Wayland Flowers

Wayland was no ventriloquist but that was OK because Madame was no fucking dummy!

That was the joke Wayland Flowers made at the beginning of every performance to remind the audience that he was presenting himself as a puppeteer and not as a thrower of voices.

Didn't WF have a sassy black lady puppet also? Named Pippy or Nippy or something?

Yes, R2, her name was Jiffy. He had an insane puppet named Crazy Mary too.

Madame was funny as hell, any links?

[quote]That was the joke Wayland Flowers made at the beginning of every performance to remind the audience that he was presenting himself as a puppeteer and not as a thrower of voices.

That was not "the joke," rather that was the "WEAK ASS EXCUSE" he used. He wanted to be a ventriloquist and couldn't cut it, so he used that lame ass excuse and the gays bought it.

What happened to his Madame puppet? i don't necessarily mean the actual puppet, but who gets the rights to it? The Madame character has some value, I would think. They could get anyone to do its voice and make money off it Assuming Wayland has no family, is it all public domain?

Someone else assumed Madame duty a few years after his death and performed with a version of the puppet and the character name. I believe it was arranged by whatever "estate" was left. I'm too lazy to look it up, but, it was a sanctioned continuation of the act after a suitably long break following Flowers' death. I'm not sure if it still continues, but, I recall reading of the revival.

The new Madame is a disappointment. The performer's voice is too low to make the puppet sound like a real woman. It only sounds like a man imitating a woman, which shatters the illusion. Wayland Flowers had an unusually high-pitched voice for a man which is what made Madame so uncannily lifelike. It's silly to diss Flowers for not being a ventriloquist. He had no problem directing an audience's attention away from himself and toward Madame. She was a believable character even when he operated her in plain sight.

Madame died a few years after a botched throat procedure. Her legacy lives on with her daughter who does Fashion Police on E!

lol R9

Totally agree r8- it's very silly to diss him- it was never an issue for the fans because Madame was so damn funny! Who cares if he wasn't a ventriloquist? Should he not have gone on to what was a very nice career for fear of what the ventriloquist's society was going to say about him? He did very well, especially for a flamingly gay man of that time.

He was not gay. Don't speak of such things.

He was just eccentric, like Noel Coward was just British

And Paul Lynde was just a snappy dresser like Charles Nelson Reiley.

[quote]It's silly to diss Flowers for not being a ventriloquist.

Why? That's like saying it's silly to diss a pediatrician for not being able to do what he skills call for.

No r15, his skill was being an entertainer and that's what he did.

I liked him back in the 70s. One of the very clearly gay persons on. TV. A bit Step n Fetchit but still welcomed. You young gays have no idea what it was like. Any public image was affirmative on a personal level.

Madame needs to do a guest shot on "Up All Night With Miss Piggy."

It's true. I was a small child in the 70s, but, even then, I picked up on the few coded gay guys on TV and those hiding in plain sight. I didn't know what was special about it, but, I related to it. There was gay stuff if you looked for it and when you recognized it, there was some small comfort in it.

[quote]That's like saying it's silly to diss a pediatrician for not being able to do what he skills call for.

No, what you are saying is that because a dentist calls himself a doctor, he is supposed to be able to remove your tonsils.

You are operating on the false assumption that when a person uses a puppet that is built in the style of a ventriloquist's dummy, he is somehow required to be a ventriloquist.

Wayland Flowers was a puppeteer like Jim Henson, not a ventriloquist like Edgar Bergen. Flowers never attempted to pass himself off as a ventriloquist. He was a skilled puppeteer and he had great comic timing. What he did, he did very well. He was very successful entertainer.

Size meat?

Madame had a bigger dick than Bea Arthur.

Yeah, but at least Bea's wouldn't give you splinters.

[quote]at least Bea's wouldn't give you splinters.

Only the clap.

"It's silly to diss Flowers for not being a ventriloquist."

My lips REALLY move when I'm Waylon on a meat puppet.

A couple years ago, I think there was a crowdfunding effort to resurrect Madame (not Waylon Flowers)

I can't remember if it was for a series, a pilot or for a new live show.

As I recall , it didn't seem too successful ..... but Madame was back on the road with someone in 2013, so it must've been a failed revival effort on TV.

Waylon Flowers did not present Madame the way a ventriloquist does, having the live person carry on a running conversation with the dummy. Madame was more of a solo comic act, like a stand-up comic and lounge singer. Waylon would converse with Madame briefly at some point in the show. After that, he would fade into the background while Madame re-took the solo spotlight.

Stop shit-talking Wayland.

Wayland = Waylon. Fucking auto-correct.

God only knows what he did to Corey.

Worst ventriloquist EVER!!!

There is a saga about Madame and the rights to the character. The woman who Wayland allegedly willed the rights to under sketch circumstances, is quite the nut case I hear. I have more dirt from a friend who performed Madame (one of about 4 after Wayland), but I promised not to retell it. He has been threatened with legal action for talking about the whole drama. Maybe I'll think of a way to veil the details and share it.

I would love to hear the details. Is it true that the actual puppet was buried with him? I have also heard that the puppet was offered to a Vent Museum, but they turned it down as it really isn't a vent figure and he was not a ventriloquist.

There were multiple Madame's. Wayland was cremated and it's likely true that a Madame went with him. I've heard different stories, I choose to believe it.

The below article is just the tip of the iceburg.

Thanks R34. Are you on Puptcrit?

I have never laughed so hard in my life. I got to see them in Provincetown in the early eighties. It was so fast and funny and filthy!

I'm really glad I got to see it.

r30

Poor Corey, I bet Wayland had his "Way" all over Corey's "land." Undoubtedly this was the big star that molested him.

There is a Madame puppet at the Puppet Museum in Atlanta. I have my picture with it!

There was a guy with a Madame puppet at The Townhouse in NYC in March 2006. He kept flirting with guys and having Madame insult people. Later that night, my bf saw the guy making out with some other guy in a bathroom stall and the Madame puppet was thrown on the floor. Sad.

Not sad R38, Madame prefers an upshot to the action!

R38, I wonder which guy that was. There really does seem to be at least four people doing a "Madame" act. This really cannot be good for the brand.

There have been at least 4 people, but Marlene only allows 1 at a time, then she fires them, or they "quit".

Interesting R41. Richard Skye is the only one mentioned on Wikipedia; so, I assumed he was the "official" one. Jerry Halliday seems to have poor imitation of a "Madame" puppet; so, I assumed he was "rogue". I vaguely remember someone in NYC who had a ridiculously large Madame puppet (soft sculptured?) . It was so off, I would go see him, and I will see anything with a puppet.

I find the current live-action of "Madame" tp be very disturbing, especially when you see her walking on those god awful chicken legs, it just wrong...so very very wrong.

R38 beat me to it - there is an original Madame puppet at the Center for Puppetry Arts here in Atlanta.

Madame starred in a gay themed full length movie back in 1976 called "Norman..Is that You?" Her co-stars were Redd Foxx and Pearl Bailey... in a gay semi-positive comedy . hard to imagine

They were also on the reboot of Laugh-in that also starred then unknown Robin Williams.

OP: So was Bergen, but you can't really blame him, he was on radio. Think about it, A. RADIO. VENTRILOQUIST.

Yes Jerry and Rick were both "official" madame puppeteers at separate times.

I was a child in the 70s and I loved madame

R3, that was the Village Person who died a horrible death due to lung cancer. Just sayin'.

R5 is the sort of idiot who deserves Mortimer Snerd's splintery head up his homophobic ass.

[quote]Think about it, A. RADIO. VENTRILOQUIST.

It worked because Bergen and his characters made a lot of stage and film appearances, and radio shows were broadcast in front of live audiences. The home listeners were enjoying the laughter of the studio audience, who they knew were watching the ventriloquist. Even if you had never seen Bergen and McCarthy, most of their comedy was verbal. Even a skilled ventriloquist has to possess great comic timing, as it's the jokes that sell the act more than the gimmick.

[quote]There was a guy with a Madame puppet at The Townhouse in NYC in March 2006.

Yes, I remember that guy! It wasn't part of a show, he was just walking around with the puppet when he talked to people. I can't imagine anyone having sex with him.

R53, it was all very odd and if I remember correctly, we saw him there on a Tuesday night. They were apparently all hot and heavy in that stall. Allegedly, had a few more favors than booze that night, too. Sniff. Sniff.

Poor Waylon spread his cheeks for the wrong guys.

"The worst way? They worst way I can think of would be standing up - in a hammock."

Shady Grove Music Fair in Gaithersburg, Maryland -- 1977 -- saw WF + Madame 6 times at this suburban theater in the round (usher) and it was the funniest show of the season. Unforgettable one-liners! "Madame, have you ever been picked up by the fuzz?" "No, but I been twirled around by the tits a couple times." Her gown, she told us, was an original Pennyay...J.C. Pennyay.

If Waylan was supposed to be OK with not being a ventriloquist then why did they always hide him on Camera?

Madame's Place

I saw WF and Madame for the first time in Norman Is that You and found them hilarious. What a talent and good looks too! Wayland wasn't bad either.

Wayland Flowers was not a ventriloquist and never pretended to be. A ventriloquist attempts to hide the fact that he/she is speaking the words the dummy is saying. Jeff Dunham is a ventriloquist. Wayland Flowers was a puppet master.

[quote] If Waylan was supposed to be OK with not being a ventriloquist then why did they always hide him on Camera?

Because all the attention was supposed to be on Madame, not Wayland. She was the star. He was just the mechanics.

Clearly, lots of jokes that seem pretty obvious and lame now.

r62

That is mighty convenient way of figuring things out.

You think Wayland was the one that molested Corey? He looks the type to molest someone.

Actually r65 he looks more like a total bottom.

He was bald at the end there.

[quote]r6 What happened to his Madame puppet?

I think she was reduced to sex work - -

As a matter of fact, the original Madame was buried in the casket with Wayland. There have been a few fake Madames since Wayland died, trying to glom onto his fame, but they never got much success.

There were several "Original" Madames. One is in the collection of the Ventriloquist museum in KY. They are a bit apologetic about it because, as mentioned above, WF really is not a ventriloquist.

R70 Micheal Jackson was not a rock n roll star but he got in

There should be a biopic. The Pharoah ending would be a strong conclusion.