Chris Kirby

His family moved to Adelaide, Australia when he was about seven years old. Chris and his younger brother, Andrew were exposed to the theater through their parents participation in local amateur productions, wherever they happened to be living at the time. As a young boy, he witnessed ventriloquism for the first time and was captivated by it and soon began experimenting with it. Because agents and club managers inexplicably couldn't seem to relate to his last name of Covington, he got so exasperated he started working under the name Chris Kirby, liking the alliteration. Eventually he took a grown up job at a bank but quickly decided that life on the stage was for him. In Adelaide, he hosted a daily kids TV program establishing a life-long Australian fan base. During this time on the kid's show, Chris got a call from Eric Sykes, who was a ventriloquist, too and a member of the Brotherhood of Ventriloquism. He said, 'I'm just calling to tell you how much I love your work, and I think you'...