Sound puppetry: brothers share the stage
Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at 11:03PM Jessica Pickens
pickensj@thejohnsonian.com
They call it “sound puppetry” and other times just plain “it.”
Senior broadcast major Zade Patterson and his brother Ted Patterson, sophomore broadcast major, have an unusual craft.
“We have been doing it since we were born,” Zade said.
The brothers pantomime with unusual sounds and create funny storylines.
“When we were kids, we would play with action figures and watch movies,” Ted said. “We would make sounds for that and have been doing it ever since.”
After seeing two Australian brothers performing a similar form of comedy on Jay Leno, the Pattersons wondered why they weren’t doing the same thing.
“We took that skit and added our cartoony actions and sound effects,” Zade said.
The brothers take a setting and then add comedy to it.
“We start off with a basic setting, like a grocery store,” Ted said. “Then, we go from there an add ridiculous stuff that has the potential to be funny.”
The brothers compliment each other. One can make some sounds, and while the other can’t he can add something else.
They have had success in high school performing at church camps, high school talent shows and Miss Wildcat at Lexington High School, hosted by the infamous Miss Teen South Carolina Caite Upton.
But their greatest success was as the opening act for Las Vegas act, magician Tim Gabrielson last fall for a DSU event.
“I was the comedy chair last year for DSU and had to call Tim Gabrielson and arrange his performance,” Zade said. “Tim called me back and said Boyd told him I did a comedy skit. I thought I was being Punk’d.”
The Patterson brothers also opened for well-known comedian ANT last spring with DSU. They were interviewing ANT for Winthrop Closeup, when he found out Zade and Ted did comedy skits.
“He thought that our skits sounded great, and then he said, ‘You have five minutes, and then I go on,’” Zade said.
Zade and Ted are always practicing new noises and finding new sounds and ideas.
The brothers said they get their stability from their mom and craziness from their dad.
“We are like a nuclear bomb with a lock on it,” Ted said.
Their mother always makes sure their routines are family friendly.
“Mom is always asking if little kids can listen to it,” Zade said.
“We have a Shakespearean taste; everyone dies in the end,” Ted said.
