Ventriloquist James Wedgwood entertains

James Wedgwood, comedian, ventriloquist and more performed at the New Richland City Hall during the Farm and City Days festival on Saturday, July 19. From one till two o’clock, as the cars from the car show packed up and pulled out, Wedgwood was pulling in laughs inside to a medium-sized audience.

 

Wedgwood, a 38-year veteran of his craft, has performed at the Minnesota State Fair 17 times. Since the 90s he’s been on national television, and worked in 42 states at corporate events, private functions and commercial enterprises. Thanks to the New Richland Friends of the Library, he was at the 2025 Farm and City Days. Wedgwood brought along some of his friends, including a leprechaun named Patrick McWiggins, whose first words were, “We’re gonna boogie woogie woogie.” The little man dressed in green with a stovetop hat also performed a magic trick; he caused Wedgwood’s tie to lift up away from his chest, which delighted the crowd. His grandfather Mr. McNurny was also there; he was elderly, but seemed to have a lot of energy. His greatest talent was the flexibility of his face, almost like a rubber band.

 

People were brought up on stage to assist in the show. A woman named Nicole in the second row’s purse was brought up on stage–apparently one of the ventriloquist characters was inside. No one saw it, but they all heard it, and it didn’t want to come out, so Wedgwood handed the purse back and the show moved on. Dawn and Kevin were brought up on stage. Another of Wedgwood’s characters, Bill the Bird, was instantly infatuated with her, possibly because of her green shirt.

 

There was a dry-erase board named Doodle that came to life. He had moving eyes and a mouth, and his girlfriend is the Mona Lisa. His nose and ears were erased and redrawn in a style more suited to his liking. There was also a class taught to Juniper and Alex; they were handed a puppet themselves, a chimpanzee and a frog. They were instructed to take difficult words, like “jellyfish” and “alligator” and try to say those words without moving their lips–to some hilarity.

 

Wedgwood gave a 45-minute show with time for questions afterwards. In answer to one query, he revealed how he got started: “When I was nine years old my aunt gave me two records and a Danny Oday doll, (which is a ventriloquist dummy), from there I was hooked.”

 

Anyone wishing to book Wedgwood for a show can contact him via email at moc.doowgdewsemaj@ofni or by phone at 651-336-3663.