Jeff Dunham

Jeff Dunham
Jeff Dunham at an autograph signing.
Born	(1962-04-18) April 18, 1962 Dallas, Texas
Medium	Stand-up
Nationality	American
Genres	Ventriloquism
Spouse	Paige Dunham
Notable works and roles	Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special
Website	www.JeffDunham.com

Jeff Dunham (born April 18, 1962 in Dallas, Texas) is an American ventriloquist and stand-up comedian who has also appeared on numerous television shows, including Star Search, Late Show with David Letterman, Comedy Central Presents, The Tonight Show and Sonny With a Chance. He is familiar to Comedy Central audiences for his three specials on that network: Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself, Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity, and Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special. His style has been described as "a dressed-down, more digestible version of Don Rickles with multiple personality disorder". Describing his characters, Time observes, "All of them are politically incorrect, gratuitously insulting and ill tempered." His show, entitled The Jeff Dunham Show, premiered on the network October 22, 2009.

Dunham has been called "America's favorite comedian" by Slate.com, and according to the concert industry publication Pollstar, he is the top-grossing standup act in North America, and is among the most successful acts in Europe as well. As of March 2009, he has sold over four million DVDs, and received more than 350 million hits on YouTube, making him one of the most-viewed entertainers of all time. Spark of Insanity received the best reviews of any DVD on Amazon.com in 2008, and A Very Special Christmas Special was the most-watched telecast in Comedy Central history, with its DVD going quadruple platinum (selling over 400,000) in its first two weeks. Forbes.com reported that Dunham was one of the highest earning comics from June 2008 to June 2009, earning approximately $30 million during that period.

Early life

Dunham was born in Dallas, Texas in 1962, an only child. He began ventriloquism at age eight. He considers it a learned skill, similar to juggling, that anyone with a normal speaking voice can acquire. He began performing for audiences as a teenager, and after graduating from Baylor University in Waco, Texas in 1986, he moved to Los Angeles, never having, as he has commented, "a real job."

Career

Dunham appeared in the Broadway show Sugar Babies with Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller in 1985, and at the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island. These early experiences, in which he used characters like José Jalapeño on a Stick, taught him the value of modifying his act regionally, as the jalapeño jokes that worked well in Texas were not as well received by audiences in Long Island.

Dunham made his debut on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1990. At the end of his act, he was invited to sit on Johnny Carson’s couch, considered a mark of approval.

Dunham appeared with Walter in a 1996 episode of Ellen, playing a ventriloquist attending a convention in a hotel meeting room that was also booked for the wedding of Ellen's friend. Dunham also appeared with Walter in a TV commercial for Hertz. His other appearances include 60 Minutes II, Fox Sports Net's The Best Damn Sports Show Period, Hollywood Squares, Entertainment Tonight, Good Morning America and the WB's Blue Collar TV.

On July 18, 2003, Dunham's appeared on Comedy Central Presents, his first solo appearance on Comedy Central. During his half hour piece, he showcased Peanut, José Jalapeño on a Stick, Walter and an early version of Melvin the Superhero Guy. Dunham's first Comedy Central special, Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself, was taped in Santa Ana, California in 2006. His second special Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity was taped at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C. in 2007. It was available at Redbox stands on September 4, 2007, and was released on DVD on September 18, 2007. Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special was taped at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2008, and premiered on Comedy Central on November 16, 2008. It became available on DVD and Blu-Ray on November 18, 2008. The special's premiere was the highest rated telecast in Comedy Central's history.

Dunham appeared as "The Amazing Ken" with José Jalapeño on a Stick in the 2007 Larry the Cable Guy movie Delta Farce.

In addition to these specials, Dunham also released his first music album, Don't Come Home for Christmas, on November 4, 2008. It contains original Christmas songs as well as a parody of "Jingle Bells" by Achmed entitled "Jingle Bombs". All the songs, with the exception of "Jingle Bombs", were written and accompanied by Brian Haner, who has joined Dunham's act as "Guitar Guy". His first onscreen appearance was in Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special.

In March 2009, Dunham signed a multi-platform deal with Comedy Central which includes a fourth stand-up special to air in 2010, DVDs, a consumer products partnership, a tour beginning in September 2010, sponsored by the network that will cover 60 different cities, and an order for a television series called The Jeff Dunham Show that premiered on October 22, 2009.

Dunham appeared in a guest role with Bubba J on NBC's sictom 30 Rock, playing a ventriloquist named Rick Wayne and his dummy Pumpkin from Stone Mountain, Georgia. In November 2009 Dunham also appeared with Walter in "Hart to Hart", an episode of the Disney Channel series Sonny With a Chance, as two security guards.

Critical praise and controversy

In January 2008, Dunham was voted by fans the Top Comic in Comedy Central's “Stand-Up Showdown”. He is the only person ever to win the "Ventriloquist of the Year" Award twice, was nominated "Comedian of the Year" by the TNN Music City News Country Awards, and has drawn praise from the Dallas Morning News for his technique and timing.

Some have accusing Dunham's characters of being racist caricatures. In 2008 a TV commercial for a ringtone featuring Dunham's character Achmed the Dead Terrorist (see Characters below) was banned by the South African Advertising Standards Authority after a complaint was filed by a citizen stating that the ad was offensive to Muslims, and portrayed all Muslims as terrorists. The ban angered Dunham, who pointed out that "Achmed makes it clear in my act that he is not Muslim." Dunham saw the ban as an infringement on free speech and a double standard, arguing, "I've skewered whites, blacks, Hispanics, Christians, Jews, Muslims, gays, straights, rednecks, addicts, the elderly, and my wife", and joked, "I'm considering renaming Achmed, 'Bill.'"

Dunham was criticized for mocking TV critics during a July 2009 press tour to promote his then-upcoming Comedy Central TV series, as well as Comedy Central programming chief Lauren Correo. Later that October, the series, The Jeff Dunham Show, enjoyed good initial ratings, but was not well-liked by critics, who did not find it funny, and either questioned the wisdom of translating his act into a series, or conceded a prejudice against Dunham, his previous specials, or ventriloquism itself.

Books

In 2003, BRASMA Publications released Dear Walter, a collection of questions asked of Dunham's fictional curmudgeon at live performances, authored by Dunham, and Walter Cummings.

According to Dunham's website, his autobiography, All By My Selves: Walter, Peanut, Achmed and Me, will be published by Dutton in 2010.

Characters

Walter

File:Walterdummy.PNG

Walter, in a shot from Arguing with Myself.

Walter is a retired, grumpy old man with arms always crossed in discontent. He has a brash, negative and often sarcastic view on today's world. He is a Vietnam War veteran and a former welder, and "doesn't give a damn" about anyone, especially his own wife and certain audience members. Walter has appeared in all three Comedy Central specials. He's been married for several decades, and when Dunham asks him if he remembers the happiest moment of his life after Walter tells him he has been married for forty-six years, Walter responds, "Forty-seven years ago!" Dunham created the Walter puppet himself, including both the initial sculpture and the silicon mold, though he eventually began utilizing professional effects companies for the latter stages with his subsequent puppets.

Peanut

Peanut is a purple-skinned "woozle" with white fur covering most of his body, a tuft of green hair on the top of his head, and one red sneaker on his left foot. Dunham explains in Arguing with Myself that Peanut is from a small Micronesian island, and that they met in Florida. Peanut's humor is not based on a particular motif or stereotype, as those of the other characters, and has been described as "the bad kid". He often makes fun of Dunham, and torments and mocks José Jalapeño on a Stick. Touching upon his unusual appearance and personality, he asks Dunham in Arguing with Myself, after Dunham denies ever having done drugs, "Then how the hell did you come up with me?"

José Jalapeño on a Stick

José is a talking jalapeño pepper on a stick who wears a small sombrero. José, who speaks with a thick Latin accent, is typically paired with Peanut, who often makes fun of José, uses appeals to Latino stereotypes when doing so, and makes fun of his being on a stick. Although José was not Dunham's first puppet, it was the first that Dunham made himself.

Bubba J

Bubba J is a beer-drinking redneck that Dunham describes in Arguing with Myself and A Very Special Christmas Special as "white trash trailer park", and uses Bubba J for humor that centers on stereotypes associated with that group. To this end, he frequently does jokes involving Bubba J's love of drinking beer and NASCAR, and his low intelligence. Touching upon such stereotypes, Bubba mentions in Arguing with Myself that he met his wife at a family reunion, and remembers seeing her with a corn dog in one hand, a beer in another, and leaning against a ferris wheel, "making it tilt".

Sweet Daddy Dee

Dunham introduces Sweet Daddy Dee in Arguing with Myself as his "new manager". He calls himself a "pimp", which he says stands for "Player In the Management Profession." According to Sweet Daddy, because he is a pimp, that makes Jeff the "ho". When Dunham objects, Daddy Dee points out that Dunham makes people laugh and feel good for a living. When Dunham agrees that this is the case, Daddy Dee says, "You a ho." When Dunham asks what he would say if he told him that he was a comedian only because he enjoyed it, Daddy Dee responds, "You a dumb ho."

Melvin the Superhero Guy

Also referred to in Spark of Insanity as The Superhero: Melvin, Melvin wears a blue superhero costume, and is used to poke fun at superheroes. When asked about his superhuman powers, he indicates that he has X-ray vision, adding, "I love looking at boobies!" He appears to have no other powers, however: When Dunham asks how far he can fly, he responds, "How far can you throw me?", and when asked if he can stop a bullet like Superman, he responds, "Yeah. Once." Dunham portrays Melvin as unimpressed with other superheroes: When told Superman can leap tall buildings in a single bound, Melvin dismisses him as a "showoff," arguing that he can simply walk around them, observes that Aquaman has the same powers as Spongebob Squarepants, that the Flash's super speed is derived from methamphetamine, that the Hulk's vaunted ability to get stronger as he gets angrier merely mirrors "every white trash guy on COPS," and makes innuendo about the questionable relationship between Batman and the underage Robin. Melvin's first onscreen appearance was in the July 2003 Comedy Central Presents episode, in which he had small, black, beady eyes. By his next appearance, in Spark of Insanity, he had been modified to have large, blue, crossed eyes. He also has an enormous nose, which he claims is his symbol. Dunham sculpted the current version of Melvin's head himself, and hired an effects company called Renegade Effects Groups to create the rubber mold and complete the puppet, before then installing the mechanics himself.

Achmed the Dead Terrorist

Achmed is the skeletal corpse of an incompetent suicide bomber. He is used by Dunham to perform comedy based on the contemporary issue of terrorism. He is known for yelling, "Silence! I kill you!" to Dunham and people in the audience who laugh at him. Achmed first appeared in Spark of Insanity, and later made an appearance in the Very Special Christmas Special, singing a song called "Jingle Bombs". Most of the humor Dunham expresses with Achmed centers on this motif. When mentioning that Achmed appears to be dead because he's a skeleton, Achmed responds, "It's a flesh wound." When Dunham inquires as to how he died, Achmed explains his incompetence with explosives, while also casting aspersions on Dunham's sexual prowess by saying that they both suffer from "premature detonation." Although he frequently mentions working for Osama Bin Laden, Achmed claims he doesn't think he's a Muslim ("look at my ass! It says 'Made in China'"). As of June 2009, the sketch in which Dunham introduced Achmed is the fourth most watched online video ever, having amassed nearly 200 million views.

Others

Other characters that Dunham has voiced include a miniature puppet of Peanut's, which turns out to be a small version of Dunham himself, and an unseen worm inside a bottle of tequila, both of which he has used, for example, in his appearance on A&E's An Evening at The Improv.

Personal life

In addition to his comedy and puppetry, Dunham, who says he has loved helicopters since childhood, is fond of building and flying his own kit helicopters from Rotorway helicopter kits. He also flies these helicopters, as depicted in his appearance on the CMT television magazine Fast Living.

As of May 2009 Dunham was in the process of divorcing his wife Paige, with whom he has three daughters.

External links

• Jeff Dunham Official website
• Jeff Dunham at Comedy Central
• Jeff Dunham at IMDb