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Jez Rose

How many people can have a 20 minute conversation with Madonna without knowing they're talking to one of the most famous women on the planet?

Jez Rose for one. He met Madge by the punch bowl at Elton John's 60th birthday celebrations and had a lovely chat with her.

It wasn't until his mate rushed up and asked how Madonna was, that Jez had any inkling that the superstar was even in the building. "I was very excited and said 'Ooh is she here'," he laughed. "I had no idea I'd already spoken to her. But then why would I? I don't listen to her music or anything."

She will certainly have listened to him, however, because Jez was one of the acts hired to entertain Sir Elton, and she's not alone.

Jez Rose's show is fast catching on, his notoriety no doubt aided by his large suitcase of mad rubber dummies starring a drunken Italian opera singer and sadistic rabbit. "Yes, I do spend far too much time in a small room full of latex, talking to myself," he laughs. "But my friends are very supportive about me talking to dolls for a living. It's just less lazy than a pair of jeans and a microphone."

Ventriloquism is a title Jez flees from, but puppetry is what he's all about and he's taking his show to a whole new market. "Let's face it, most ventriloquism is a bit cack. And if you'd told me two years ago I'd be a ventriloquist I'd say 'no way'. But now I think it's the best job in the world."

Jez, 26, started off as a comic magician, and then realised he was having a good laugh with the audience regardless of the magic. But with a father who moulded Muppets for the Jim Henson Company, it's no surprise that Jez made the leap.

"I saw that the ventriloquism bar was low in terms of quality and thought that someone could do something about that, something very tongue-in-cheek.

"So I'm really pushing the boundaries, but I do try to avoid the ventriloquism strap because people immediately think it's Keith and Orville and therefore very old hat. I prefer to think of myself as a comedian.

You may recognise Jez from his 21 week stint on BBC1's The Mysti Show on Saturday mornings, where he interviewed celebrities including Steve Coogan and Jackie Chan. "I had to interview Busted or McFly or someone and had no idea who they were, so the researcher had to work very hard."

As for his own show, Jez enjoys practising his voices on trains and buses. "It's all part of the fun. And I love it in Tesco's when you go up to people in the aisles and say "don't touch that," he says, "because the English being the English will never say 'who said that?' They will just peer around trying to catch sight of the perpetrator."

Jez Rose is at The Mill in Banbury on Saturday. Call 01295 279002.

4:22pm Thursday 20th March 2008

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