Jay Johnson (ventriloquist)
Jay Johnson (ventriloquist)
Main page

Jay Johnson (ventriloquist)

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Jay Johnson (ventriloquist)

Jay Johnson (born July 11, 1949) is an American ventriloquist and actor, best known for playing Chuck (and Bob) Campbell on Soap.

Johnson was born in Lubbock, Texas, and raised in Richardson, Texas. He attended Richardson High School.

Johnson is best known for his role on the sitcom Soap, in which he played ventriloquist Chuck Campbell and his dummy Bob. Chuck treated Bob as though he were real, and, when performing as Bob, displayed a rude and sarcastic personality that would often provoke violence against the dummy.

In addition to his role on Soap, Johnson has also appeared as a celebrity guest on many game shows and hosted two series of his own, So You Think You Got Troubles (1983) and Celebrity Charades (1979).

He performed in an episode of Mrs. Columbo, playing a ventriloquist who finds his dummy is acting independently of his will and kills the man who carved it. Other post-Soap TV credits include appearances on The Love Boat, Gimme a Break!, Simon & Simon, The Facts of Life, Empty Nest (reuniting him with his "father" from Soap, Richard Mulligan), and Dave's World.

He starred in Broken Badges (1990), a Stephen Cannell CBS television production, in which he played Stanley Jones, a depressed police officer who was also a ventriloquist.

In 1999, he reprised his role of Chuck (and Bob) Campbell in the closing credits of an episode of That '70s Show that referenced Soap. Post-2000 appearances include the 2001 TV Movie What's Up, Peter Fuddy?, an appearance on Reno 911!, and the role of Christopher Davis—biological father of "The Miniature Killer" Natalie Davis—in the CSI: episode "Living Doll".

Jay Johnson: The Two & Only! written and performed by Jay Johnson, opened on Broadway to rave reviews at the Helen Hayes Theatre on September 28, 2006. This was preceded by an acclaimed off-Broadway run at the Atlantic Theatre Company in New York. The show also performed at the Zero Arrow Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Brentwood and Colony Theater Company in Los Angeles, California. The Cambridge performance garnered the New England Critics Award, and in Los Angeles, Johnson received the 2006 Ovation Award for Best Solo Performance.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.