Ventriloquist provides entertainment at county fair

By TED SULLIVAN, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wearing a bright-red Hawaiian shirt, white straw hat and khaki pants, Wesley Willison approached children at the Gallatin County Fair on Wednesday and introduced his sidekick.

ERIK PETERSEN/CHRONICLE Ventriloquist Wesley Willison performs with his parrot, Elvis, for Andy Marusha, 11, Wednesday afternoon at the Gallatin County Fair. Willison, 19, has been performing since he was 13, traveling the summer fair circuit with his father, hypnosis Michael Mezmer. “This is Elvis the Parrot,” Willison said of the red, blue and yellow puppet resting on his right arm. “Would you like to have Elvis sing you a song?”

Elvis offered a rendition of “Yankee Doodle” for the children. Or rather, was it Willison?

Willison, 19, didn't move a lip. But then, he's been a ventriloquist for about five years.

The kids said they were impressed.

“He was cool,” Andy Marusha, 11, said.

Willison, who spends his summers performing his ventriloquist act at fairs, will be in Bozeman all week. He performs while walking around the fairgrounds and on stage. It is the fifth straight year he has performed at the fair.

“I get to get out there and talk to people and have a good time,” Willison said. “I get to entertain people. I really have a good time doing it.”

After leaving Bozeman, he'll be in Helena, Missoula and Sidney before going to Washington. But he said the Gallatin County Fair is one of his favorites.

“This is a real fair,” Willison said. “This is the genuine article.”

Willison said he began practicing to be a ventriloquist six years ago. His dad, hypnotist Michael Mesmer, who also is performing at this week's fair, helped him break into the fair performance industry.

“When I first started doing this I was like 14, so it was really hard for me to get respect,” he said.

Willison said the secret to being a ventriloquist is “practice, practice, practice.” He said it takes a long time to learn to talk in a different voice without moving your lips.

Ventriloquism is all in the presentation, he said, and a good ventriloquist must be outgoing, quirky and entertaining. He said he enjoys talking with people and making them laugh.

“You've got to have a personality to do it,” Willison said. “You've got to be a natural with people or they won't go for it.”

Magen Benzinger and her daughter, Gabriella, 10 months, were at a fair booth when Willison approached them and had Elvis the Parrot sing a song. Benzinger said her daughter was “mesmerized.”

“I think he was funny,” Benzinger said. “I think he's kind of one of those funny, dorky kind of nerdy guys, which I like.”

When he's not working summer fairs, Willison attends Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, Calif., and studies American history.

During the school year, he said, he volunteers to perform at children's shelters and retirement homes.

Willison hopes to be a college professor, but doesn't plan on closing the curtain on his ventriloquist act.

“I see myself doing this for years,” he said. “Once you have a talent, you can't let it go.”

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