into the comedy clubs of NYC. Getting late night spots at the Improv and Comic Strip comedy clubs, he honed his act and began climbing the comedy club hierarchy, beginning as an opener act with 15 minutes of material. Throughout the '80s, Strassman worked his way up to middle act and then headliner, where he evolved his show into a theatrical experience rather than a nightclub show.

In the early '90s, Strassman took his show to Australia where he began playing theaters and civic centers. Performing national tours “Down Under”, gave Strassman the experience needed to flesh out a fully theatrical show pulling ventriloquism out of the cruise ship and birthday party realm and into mainstream theater.

In 1996, Strassman performed at the world famous Edinburgh Festival in Scotland and won the coveted “Critics Award for Comedy” and the Glasgow “Herald Angel” award. He then was invited to perform on many British television shows, including his own 1 hour special on the BBC and an appearance on the Royal Variety Show for Prince Charles. With a sold out run at the Apollo Theater in London’s West End, Strassman became the first Ventriloquist to play the legit British “boards” in half a century. In March 2004 Strassman took his kid's matinée performance to Southam Primary School in England although only being a 45 minute show featuring Chuck & Ted. E. Bare he received raptous acclaim from the staff & students of the school whilst he was touring the UK with the "Chuck Who" Tour

Strassman was offered and then starred in his own talk show, “Strassman”, which ran on Channel Nine in Australia. Subsequent series were developed in England and New Zealand and were seen and enjoyed by millions.

Strassman’s current live show, The “Get Chuck’d Tour” has sold out in every Australian venue in 2005 and he continues to tour throughout 2006. This live show can be seen on the DVD titled, "The Chuck You Tour". Strassman has recently released two more DVDs in conjunction with his recent touring. They are entitled "Strassman Live" and "Strassman Live: Vol. Two".

[edit] Puppet characters

Popular characters voiced by Strassman include:

Chuck Wood - a talking puppet who dreams of becoming a real boy. Makes rude and crude jokes, makes fun of other characters, spits and vomits. Can also be remotely controlled. In Strassman Live, Chuck dreams of becoming a real boy, and tries to do so by summoning the blue fairy, but it is suggested by Dave, that Chuck's magical chant pissed her off. His second attempt, was to sell Ted E. Bare to Kevin, who loves Teddybears...with sauce. The outcome of this attempt is not shown. Chuck finally attempts plan C, which is to contact Satan himself, but Satan reveals that he created Chuck and Chuck is the reason he was kicked out of heaven and turned evil, and besides, he already has his soul. Chuck attempts to kill himself, but wakes up to discover it was all a dream. In Strassman Live: Volume Two, Chuck is responsibal for Ted E. Bare's disappearance. Chuck, and Ted E. both developed a habit of eating their pets.

Ted E. Bare - Crowd favourite. Naive, inquisitive, often the butt of Chuck's jokes and pranks. Ted E. Bare, in Strassman Live, was ashamed of his appearance, because of a traumatic dream he had. He later reveals to Dave that he ate his pet turtle after Chuck tricked him into it, but later on developed a liking to it. He went missing in Volume Two, because of Chuck's rudness towards him.

Sid Beaverman - Aspiring stand-up comic who continually gets Strassman's name wrong. Variations include: Mr Stinking Human, Mr Slippery Nipple, Mr Stresselman, Mr Stetzenhat and Mr Sicklehyer.

Kevin the Alien - Similar in appearance to Crazy Frog, Kevin is from outer space and has an unpronouncible name. He thinks he is wiser than humans and makes slip-ups that his race will take over the planet.

Vinny The Dolphin - A private detective who Strassman hires to help find Ted. E. Bare in The Chuck You Tour DVD but for some reason only thinks of himself & has no clues so he ends up getting sacked by Strassman

Grandpa Fred - Ted E. Bare's long lost grandfather (who is featured on the Chuck You Tour DVD) seems to be the exact opposite of his grandson.

The Crows - Strassman's aspring musicians who when commanded to begin can't seem to stop sneezing or belching.

A.N.G.E.L - Strassman's first female puppet A.N.G.E.L is a robot. A special mechanism is required to make Strassman's voice sound female expected to appear in Strassman's next tour.