About
Randy Feltface, commonly referred to as merely Randy, or on occasion Randy the Purple Puppet, is an Australian puppet comedian voiced and operated by Heath McIvor. Randy is a permanent fixture on the international stand-up circuit, and makes regular guest appearances on Australian television. He also performs as one half of the musical comedy duo "Sammy J and Randy", who made their television sitcom debut in 2015 with Sammy J & Randy in Ricketts Lane on ABC in Australia, for which Randy is credited as co-writer and lead actor. In 2019, Randy competed in the American reality television comedy competition series Bring the Funny, making it to the second round (the "Comedy Clash").
Fictography
Early stand-up career
Randy's first acting gig was in a presentation on workplace bullying. Having gained a taste for showbiz, he soon began to make occasional appearances on the stand-up circuit. Randy and Sammy J first met when they shared a bill; shortly after they began performing together at the Butterfly Club in South Melbourne as Sammy J & Randy. Randy's first full length solo show was Randy's Postcards from Purgatory, which debuted at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2009 to critical acclaim.
Personal life
In his first full length show, Randy's Postcards from Purgatory, Randy revealed he was 38 years old, working children's parties on the weekend, going broke, and facing an impending divorce. He was also a heavy drinker and smoker. During the events depicted in the second show, Ricketts Lane, Randy's tax fraud was uncovered, and he was sent to jail thanks to his house-mate, Sammy J, a young lawyer desperate to make a case. By the time of Randy is Sober it appears that Randy has quit drinking and smoking, and is now a vegan. He has also written an unpublished novel entitled "Walking to Skye", a recurring topic of interest in his 2015/2016 solo show Randy Writes a Novel.
Style
When performing with Sammy J, Randy performs the funny-man to Sammy J's straight-man in the double act, and much of their material is musical comedy. In his solo performances, Randy tends towards observational comedy; in both Randy is Sober and Randy Writes a Novel, he contemplates his own progression as a person and his existential crisis as an artist. He often breaks the fourth wall pointing out that he's a puppet, and as such he can't actually see the audience, or that his movement on stage is usually limited to the desk he's behind.