He takes ventriloquism to perfection – and has become not only a celebrated stage star, but also a real TV star: ventriloquist Sascha Grammel. He fills entire halls with his colorful and characterful dolls, delighting millions of fans all over Germany. At the same time, his work raises some questions. How does Sascha Grammel actually remember all the text for his full-length shows? How does he give the puppets such different voices even though he always speaks himself? And how does ventriloquism actually work? He now revealed his stage secrets in the talk show “Riverboat” on MDR!
Ventriloquist Sascha Grammel is on tour with his show “Wünsch dir was”.
On Wednesday, the puppet star can be seen with his show “Wünsch dir was” on RTL – one of the successful tours of the puppeteer, who enchants millions of fans with his work. Whether the strange bird Frederic Freiherr von Furchensumpf, the sweet turtle Josie or the Hamburg Dr. Peter Hacke: The characters he brings to life on stage couldn’t be more diverse. His tour programs are full-length shows with a wide variety of sketches – in the talk show “Riverboat” on MDR he now revealed that this is causing him more and more problems.
Because: Sascha Grammel turned 50 this year. “I always can’t remember texts very well, I always drew little jokes,” he reveals. “And I used to be able to recognize them – now that’s really difficult.” And how does he remember all the text he needs to fill an entire evening? “I’ve never been good at learning texts. The first shows are special because I keep forgetting things.” He picked up a trick from a colleague years ago: she always drew little pictures next to her texts.
Sascha Grammel with his turtle Josie – he has also been breathing life into her for years.Daniel Scharinger/imago
Actually, he knows the text – but doesn’t know what comes next. “And then I have these little pictures and I know roughly where I am in the text.” At some point he drew these little pictures side by side on a piece of paper – and learned to reproduce 15 minutes of text using just this piece of paper full of pictures. Sascha Grammel reveals that it often helps on stage if a textbook is within reach. It’s like in school: “If you know that the trickster is theoretically there…” Students will know exactly what the ventriloquist is talking about.
On the riverboat in MDR, ventriloquist Sascha Grammel revealed a few of his stage secrets.Star-Media/imago
Sascha Grammel explains on the “Riverboat”: How does ventriloquism actually work?
Sascha Grammel was actually a magician before he got into ventriloquism – a book introduced him to the art. “I actually just wanted to know how to do it,” he admits in “Riverboat.” And how is it going? The principle is very simple, he reveals. In the German language you only need six sounds for which the lips have to meet – V, B, W, P, M and F. All others can be pronounced with the lips slightly parted. With your tongue on your teeth you can cheat on the difficult sounds – and with practice, you can pronounce words like “water” without moving your lips. But it is even better, especially at the beginning, to write texts that leave out the sounds that cause problems. “Instead of dad, for example, I would definitely say dad,” says Grammel.
And how does the puppet star get the diverse voices that he lends to the characters on stage? “It’s getting harder and harder – there are now nine. And they are similar too,” says Sascha Grammel. For example, Prof. Peter Hacke and Fisch Mieze are very similar, the only difference being that Fisch has a Berlin dialect. “When I record something for the radio and then listen to it, sometimes I don’t even know who was speaking.” Sascha Grammel thinks for a moment. “So in the end it’s me, of course – it’s not that far yet.” Grammel is also on tour with his program “Make a Wish” – there are a number of dates in various German cities until next year. ■
