Ventriloquist Paul Zerdin made his first puppet out of a teddy bear as a child but his current sidekicks are a lot naughtier.

Zerdin will control a potty-mouthed teenage puppet, a gangsta rap-loving senior citizen puppet and even real-life human beings at his forthcoming show in Epsom.

The comedian, who has been credited with helping to make ventriloquism cool, has knocked up more than three million YouTube hits, three Edinburgh festival shows and Royal Variety Performance appearances.

As a boy Zerdin say: "I used to watch Sesame Street and then the Muppet Show. I remember getting a teddy bear and I cut the back open, took all the stuffing out and put my hand into the mouth and made a puppet out of it.

"I’d been given some puppet marionettes by a friend of the family and we built a puppet theatre. My family all recorded the voices with me. I come from a family of show-offs.

"I started doing that for friends' birthday parties about the age of 12 and I was interested in ventriloquism but I didn’t know how to do it properly."

In the new show, his old man puppet, Albert, is determined to find a girlfriend in the audience, his teenage puppet, Sam, wants to get on Britain’s Got Talent and his baby puppet becomes a rap artist.

Zerdin says: "Sam was built for a kids’ show I used to present on GMTV. I play games with my three-year-old nephew now and observe him. He gives me great ideas for Sam and the baby.

"I love people watching generally, so I get a lot of inspiration from that. Sam is basically me. A really, really immature version who gets away with a lot more than I could.

"The baby is my interpretation of if a baby could talk - what it would be like. The old man, Albert: my father is turning into him. He’s losing his hearing.

"I’m not taking the piss out of deafness, Albert is deaf and losing his marbles, and we’re just trying to find the funny side of that.

"The puppets are caricatures and it gives you licence to push things further than you usually could."

When asked which political figure he would like to control, he says: "I’d like to get my hand into Ed Miliband and give him a personality. I’d give him a better voice!"

Epsom Playhouse says Zerdin will serve up a show full of colourful characters, shocks, surprises and skits plus "some seriously naughty humour".

The playhouse adds: "Paul may have his hand in some cute and cuddly creations, but it might be best to leave the kids indoors for this one!"

Paul Zerdin, Epsom Playhouse, Ashley Avenue, Epsom Thursday, October 16 8pm £16 or £14 for Pass Card Members 01372 742555 www.epsomplayhouse.co.uk