The 10th anniversary season of “America’s Got Talent” comes to an end this week, and a new entertainer will be named winner. While the contestants perform for one last time during tonight’s episode, Wednesday’s finale (airing from 9-11 p.m. on NBC) will feature many guest stars, including Season 2 winner Terry Fator.

Fator delighted the “America’s Got Talent” audience and judges in 2007 with his ventriloquism act, which featured quirky characters, dynamic impressions and hilarious comedy. Now known as “The Voice of Entertainment,” the 50-year-old has been a prominent fixture at Las Vegas’ Mirage hotel and casino since the year after winning the talent competition — and he’s slated to continue there through Sept. 2016 (he’s currently negotiating a new deal).

His act features a stable of puppets, including country singer Walter T. Airdale, Winston the Impersonating Turtle, tween Emma Taylor, original Beatle member Hyphen and Elvis impersonator Maynard Thompkins. And, thanks to an impressive voice, Fator can brilliantly impersonate Etta James, Cher, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, Adele, Bruno Mars and many others.

In addition to his Vegas residency, Fator performs at other venues when time allows. He’ll be at the Washington State Fair in Puyallup, Wash., Sept. 18, and, in October and November, he will be visiting Oklahoma, New Mexico, Illinois, Indiana and Reno, Nev. (Fans who can’t get out to see one of his shows, should pick up one of Fator’s hit videos, including 2009’s “Live from Las Vegas” and 2014’s “Live in Concert.”)

Fator is so successful that, in 2013, Forbes listed him as the No. 2 Top-Earning Comedian (behind Jerry Seinfeld), saying he raked in $24 million that year.

Headlines & Global News chatted with Fator — who had been honing his craft in his native Dallas for 25 years before being launched into the national spotlight! — before the “AGT” two-part finale to get his take on this season of the show, the ventriloquism community and “living the dream.”

First, who do you want to win this season of “America’s Got Talent”?
I love, love, love the show! I would love it to be [ventriloquist] Paul Zerdin. I would love it to be Drew [Lynch], the stuttering comedian — I love him so much! I would love to see the Professional Regurgitator win it — seriously, I’ve never seen anything like it! It’s such a great year! I’m a huge fan of the show, always have been. I’ve watched every single season — and I don’t just watch, I get involved. I pick my favorites and vote. I do the same thing for [the contestants] that my fans did for me. If I like them, I help them move on and, hopefully, win the show.

Speaking of Paul Zerdin, many ventriloquists have competed on the show since you won, but didn’t get too far in the competition. Why do you think that has been the case?
In order to move on and win the show, you have to have incredibly clever material that appeals to the masses. That’s really the key. A lot of times, you might get somebody that’s very talented, but doesn’t have very good material. That’s happened quite a few times — it’s not that they’re bad, they just don’t have current material that speaks to adults and the masses. Paul Zerdin’s fantastic! You can tell he’s been doing it a very long time. I love to see that seasoned professional on “America’s Got Talent” cause that’s what’s so beautiful about that show. I was a seasoned professional; people just didn’t know anything about me. They had not seen me, but I had been performing for 25 years professionally and doing my best to try to get to another level, and then “America’s Got Talent” gave me that chance.

You were lucky because you had a lot of material in your arsenal. Many contestants are not prepared for a new performance week after week.
You’re absolutely right! For me, it was an amazing thing because I had the luxury of being able to say, “It’s not what am I going to do, it’s what am I not going to do this week.” I had over three hours of material. Really, though, what I do is so incredibly conducive to a show like “AGT” because being able to do impressions of singers with puppets is really easy to cull down to a minute and a half. For me, it was, “What’s going to make America fall in love with my puppet and also make America say, ‘Wow! That’s amazing! I wonder what impression he’s going to do next week!’” That was really my whole thing — if I can do an amazing impression this week, then all of America will get on the phone and vote because they want to see my impression and what different puppet I’m going to use next week. And it worked out quite well for me!

What advice do you give “AGT” contestants when they ask for it?
I always give them the same advice and, interestingly, nobody’s ever taken my advice. It’s funny because they get kicked off the next show and they’ll call me back and go, “Geez, I should have done what you said.” You don’t have to take my advice, but I’m telling you at least how to advance. They have to make a choice. I won the show by making the right choices and by doing what I felt was going to continue to advance me week after week. Other people feel like they have a better plan. Really, my advice is: Don’t hold back! Do the best of the best of the best of what you do. Don’t save your biggest and best bit, the one that brings the house down, until next week because there may not be a next week. And it’s so funny, 100 percent of the people I’ve advised have said, “I got this great thing where I do this and this.” And I’m like, “Do it this week.” They go, “Well, I think I’m going to save it for next week.” And they get kicked off and go, “Oh, my, gosh, I should have done….” I go, “I know. I told you!” With this show, there’s no guarantee that you are going to go through. You cannot hold anything back to save till next week because there may not be a next week. My thing was, I picked the best of the best every single week and, once I made it through, I’m like, “Now how am I going to top that?” You worry about topping it after you make it through, you don’t save your best bit.

What made you go on “America’s Got Talent” in the first place?
I saw the show. There really was no other place for me. I watched the first season, loved the format and I thought, “This looks like fun. I should give it a shot.” Boy, am I glad I did! What a fun show to watch and be a part of. Without it, I wouldn’t be where I am and I’m positive about that. “America’s Got Talent” allowed me to take 25 years of hard work and, overnight, turn it into something amazing. That’s why I’m so grateful.

Have you kept in touch with any of the people you competed against or any of the judges?
I have. I keep in touch with Piers Morgan and David Hasselhoff. I see Sharon Osbourne occasionally. I keep in touch with some of the other contestants — I just saw Butterscotch, who came in third on my season, and I see [runner-up] Cas Haley occasionally. It’s amazing how it kind of becomes a family. It’s a bittersweet thing though — people don’t understand just how hard it is. On the one hand, when you go through, there’s this jubilation and you’re so incredibly happy, yet your heart is breaking because someone you really liked did not make it through and you’re watching them ball their eyes out. It’s really interesting that whole dynamic — an amazingly emotional experience.

Are you friendly with other professional ventriloquists like Jeff Dunham and Jay Johnson?
I am on friendly terms with all of them. We’re all incredibly busy and don’t have time to sit and hang out, but we do communicate with one another. I actually went to Jeff Dunham’s opening show here in Vegas when he started. There’s a ventriloquist’s convention, and they were so proud because they topped out at 550 people that went to it. They said it had broken records and it was because of the prominence of people like Jay Johnson, Jeff Dunham, myself and others who are getting national attention. It’s amazing because there’s kind of an explosion. People are like, “Do you think ventriloquism is a dead art?” It’s never been a dead art — there’s always been amazing ventriloquists out there, it’s just now we’re getting national press.

How come there are not any well-known female ventriloquists currently on the scene?
That’s an interesting question. I really don’t know because there are some phenomenal women ventriloquists. Think of Shari Lewis. There was an amazing female ventriloquist I saw when I was young who was a huge inspiration — Geraldine and Ricky. She never got famous, but she came to my church and was amazing. People like Liz VonSeggen, who’s kind of legendary in the vent community. I’ve read a lot of her work and listened to tapes of her doing stuff growing up. The big thing women like to use ventriloquism for is when they’re beauty contestants like on Miss America or something like that.

How did you originally get into ventriloquism?
Man, I found a book. It wasn’t like I saw someone and wanted to do it. I just found a book in my school library that looked intriguing and like fun. I was 10. I had a lot of fun with it. I knew from the time I was 11 that I wanted to be a professional ventriloquist.

Do you create your puppet characters yourself?
I do. I create the character, the idea of them, then I go to professional puppet makers and tell them exactly what I want and they’ll send me a sketch. Then I’ll tell them, “Actually, I want the eyebrows a little higher. The forehead a little this way, the ears….” We go back and forth and update the sketch until we’re ready [for them to make the actual puppet].

How often do you work on new characters?
All the time! In fact, I’m debuting a brand new character later this year and he’ll probably debut in Vegas in February of next year. I just debuted another one earlier this year: Rusty the Robot. I’m always trying to come up with new and creative and fun characters that people will fall in love with. I want my characters to make a connection with people. I really want them to feel that they know this character — that there is something about this character that speaks to them personally. That’s really tricky to do, but it’s a lot of fun.

Do you have a favorite character?
I have two favorites. Sentimentally, Walter T. Airdale because he was my very first professional puppet. I got him when I was 18 and he’s still prominent in my show. But my favorite, favorite has to be Winston the Impersonating Turtle because he won “America’s Got Talent.” Let’s be honest, I don’t have any delusions about that — the turtle won the show! If it hadn’t been for Winston, I would not have won “America’s Got Talent.” I owe it all to a turtle!

Have you ever had a character that didn’t connect with the audience?
I’ve had characters that I’ve invented that did not make a connection and I had to tweak or rewrite the bit. Every character I’ve ever invented has always eventually connected. You tweak the character of the puppet and try to find something relatable to the audience. It’s hard work to do, but it’s fun work.

Anything else?
I’m just continuing to create and continuing to live the dream — what a fun ride this has been!

For more on Terry Fator, visit his official website or follow him on Twitter or Instagram.