Watch! Ventriloquist Terry Fator In Modesto — A Review

by Michael P Coleman

I used to describe America’s Got Talent winner Terry Fator as a ventriloquist.

In doing so, I did him a woeful disservice.

After last weekend’s show, I now know that Fator’s a multi-hyphenate entertainer. He’s a canny comedian, a skillful singer, and an artful writer. And all of his gifts were on full display on that Gallo Center stage.

In Fator’s masterful hands, his 10 or so guests shone. Hyphen The Beatle did a pitch perfect Paul McCartney to Fator’s Michael Jackson on “The Girl Is Mine.”

Maynard Thompkins, an Elvis impersonator who doesn’t know any Presley songs, had no problem thanking the crowd over and over…in fact, he thanked us very much. Maynard was so engaging that, upon his insistence that Fator leave the stage momentarily during a hilarious “argument” between the pair, I almost expected Maynard to keep talking!

But the show belonged to the turtle who started it all, Winston, who helped Fator win AGT in 2007 and subsequently secure his headlining show in Las Vegas. Winston sang his beloved Roy Orbison cover, but it was the show’s finale during which the adorable turtle brought the house down.

Click here to watch a clip of Fator and one of his friends, Winston The Turtle, singing Andrea Bocelli’s “The Prayer!”