A measurable percentage of the performers on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon this year were ventriloquists. Which is OK by me–and especially so considering that one of them was Mallory Lewis, daughter of Shari Lewis.<\/p>\n
On paper, the idea of Shari Lewis’s daughter performing with Lamb Chop sounds like a bad idea. For my money, Shari was the best ventriloquist who ever worked, and there aren’t many examples of children of the famous taking over their parents’ life work and holding their own. (When Mel Blanc used to talk about Noel being his successor, you just knew<\/em> it probably wasn’t going to work out that way.) I have no desire to see Candace Bergen go on the road with Mortimer Snerd, nor see April Winchell team with Knucklehead Smiff.<\/p>\n But Mallory is very good, I think. And Lamb Chop is..well, Lamb Chop is Lamb Chop. Which is quite an accomplishment. The official Lamb Chop site<\/a> shows that they’re working regularly, but mostly in low-profile gigs; I’d love to see them show up on TV in a regular engagement.<\/p>\n They were on in the wee, wee hours of the telethon, so you probably missed them. But here’s a snippet of another performance from YouTube:<\/p>\n