David Strassman

David Strassman
Strassman with Chuck Wood
Born	(1957-09-06) September 6, 1957 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up
Nationality	American
Years active	1980-present
Genres	Ventriloquism
Website	www.ChuckWood.com

David "Dave" Strassman (born September 6, 1957) is an American ventriloquist, stand-up comedian, actor, voice artist, and comedian. He is best known for his ventriloquism act with Chuck Wood and Ted E. Bare.

Early life

Strassman, the second of four children, was born and raised in Los Angeles, California on September 6, 1957. His father, Harvey D. Strassman (September 19, 1922 – January 30, 2011), was a psychiatrist and medical academic.^[1]

Career

A visit to Disneyland with his family prompted a young Strassman to ask his father to purchase some professional magic tricks that he performed for local neighborhood children. Strassman took a ventriloquism class in junior high school as an elective, taught by local Chicago children's television host Steve Hart. Strassman discovered he was good at it and could make money from his performances.^[2][3]

Strassman studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York but returned to ventriloquism, busking in Central Park in New York, Leicester Square and the Marble Arch in London, and a brief stint in Paris.^[4]

Strassman performed in New York's comedy clubs, including the Improv.^[5] In 1980, Strassman (along with his main ventriloquist character Chuck Wood) appeared in Roger Corman's horror movie Humanoids from the Deep.^[6]

Strassman took inspiration from New York ventriloquist Stanley Burns, who used remote-controlled dummies in the 1950s.^[7][8] In 1986, Strassman started doing similar work after discovering a remote clutch system in a NASA facility that could be integrated into his own dummies.^[9] At the end of Strassman's act he gets into an argument with his dummy, Chuck Wood, and leaves the stage. Chuck then appears to come to life with Strassman speaking into an off-stage microphone.^[10]

In 1996, he performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.^[11] He received the “Critics Award for Comedy”^[12] and the Glasgow “Herald Angel award.”^[13] Strassman continues to perform frequently throughout Australia, New Zealand, and Britain.^[14][15]

Strassman had a television talk show called "Strassman" on Nine Australia, where his puppet character, Chuck Wood, interviewed celebrities.^[16][17] Subsequent series were produced in England on ITV, and in New Zealand on TV2.^[18][19]

Strassman has 5 DVD titles. Strassman Live (1999) – Volume 1,^[20] The Chuck You Tour (2003) - Volume 2,^[21] The Get Chuck'd Tour (2007) – Volume 3,^[22] Ted E's Farewell Tour (2010) – Volume 4,^[23] and Careful What You Wish For (2014) - Volume 5.^[24]

In 2010, he performed the play, "Duality," written and directed by Steve Altman, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in Los Angeles, CA. Duality is a two-character play about a mentally-ill ventriloquist, Jack, who talks to himself through a puppet named Zack. Throughout Duality, Strassman's character "talks" to his ventriloquist puppet as it sits lifeless in a chair, he operates it manually with his hand in the back, and controls the puppet through wireless robotics.^[25][26][27]

Strassman regularly visits children's hospitals with his characters while on tour, including hospitals in Wellington and Melbourne.^[28][29]

Strassman's show, Careful What you Wish For ran in Australia through April 2014.^[30]

Characters

Puppet characters voiced by Strassman include:

• Chuck Wood - A 1950s era-looking wooden ventriloquist puppet whose character makes rude and crude jokes, fun of other characters, spits and vomits. Can also be remotely controlled.^[31]
• Ted E. Bare - A soft Teddy bear hand puppet whose character is naïve, inquisitive, slow, and is often the butt of Chuck's jokes and pranks.^[32]
• Sid Beaverman - is a North American beaver whose character is an aspiring stand-up hack comic.^[33]
• Kevin - An Alien puppet made of foam latex and controlled manually by Strassman. Similar in appearance to Crazy Frog ^[34]
• Grandpa Fred - An older version of the "Ted E. Bare" character who has dementia.^[35]
• The Dinosaurs - Strassman's robotic dinosaur puppets who sing pre-recorded songs.^[36]
• A.N.G.E.L - Strassman's first female puppet, A.N.G.E.L is a robot android. A special mechanism is required to make Strassman's voice sound female, and is currently appearing in Strassman's current show.^[37]
• Charlie - Chuck Wood's twin character with facial hair and a shaved head.^[38]
• Buttons the Clown - A manually operated clown ventriloquist puppet who appears drunk.^[39]
• Theodore Bare - Ted E. Bare's lousy brother who smokes cigars ^[40]

Television Shows and Appearances

• Lifestyles with Regis Philbin^[41]
• Evening at the Improv^[42]
• Strassman (England ITV)^[43]
• BBC Royal Variety Show^[44]
• The Late Late Show (Ireland)^[45]
• Strassman (Australia)^[46]
• Good Morning Australia (Australia Ch. 7)^[47]
• Hey Hey It's Saturday (Australia Ch. 9)^[48]
• Today Tonight (Australia Ch. 7)^[49]
• Strassman (New Zealand TV2)^[50]

Australia and New Zealand Radio Appearances

• ABC Radio with Ben Elton^[51]
• 3AW Radio^[52]
• 4BC^[53]
• More FM^[54]

References

External links

• Strassman's Website, Puppetronics
• David Strassman's site
• David Strassman, imdb.com
• "One & One" (musical), Internet off-Broadway Database