Dummy #1

Dummy #1 is exactly what the name promises: a ventriloquist's wooden sidekick, plopped onstage or in the background of some Futurama gag with a painted grin and a mouth that moves faster than its owner's lips. It exists to crack wise, undercut the moment, and vanish before anyone asks who's really talking.

The joke is entirely in the voice. John DiMaggio, who can make Bender's sarcasm sound effortless, brings the same gravelly comic timing to a character who is, on paper, a hunk of carved wood — and that mismatch between the voice's confidence and the dummy's total lack of agency is the whole bit, delivered and gone in seconds.