Buoyed by Bowie, Terry Fator shares the warmth in Christmas show

In ventriloquism, it’s best to keep your mouth still and your career moving.

Terry Fator is a master at both.

Fully capable of turning a 30-second routine into something special, Fator has introduced a new puppet into his Christmas show at The Mirage: David Bowie.

With this one, Fator is playing with fire — and not just the blazing Yule log on the video screen at the Terry Fator Theater. Bowie was not only a bona fide rock legend, but a pop culture icon who established border-bending style trends throughout his career.

He’s not exactly the type of figure you would expect to see in line with a talking turtle and wooden Elvis impersonator.

But this is Fator’s gift: finding a place for such a subject as Bowie in his stage act. He developed a Bing Crosby puppet years ago, singing “Little Drummer Boy” as part of the Christmas show. Bowie and Crosby, of course, sang that song together during Crosby’s annual holiday broadcast.

Somehow, it makes sense.

“It was an odd pairing, but I remember watching them on TV when I was 12, and remembered that when we brought Bing into the show a few years ago,” Fator said. “That’s why I do the Christmas show the way I do — to re-create the feel of what Bing Crosby brought to his TV shows.”

The total run time of the segment is just half a minute, but its innovation has led Fator to begin developing other “real” subjects. Aside from Donald Trump, added earlier this year, Fator’s team of puppets includes such fictional characters as Winston the Impersonating Turtle (derived pretty clearly from Kermit the Frog), country bumpkin Walter T. Airdale, the reliably stoned Duggie Scott Walker and the schlocky lounge singer Monte Carlo.

“One of my ideas is to use more real-life puppets, Bowie and Michael Jackson, for example,” Fator says. “I’ve been getting a lot of offers overseas, and they want me to go into Germany, Japan, China. If I have a Bowie puppet and Bowie songs, they don’t need to know the language. They’ll go crazy. If I go out there with a Michael Jackson puppet and sing Michael Jackson, same thing: Audience goes nuts.

“I need more of these real characters, as opposed to turtles doing impressions of Kermit.”

The Trump character is simply an exercise in the surreal. His little hairpiece flips up when he’s excited and cracking wise about President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Fator’s vocal impression of The Donald is not close to the real thing, but it hardly matters. The little puppet is farcical and funny even when sitting still.

“The guy I write with, John Macks, has been a comedy writer forever, on the Oscars, Emmys, with Jay Leno … he’s a Democrat, I’m a Republican, but he told me, ‘As a comedy writer, I’m going to get material out of this no matter what happens,’ ” Fator says. “The advantage of Donald Trump is he transcends politics — it’s not like doing, say, a John Kerry or a Walter Mondale and nobody knows who you are doing. He’s been a well-known figure since the 1980s, and he has a persona that is fun to have fun with.”

Fator continues to evolve his act even though he enjoys the security of a five-year contract, effective in January, and a show that has been a success since September 2008. He’s reached the point in his career where you almost need to be reminded that he won “America’s Got Talent” (the 10th anniversary of that triumph is next August).

Fator remains the champion of “AGT” champions in Las Vegas. Other winners have tried full-scale residencies on the Strip with mixed results. The closest entertainer to Fator’s model, fellow ventriloquist Paul Zerdin, showed great artistic promise but could not sell at Planet Hollywood. Magician Mat Franco has fared far better, still cranking out a full schedule after a year at The Linq.

Fator’s formula has always been to keep the show in line with the standards of the great Vegas productions.

“My show is much more like a traditional Vegas show, where we have music and singing and dancing,” Fator says. “People have had a negative view of puppets, but the whole show is not just puppets.”

At 51, Fator is something of an elder statesman in the Las Vegas entertainment community. Much has changed since he made his debut at the then-Las Vegas Hilton in the fall of 2007. He and his wife, Angie, have been married a little more than a year. She sold her catering business in Dallas and is fully invested in Fator’s life and career, appearing on stage as his assistant, delivering Walter T., Winston and Duggie Scott for introductions.

“I think back to when I opened here, and wow … I just don’t know what to say,” Fator says. “I have lived a lot of life, that’s for sure.”

And say this for the great puppeteer: He is never alone.

John Katsilometes’ column runs Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday in the A section and Friday in Neon. He also hosts “Kats! On The Radio” at 8 p.m. Wednesdays on KUNV-FM, 91.5, and appears at 11 a.m. Wednesday with Dayna Roselli on KTNV-TV, Channel 13. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter and @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.