The origin of Coco part 3

On the day of his arrival I was very excited and we took lots of photos for publicity purposes and I got used to operating him. I already had the routine I planned to do rehearsed despite not having the puppet but now I could finally put the two together it took a few days but I soon got the hang of it. The routine I came up with was so unique I have never seen anything like it before which made me very proud and it was all thanks to a prop I bought. As far as I am aware it’s the only one of its kind. Picture this a wooden garden set with two plant pots at each end. A worm can pop up out of one plant pot then run to the other side and pop his head out of the other. It’s a simple plot but there is so much you can do with it.

So the routine was this after introducing Coco to the audience he wanted to show everyone his garden and all we were going to do is plant these flowers simple, or is it? The audience would notice the worm and after several attempts Coco catches the worm and then we plant the flowers and water them ending with him squirting me in the face. After performing this for one year I decided to stop. I was having a clear out of all my big props because I had too many things and there is only so much stuff you can do in a two-hour party no matter how awesome I thought it was so I got rid of the garden and a few other things. I had a little brainstorming session and tried to come up with something just as good if not better than my original routine. I wanted to stay away from Coco performing magic because I am already doing enough of that in the show and I wanted this to be the breather in the performance and give it a little more variety.

After a brief hiatus Coco is back in the show and I wish I did it sooner because I have missed working with him and so have the kids. As you read this it might sound like I think he is real I know it’s strange but as a puppeteer you need to have that mind frame because if I do not think of him as a real person why should you the audience. I will not give too much away about his new routine but it has a few new surprises in the act and he does like the circus.

So what’s the future for Coco well we are working on more gags for his act. I am going to have to start keeping a note book spare instead of having random notes with ideas on everywhere. One of my ideas is to have a trick based around him after he has done his bit in the show and it will be a present for the birthday child. Afterwards it will be a giveaway for the other children at the party but it is early days yet. I will keep you posted on what is happening and how he is developing as a performer possibly write another blog about it but keep up to date with me by following me on Twitter @ProfDanSlater click here to like my Facebook page. Last but not least if you would like to know more about entertainment services I can provide for your event simply go to www.dan-slater.co.uk apart from that thank you for reading and I’ll see you soon.