Conti was awarded joint "Best Performance" in the Maverick Movie Awards for her 2012 film Her Master's Voice, in which she took the bereaved puppets of Ken Campbell, to a puppet graveyard in Kentucky. The film also earned a BAFTA nomination and a Grierson Award.[10][8]
At the Melbourne Comedy Festival 2010 she debuted a new puppet, an elderly woman who is her "Granny". Conti and Granny appeared in episode six of the ninth series of the BBC comedy quiz show QI in 2011. On that episode, Conti noted that she inherited the Granny puppet from Ken Campbell on Campbell's death.[citation needed]
In 2012, Conti appeared in Russell Howard's Good News with Granny. She also used a mask on an audience member to persuade him to dance. On the series 8 premiere of Live at the Apollo, Conti expanded the act to provide voices for two audience members in masks.[citation needed]
In June 2013, Conti appeared on Channel 4's Comedy Gala.[14]
Conti appeared as a guest host on the final episode of the ninth series of the BBC stand-up comedy programme, Live at the Apollo, performing her act with Monkey and an additional dummy-mask routine.
In 2015, Conti appeared on BBC Four's Clowning Around, where she trained to be a giggle doctor and clown, and performed to children in hospitals.[citation needed]
In 2003, she starred as Mary in a series called Single, then in 2005 voiced characters in another series entitled Bromwell High. She played a part in Blunder, The Golf War and featured in Comedy Cuts in 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively.
In 2013, Conti, along with her puppet Monkey, played a feature role in Family Tree as Bea Chadwick.
Monkey is a cynical monkey who is continually insulting Conti and swearing when he does not have his demands fulfilled. He often deconstructs ventriloquism by pointing out that he has no microphone, or that all of his ideas are Conti's, and calls it a "dead art". He sometimes shows irritation towards performing on stage and makes Conti laugh at his words.[18][19]
Granny
Granny is an elderly Scotswoman to whom Conti refers as someone who is a lot like her own grandmother. Granny often chides Conti for the simplest things Conti has done; for instance, when Conti reveals she has two legs, Granny responds by saying "Oh, two legs? You're spoiling me!" Her main act is to telepathically guess numbers or words, which she always guesses correctly. She also talks about her dead husband, Frank. Granny refers to people with words like "dear", "child" or "my daughter". The original prop was donated to Vent Haven Museum in July 2009, in memory of Ken Campbell, from whom Conti received her,[18] but Conti had a replica made which she continues to use in her acts.
Face mask
The face mask, rather than an actual puppet with a personality, is a mask that covers the lower half of an audience participant's face and can be manipulated by a hand-piece held by Conti to make it look like the participant is talking. Conti often uses this to put the participant in awkward and embarrassing situations, such as making them say that they want nothing more than to dance in front of the audience, while their body language suggests the opposite.[20]
Personal life
Conti was in a relationship with the comedian and actor Ken Campbell, from whom she inherited his collection of ventriloquist dummies after he died.[19][21] She has two sons, including actor Arthur Conti, from her marriage with fellow comedian Andrew "Stan" Stanley, from whom she is separated.[1]
