Siamese Puppet

Boy, have these guys got a few strings attached! (And perhaps a few that are wound a bit too tightly.)

Here you see the first — and, quite probably, the only — congenitally-connected comic characters manipulated from behind the curtain! Meet Grimm & Jimm as they take the spotlight: two habitually angry, argumentative and obstreperous knotheads in white gloves, short pants and communal oversized tie. (Their often distractingly distasteful demeanor may derive from their puppeteer high above, who must really have his hands full trying to maneuver the multivariate strands that bring these two dudes to life. Of course, that’s nothing compared with the ventriloquial ability required to be able to speak out of both sides of one’s mouth at the same time! In comically entertaining vernacular, no less!)

But for all their obnoxious behavior, Grimm & Jim, The Siamese Puppet, are actually quite beautifully crafted from a single branching cluster of a grand white oak, formerly of Savannah, Georgia. This may help explain the twins’ lazy Southern drawls, as well as their frequent bubba-isms. G&J have just begun a 42-date sold-out run on the main stage of The Grand Ole Opry — performing two shows nightly, of course — opening for Lemuel LaFarge and His Singing Ass (donkey, that is).

As anyone with two eyes should clearly be able to see, these clowns are particularly adept at dopey doubletalk, double-takes and double entendres, which is why they regularly command ticket prices twice that of other opening novelty acts.