Ventriloquist Paul Zerdin: 'I created one of my first puppets with a block of sponge and mum and dad's carving knife'

That boy was Paul Zerdin, a 15-year-old already on the path to making a living from performing. “I got a job in a restaurant in Wimbledon doing close-up magic at the weekends when I was doing my GCSEs and I was making really good money. I ignored my exams – I got drama and English in GCSE but I was already making a living before I left school and I knew I was going to go into showbiz.”

Now 52, Zerdin says that school talent show was a milestone moment, a performance that cemented his confidence that he was destined for the stage. “I’d become a member of a magic club in London, The Demon Club, which was part of a magic shop called Davenports,” he remembers. “And I hired an illusion and I rehearsed it with my sister. She was literally suspended in the air. That was a real turning point, I thought I can do this.”

In the decades since, Zerdin has carved out his career in the world of entertainment, largely replacing magic with ventriloquism and comedy. Local venues grew into holiday parks, cruise ships and The Comedy Store, London, as well as appearances on countless TV shows. Zerdin has also made three appearances at The Royal Variety Performance and in 2015, he won America’s Got Talent, an experience that saw him and his character sidekicks viewed online around the globe and supported a career performing on both sides of the Atlantic.

Now regarded as one of the top ventriloquists in the world, Zerdin is about to begin a new UK tour, with a date in Leeds this November. "It’s a stand up comedy show, but with different dynamics with the puppet characters,” he says. “They’re sort of like real life cartoon characters. I’m trying to be this suave, debonair, slick performer - and they’re ruining my show.”

As a child, Zerdin was given puppets as birthday and Christmas presents, growing up in a household where the arts were encouraged. He was raised with parents who worked in radio and television, his mother at one point a continuity announcer, who would introduce Sesame Street on a Saturday morning. Aged seven, Zerdin received a box of magic tricks and some years later, he was handed a gift that changed his life – a book on ventriloquism. It took about two years for him to learn the basics, and slowly he introduced the skill into the magic acts he had begun to perform in his teens.

“When it came to hobbies, my mates would play football or whatever and I was just fascinated by the world of magic and puppets,” Zerdin says. “My parents didn’t necessarily know about the variety side that I was going into but they encouraged showing off and if they had dinner parties, I would do magic.”

A “cobbled together” showreel landed Zerdin his TV debut as a magician on the BBC's Tricky Business. “I was very ambitious. I was always sending my showreels off to whatever advert I’d seen at the back of The Stage newspaper and if your act is half decent and you get a good reaction, it snowballs.” Ventriloquism offered greater opportunities, an act much rarer than magic. Zerdin was spurred on by an agent who encouraged him to develop his skills.

“I was so single-minded and so intent on becoming a ventriloquist that I literally practiced every day religiously,” he says. “I think it’s something that anyone can do as long as you are prepared to put in the practice. Everyone has a talent for something and I definitely had a knack for doing silly voices growing up, mimicking people, and I think that really helps but you just basically have to learn to talk without using your lips...You’re constantly working on it. I don’t think you ever get to the point when you’re like right I’m as good as I can get.”

Zerdin’s first ventriloquist puppet was heavily influenced by Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie, a ‘chap’ called Gus. But it was suggested that Zerdin came up with a new character for an audition to host GMTV’s children’s show Rise and Shine. “So I created Sam,” he recalls. “I carved him out of a block of sponge that I’d bought from a local haberdashery. I must have been about 19. I borrowed my mum and dad’s electric carving knife and I carved out Sam, covered him in some towelling, put some eyes on him. I got the job on the show and we had the puppet properly made and that’s how Sam was born. He was a cheeky kid who has just got cheekier and cockier as he’s evolved. He’s kind of me, he can say things I can’t say as a human because you can get away with a lot more with a puppet.”

Teenager Sam is on stage with Zerdin in his latest show Jaw Drop. His other cast of characters include ‘Baby’, who believes the world revolves around him, dim-witted American bodyguard Roger, and Albert, a 96-year-old with razor-sharp wit, who over the years has been inspired by Zerdin’s late father. The tour follows a residency in Las Vegas where Zerdin, who lives in Surrey, was headlining at Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club and he’s also working on his YouTube channel which he see as his own TV station. “I love the freedom you have...I never got my own TV show and I wanted one but was constantly turned down by some commissioning editor. This is my way of doing it myself,” he says.

Zerdin will also be back in panto at the London Palladium this Christmas then it will be a return to the US for another season of performances. His act, he believes, has stood the test of time for being “a little bit different”. “It’s incredible really what a bag of tricks and some puppets can do and where it can take you,” he reflects. “I’m very fortunate to do something for a living that I really love.” Paul Zerdin: Jaw Drop is at City Varieties Music Hall, Leeds on November 6.