Minutes before show time, Justin Ver Burg and Luigi loosen up backstage. Justin's performed all over the country, but this night in Bellingham, Wash. is different.

This is his first show since deciding to become a full-time ventriloquist. It's not just a hobby anymore, it's his job.

Leaving a thriving web design business behind wouldn't be such a big deal if it was only Justin and his dummy.

But his 1-year-old's gotta eat and his wife Sarah likes it when her man has a steady job.

"Yes, it's risky thinking how you can make a living talking with dolls, but," says Sarah, "he will always provide for his family no matter what he has to do."

When you think ventriloquism, you don't usually think of God, but Justin does. He says hanging with dummies is his calling.

At age 29, he's already a ventriloquism veteran. He got started when he was 15, thanks to a family friend. Dick Bergstrom, a ventriloquist for 40 years, changed Justin's life with an impromptu act at a New Year's party.

"I figured, 'of course I can do that,'" Justin says. "It would be a piece of cake. I already know how to talk without moving my lips."

But his lack of mouth movement was not an early attempt at ventriloquism. He was just a shy, mumbling teenager who occasionally got teased at school.

"People say it was a lip problem I had," Justin says. "I think, honestly, it was more just laziness."

But Dick didn't see it as a problem, but as potential.

"I had this backwards problem where most ventriloquists were trying to figure out 'how can I make this dummy talk without my lips moving?'" Justin says. "I'm thinking, 'how can I make sure that I remember to move my mouth when I'm supposed to be talking?'"

He would overcome this obstacle and would eventually carve Luigi.

Now that he's turned teenage mumbling into a career, his family's future is in good hands.

Reach reporter Michael King at mking@king5.com