"Imagine flipping to the comedy channel and seeing a documentary on the slaughter of baby seals. I think the audience has come to expect a certain thing from ventriloquists and when we stray we risk losing them."

I'm still chewing on the acts I saw at Vent Haven especially the non vaudeville ones like Val Hilliker; Jamie Gooch and Puppy Chow,the New Zealand school/vent magician, and the "foreign" performers. They were there to teach but they were also not the ones who had the audience rolling in the aisles.

I'm trying to gauge the gulf between teaching and comedy; and between a straight pedagogical performance and a comedy routine in which the lessons are slipped into the jokes.
I am uneasy after Fort Mitchell that only the straight setup /punchline variety is what is deemed as the norm at Vent Haven.

I have specialized in "visual aids teaching" for MANY years. I find it nearly impossible to write a routine that is just for entertainment, although I enjoy them. Having said that I also think that education can be entertaining. Many speakers pull out the paper for a brief "On this day in History..." before they start their speech. The radio show "Prairie Home Companion" would appear at different cities around America and would start the show with fascinating facts about the city they were in.

Comedians often drive through the town they are appearing in so they can write some jokes relevant to things in the town itself that people are familiar with.

Studies have shown that people learn best while laughing. (Probably while feeling any emotion, but they didn't want to teach them by scaring them or making them cry. Might be an interesting study!) I even educate at birthday parties, giving facts about the Axtell animals I pull out. It's a fact and a comic comment from the animal. Another fact, another comic comment. "The kangaroo has powerful legs." "I have my mother's thighs."

"She can jump 6 feet off the ground."
"But I only have two feet!"

"It may be 100 miles through the desert before her next meal."
"It's a long way to McDonald's."

Most of my school shows are story type set ups. "Sally called me a name. She said I'm ignorant and I'm not! I don't even know what it means!" Then we go through what to do when someone calls you a name. There is just enough humor to make them want to listen closely.

I may be a little punchy, but I draw the line at humor -- there is always some twisted little fact that can be used to get your point over. Richard Armour (if you've never read any of his views of history, you've never read humor) is a great source for material.

The fact that you are still chewing on those teaching acts shows that they are memorable.

I think that even in teaching there has to be an element of humour. People expect puppets to be funny. It is easy to interject humour to keep your listeners paying attention.

Even when doing gospel routines, I interject a lot of humour although it never takes away from the message.

To "just teach" with puppets means people are listening to two talking heads instead of one.

As to straigh comedy routines - I like to do more story telling rather than just set up and punchline. The stories are funny, but not just joke - joke- joke.

Thanks for the feedback, folks. I've chewed your thoughts and I guess I do what you do and combine message with entertainment.