After a crowd-pleasing ventriloquist performance at the Cornwall Middle School talent show, Kimmy and fifth grader Meagan Clark will be auditioning for “America’s Got Talent.”
Meagan Clark wowed an audience with her debut performance at the Cornwall Middle School talent show last month. Now the fifth grader is hitting the road to audition for “America’s Got Talent.” Since the age of 5, Clark has been honing her skills in the art of ventriloquism.
“It’s fun because I can have a conversation with myself without looking crazy,” Clark said. “I can confuse my friends. I’ll say something without moving my lips and they’ll be confused.”
Michelle D’Amico, Clark’s mother, remembers her daughter testing the limits of what her body could do and suddenly learning she could talk without moving her lips. Clark called to her mother to show off her new talent. “Mommy, my name is Meagan,” Clark said without moving her mouth to form the words. “Mommy, I love you.”
“It’s just crazy how natural she is,” D’Amico said. “I don’t know where she gets it from. No one in my family can do it. We’ve all tried and she makes fun of us.”
A few years later, Clark began watching videos of other ventriloquists in an effort to get better at her new talent. Among her favorites are Jeff Dunham and Terry Fator, who won the second season of “America’s Got Talent.”
Clark would practice with a puppet named Amy, who has no legs. In August, for her birthday, Clark was introduced to Kimmy, a more professional ventriloquist’s dummy.
“I am a mystery years old,” Kimmy told The Local during an exclusive interview. “I enjoy sitting in our room doing nothing because I learned to enjoy that. I enjoy singing, standing on stage with Meagan, telling jokes, and being me.”
Clark spends about 90 minutes a day sitting in her room and watching videos on the computer. She doesn’t watch how-to videos, but instead Clark tries to memorize acts and practices with her stuffed animals. She looks for techniques other ventriloquists might use, such as tilting their head at an angle so the audience can’t see if they move their lips when speaking. Clark also writes scripts and then practices her routines with her mom. Her material often comes from the experiences of her family.
After years of practice, Clark, who suffers from severe stage fright, decided to make her first public appearance at the middle school talent show.
“I wanted people to know I could do that. None of my friends knew and they were so amazed.”
So was the rest of the audience.
Clark took a little from Jeff Dunham’s act and then put her own spin on it. In her first routine, Kimmy made a joke about Clark rubbing her nose. Clark yelled at Kimmy who wouldn’t stop being annoying. They then talked about their brothers and how crazy life is at home. When the audience started clapping, Kimmy retorted, “I’m not done.”
For the talent show, Clark had to prepare a three minute routine, but for her Friday audition for “America’s Got Talent,” she needs to cut that down to 90 seconds. Kimmy will be annoying, as usual, and the two will argue. They’ll make some jokes about Christmas, as well as “America’s Got Talent.” Clark will supplement her live audition with a three-minute video.
The audition came as a shock to Clark, who was surprised when her mother woke her up one morning for school with the news.
“After the middle school thing, that blew my head,” D’Amico said. “It took my breath away how people perceive her. To hear other people completely taken away by her is like ‘whoa.’”
Clark believes she has a 50-50 shot at moving on to the live rounds before the show’s actual judges. While she’s seen adult and teenage ventriloquists on the show, she’s never seen a young kid.
