Favorite movie? Clearly.

It was just over a year ago that Terry Fator launched his residency at The Mirage — a reported five-year $100 million-dollar contract with another five-year, $110 million option behind it — following just a couple years afte his America’s Got Talent Season 2. (Itself a $1 million payday.)

Just a couple weeks shy of his one-year anniversary, his theater at The Mirage was still at capacity for a weeknight show. It’s testament to the appeal of his broadly drawn characters and laid-back stage presence. To this crowd, jokes about a puppet going to visit “The Turtle Ranch” elicit knowing catcalls and Octomom bits never stopped getting a laugh.

To mark a year on stage, Fator is debuting a new puppet on Saturday’s anniversary show. He wouldn’t let us in on what it was, just that he sang songs about cars. Hey, if he can work in a puppet that was supposed to be the fifth Beatle, we suppose he could do on that was the sixth Beach Boy, too. We caught up with Fator to talk about the puppet-design process, his potential future in television and how to handle people confusing you for Jeff Dunham. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

Is it just us, or has Jeff Dunham put on weight?

You now have another reason to watch the matchup between the BYU Cougars and the Oregon State Beavers in the Maaco Bowl Las Vegas (AKA: The Innuendo Bowl), because the Mirage’s Terry Fator and Peepshow star Josh Strickland will provide the pregame entertainment.

Fator, the ventriliquist winner of America’s Got Talent and star of “Terry Fator and his Cast of Thousands”, will sing the national anthem while Strickland will sing “God Bless America.” No word yet on how Fator plans to get his hand iside of Strickland.

The game starts tonight at 5 p.m. at the Sam Boyd Stadium.

By Jared Harmon

There is nothing hot chicks love more than hanging out in a room with ‘Star Wars’ crap on the walls.

The hottest thing at the Terry Fator show last night (after that super sexy turtle puppet) was Miss America 2009 Katie Stam, who rose through the ranks of Miss Indiana and was lucky enough not to have Perez Hilton judging her pageant at Planet Hollywood in January.

Stam is on a little Las Vegas “give back” tour today. She started out at Three Square from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. From 1:30 to 3 p.m. she visits the Warren Empowerment School and then she finishes up from 5 to 5:30 p.m. at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada — John Kish Unit in Henderson.

By Jason Scavone

Terry Fator and puppet Vikki.

Mirage headliner Terry Fator was at the 2009 CMT Music Awards in Nashville last night where he presented an award for Collaborative Video of the Year alongside Lee Ann Womack and his puppet, Vikki the cougar. The award went to Keith Urban for “Start a Band” featuring Brad Paisley. We’re glad we weren’t watching that live because when Terry Fator comes out to present an award along with a puppet, we’d have gotten way too excited and subsequently crushingly disappointed when that award didn’t go to the Muppets.

By Jason Scavone

It is awfully suspicious that one of his puppets told a joke that went “Breachofcontract who?” (Via myspace.com/terryfator)

According to court documents obtained by TMZ, former manager John Raymond is suing Terry Fator for breach of contract and wants a 20 percent piece of Fator’s $100 million pie — plus damages. Fator has a five-year deal with The Mirage to replace Danny Gans. The case was filed Aug. 14 in the Eighth Judicial District Court.

Here’s how the suit breaks down: Raymond claims that Fator was struggling with his puppets and painting houses in the winter to make ends meet in 2003. He hired Raymond to be his manager and on Aug. 15, 2005 signed a five-year deal that called for Raymond to get 20 percent of Fator’s gross. Raymond was able to get Fator enough work that he could get out of the paint game and focus just on ventriloquism — in part by making the suggestion that Fator incorporate celeb impersonations in his act. Fator’s newfound success forced Raymond to drop any other clients, but it paid off because in Aug. 21, 2007, Fator won America’s Got Talent. Raymond and his wife moved from Montana to Vegas.

The suit goes on to say that on Nov. 27, 2007, Fator fired Raymond as his manager and demoted him to merchandise administrator and cut off the payments on the 20 percent gross because Raymond was “too nice” and Fator needed a “bastard” as a manager. Then on May 15, Fator signed his big deal with The Mirage. On June 6, Raymond was fired from the operation entirely. While all of this will be settled in the courts, it does kind of tempt us into getting into the management game where being a bastard isn’t just accepted, it’s encouraged.

By Jason Scavone

The song he’s belting in this photo? Napalm Death’s “Inner Incineration.” (Via myspace.com/terryfator)

The Mirage has inked Terry Fator to a five-year deal with a five-year option to fill the Danny Gans-shaped hole in its heart. Fator, who wowed The Hoff and Sharon Osbourne enough to win a cool million on America’s Got Talent, does a ventriloquist act where the hook is a wide range of song impersonations with the dummies. He’s currently in the middle of a three-shows-per-month deal with the Hilton.

So, there you go. Jeff Dunham’s DVD has sold about 500,000 copies, and Terry Fator is headlining in the same town that Elvis used to rule. You’ve spoken loud and clear, America. We get it. You love puppets. Now settle down before Jeff Foxworthy steals Lambchop for “You might be a redneck” jokes and ushers in the Apocalypse.

By Jason Scavone