More Than Lip Service From Lucas : Humor: Ventriloquist with an advanced style thinks his craft is due for a rise in popularity. He’ll perform this weekend at Knott’s.

Ventriloquist Ronn Lucas’ delivery can be so rapid-fire that sometimes it seems that the voices of his Muppet-like puppets are actually overlapping. Such technical abilities, and his sense of humor, have been earning Lucas rave notices. The New York Times says he’s “taking ventriloquism to a new level,” much like David Copperfield has with magic acts.

“It didn’t used to be hip to be a ventriloquist,” Lucas, 37, said during an interview at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel this week. “But I think we’re going to see a change.”

He will perform on the Knott’s Berry Farm Wagon Camp Stage in Buena Park today and again Sunday afternoon. These family-style appearances will be rare for Lucas, who, when he’s not hosting his TV series in Britain, spends most of his time on the lucrative “corporate circuit” of company awards and recognition shows.

He grew up in El Paso, where he was inspired by the ventriloquists he saw on TV, such as Jimmy Nelson and his doll Danny O’Day on the old “Texaco Star Theater.” When he was only seven, Lucas got his own mail-order Danny O’Day. By the time he was 10, Lucas could speak without moving his mouth.

After high school, he hit the road for 10 years of touring and won an annual comedy competition in San Francisco. That led to a victory in the National Laff-Off, which aired on Showtime. Appearances on Johnny Carson’s show followed; so did an 11-minute spot in Broadway’s “Sugar Babies.”

Subsequent TV appearances have ranged from “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” to an episode of “L.A. Law” in which he played a disturbed ventriloquist who only communicated through his dummy.

It was on the Smothers’ show, in 1989, that he introduced a goofy-looking teen-age dragon named Scorch, who since has become a bona fide celebrity in England through his appearances on Lucas’ TV show.

Scorch raps, sports teen fashions (he showed up one day with a pierced ear), and has at least his share of the usual teen-age Angst.

Lucas’ other puppets include Chuck Roast (a punk), Tilly (a female, opera-singing troll), a pair of talking socks, a sloooow- talking turtle named Geoooooorge, and Buffalo Billy, who has a big round face and a cowboy suit and was Lucas’ first puppet to become well known.

A new character is in the works, yet unnamed. Lucas describes him/her/it as “a special-effects trash heap that comes to life when it’s struck by lightning.”

Ronn Lucas and his puppets perform on the Knott’s Berry Farm Wagon Camp Stage, 8039 Beach Blvd., Buena Park, today and Sunday at 1 and 3 p.m. Tickets to the park are $21.95 for adults and $9.95 for children (3-11). Information: (714) 220-5200.