Jeff Dunham

Jeffrey Douglas Dunham (born April 18, 1962) is an American ventriloquist, stand-up comedian and actor who has also appeared on numerous television shows, including Late Show with David Letterman, Comedy Central Presents, The Tonight Show, and Sonny with a Chance. He has seven specials that run on Comedy Central as well as two Netflix specials among others. He also starred in The Jeff Dunham Show, a series that ran in 2009. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and holds the Guinness Book of World Records record for "Most tickets sold for a stand-up comedy tour" for his Spark of Insanity tour.

Dunham has been called "America's favorite comedian" by Slate. His introduction of Achmed the Dead Terrorist in Spark of Insanity in 2007 was ranked as the ninth most watched YouTube video at the time while his A Very Special Christmas Special was the most-watched telecast in Comedy Central history, with the DVD selling over 400,000 copies in its first two weeks. Forbes ranked Dunham as the third highest-paid comedian in the United States behind Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock and reported that he was one of the highest-earning comics from June 2008 to June 2009, earning approximately $30 million during that period.

His style has been described as "a dressed-down, more digestible version of Don Rickles with multiple personality disorder". Time described his characters as "politically incorrect, gratuitously insulting and ill-tempered." Dunham has been credited with reviving ventriloquism and doing more to promote the art form than anyone since Edgar Bergen. When he was three months old, he was adopted by real estate appraiser Howard Dunham and his homemaker wife Joyce, who raised him in a devoutly Presbyterian household

He began ventriloquism in 1970 at age eight, when his parents gave him a Mortimer Snerd dummy for Christmas and an accompanying how-to album. Dunham has said that as an only child, he enjoyed being alone, likening his solitude to a "warm blanket" with which he could explore his own thoughts and ideas and which prepared him for the solitude of living alone when he later moved to Los Angeles as a struggling comedian. He was voted Most Likely to Succeed, and in 1980, after he graduated from high school, Dunham gave himself a career goal of obtaining, within ten years, an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, which was seen as the "holy grail" for comedians. Dunham would appear on The Tonight Show a total of four times, as well as similar TV venues such as Hot Country Nights, appearing in one segment with Reba McEntire. This exposure helped make Dunham a large theater headliner, a rare accomplishment for a ventriloquist. By the mid-1990s, however, his television appearances had dwindled and, with them, so did his stage audiences.

By 2008, Dunham's characters had crossed language barriers, with his specials dubbed for audiences in various countries such as France, and Dunham attracting requests for performances in South Africa, Australia, Norway, Denmark, China, and the Middle East. The special's premiere was the highest rated telecast in Comedy Central's history.

In September 2008, his career reached new heights as he began performing in arenas filled with tens of thousands of people. Dunham was somewhat wary of such large venues, but adapted by adjusting the timing of his often rapid exchanges with the puppets so that audience members farthest from the stage could have time to react. 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 joined Dunham's act as "Guitar Guy". His first onscreen appearance was in Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special.

2009–present

In March 2009, Dunham signed a multi-platform deal with Comedy Central. It included a fourth stand-up special to air in 2010, DVDs, a consumer products partnership, a 60-city tour beginning in September 2010, and an order for a television series called The Jeff Dunham Show that premiered on October 22, 2009. Despite having the most-watched premiere in Comedy Central history, and higher average ratings than other shows on that network initially, the show was canceled after only one season, amid poor reviews, dwindling ratings and higher production costs than other Comedy Central shows.

Dunham appeared in a guest role with Bubba J on NBC's sitcom 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. He appeared in the 2010 Steve Carell/Paul Rudd comedy, Dinner for Schmucks, as Lewis, with a new puppet named Diane.

His fourth special, Controlled Chaos, was released on September 25, 2011, on Comedy Central. It was taped at the Landmark Theater and premiered to an estimated 8.3 million viewers. The DVD received a 5× Platinum certification from the RIAA. He spent the next year performing internationally on the Controlled Chaos Tour. In May 2012, Dunham recorded his fifth special, Minding Monsters, at the Lucas Theater in Savannah, Georgia. It premiered on Comedy Central on October 7, 2012. The DVD received a 4× Platinum certification from the RIAA. Dunham's sixth special, All Over the Map, was released on Comedy Central on November 16, 2014. The show was taped during his performances on five different continents. Also in 2014, Country Music Television premiered Achmed Saves America, an animated film starring Achmed the Dead Terrorist. Dunham released his seventh special, Unhinged in Hollywood, on September 17, 2015. The show was filmed inside the Dolby Theatre and was his first special to premier on NBC.

Dunham performed the North American Perfectly Unbalanced Tour beginning in December 2015. A second leg of the tour ran internationally in 2017, the same year Dunham received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Beginning in September 2017, he toured North America for his Passively Aggressive Tour. 2017 was also the year he made his Netflix special debut with the release of Relative Disaster. He released Relative Disaster, his second Netflix special, in 2019.

Dunham didn't tour beginning in 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He began touring again in 2021 with his North America and European Seriously? Tour. He released his 12th television special, I'm With Cupid, on Comedy Central in February 2024.

Reception In January 2008, Dunham was voted by fans the Top Comic in Comedy Central's "Stand-Up Showdown". He is the only person to win the "Ventriloquist of the Year" Award twice. He 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.

In 2008, a TV commercial for a ringtone which featured Dunham's character Achmed the Dead Terrorist (see characters below) was banned by the South African Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after a complaint was filed by a citizen stating that the ad was offensive to Muslims, and portrayed all Muslims as terrorists. Dunham responded that "Achmed makes it clear in my act that he is not Muslim." However, the ASA noted that the name Achmed was of Arab origin and was one of the names of Muhammad. Dunham responded, "I've skewered Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Christians, Jews, Muslims, gays, straights, rednecks, addicts, the elderly, and my wife. As a standup comic, it is my job to make the majority of people laugh, and I believe that comedy is the last true form of free speech ... I'm considering renaming Achmed 'Bill, he added. Dunham has conceded that he does exhibit particular sensitivity to the "conservative country crowd" or those characterized by "basic Christian values", as they are one of his largest audiences and a part of his upbringing. In October 2009 The Jeff Dunham Show enjoyed good initial ratings, but was not well liked by critics, some of whom questioned the wisdom of translating his act into a series, or cited Dunham, his previous specials, or ventriloquism itself as reasons for disliking the show.

J. P. Williams, the producer of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, has opined that Dunham's act is not funny on its own merits, and that his material gets a greater reaction because of the puppet characters than it would otherwise garner by itself.

Books In 2003, Dunham released Dear Walter..., a collection of questions asked of Dunham's fictional curmudgeon at live performances, authored by Dunham and Walter Cummings. His autobiography, All By My Selves: Walter, Peanut, Achmed and Me, was published by Dutton in 2010.

In the 2020 United States presidential election, Dunham adapted the Walter puppet into "Wonald Grump" and "Ben Hiden," caricatures of Donald Trump and Joe Biden, respectively, for a mock debate moderated by Achmed.

Peanut Peanut is a hyperactive, with white fur covering most of his body, a tuft of green hair on the top of his head, and one 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 he has been described as "the bad kid".

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 whom Dunham uses for humor centered on such stereotypes. 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".

Achmed the Dead Terrorist Achmed is the skeletal corpse of an incompetent suicide bomber, whom Dunham uses to satirize the contemporary issue of terrorism. He is known for yelling, "Silence! I keel you!" to Dunham and people laughing in the audience. Achmed first appeared in Spark of Insanity, and has appeared in every Dunham special since then. In Spark of Insanity the audience learns several things about Achmed. When Dunham says that Achmed must 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 denies being a Muslim and says "Look at my ass! It says 'Made in China'!" He says he is afraid of Walter, partially because he's "one mean son of a bitch" and finds Walter's flatulence to be more potent than Saddam Hussein's mustard gas. In Very Special Christmas Special, he sings a song called "Jingle Bombs".

By June 2009, the sketch in which Dunham introduced Achmed had amassed nearly 200 million views on YouTube. The large, round, articulated eyes of puppets such as Achmed and Achmed Junior are constructed by the same effects artist who created the dinosaur eyes for the Jurassic Park films. Unlike Bubba J, he hates NASCAR. Sweet Daddy's headstone is featured in the beginning of the special Minding the Monsters.

Melvin the Superhero Guy 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. Dunham portrays Melvin as unimpressed with other superheroes. 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 has an enormous nose, which he claims is his symbol, and whose similarity in shape to that of a penis is alluded to in the act. 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. usually dressed in the same clothes Dunham wears during each show. His first onscreen appearance was in the 1989 television program A&E's An Evening at The Improv. He later appeared in Jeff Dunham: Controlled Chaos as a puppet that Peanut used when attempting his hand at ventriloquism. Peanut named the doll "Little Ugly Ass-Jeff", and uses him to insult Dunham.

Diane Diane first appeared with Dunham in the 2010 film Dinner for Schmucks as "Debbie", his character's "wife". She made her stand-up debut in Dunham's Identity Crisis Tour 2010.

Achmed Junior Achmed Junior is the estranged son of Achmed. He was designed by Mad magazine illustrator Tom Richmond.

Seamus Seamus is a grumpy, beer-drinking, Irish infant who first appears in Relative Disaster, which was filmed in Ireland. Dunham, himself an adopted child, introduces him as a son that he has adopted in order to "pay it forward". Despite being an infant, he is a belligerent heavy drinker, traits with which Dunham pokes fun at Irish stereotypes. Dunham also establishes Seamus as a fan of United States President Donald Trump in order to poke fun at Trump, Hillary Clinton, and the 2016 United States presidential election.

Larry the Adviser Larry is the personal adviser to Donald Trump. He has unkempt orange hair, big bulgy eyes and has a cigarette in one hand. Jeff lightly shakes him to give the feeling of jitteriness. Larry is constantly on edge and is implied to be unnerved for having worked with Trump for "four hours". He nevertheless "supports" the president.

Little Peanut Little Peanut is a miniature version of Peanut that Dunham has used to counter Peanut's use of Little Jeff.

Url In the 2022 special Jeff Dunham: Me the People, Dunham introduced a new puppet named Url, a young person who is always preoccupied with using his mobile device. Dunham explained the creation of the character, saying, "Everybody gets stuck on their devices. Ninety-nine percent of us gets stuck on our smart devices too much of the time, so we can identify with that. Children are on them too much. Parents have to deal with it. Kids complain because their parents are on them too much. So everybody knows somebody stuck on the smart device. So I thought, I'm going to create a younger guy that also has the problem of living in his parents' basement. So many families are dealing with that now. The kids come back and won't go away."

Personal life Dunham met his first wife, Paige Brown, at the Comedy Corner in West Palm Beach, Florida. They began dating in December 1992. In May 1994, Dunham married Brown and adopted her one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Bree. Their daughters Ashlyn and Kenna were born in 1995 and 1997, respectively. Dunham's time away while performing proved a strain on the marriage On October 12, 2012, the couple married. On May 14, 2015, Dunham announced, via Facebook, that he and Audrey were expecting twin boys. In October, she gave birth to James Jeffrey and Jack Steven.

In addition to building the dummies he uses in his act, Dunham restores antique dummies as a hobby, one of which is The Umpire, a mechanized dummy built in 1941 to work the plate at a girls' softball game. The Umpire was unused and was packed away for 50 years before Dunham acquired it in early 2008. which he had outfitted with a Corvette engine to make it street legal. Controlled Chaos Oct. 6, 2011 – Sept. 30, 2012 United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand Not Playing With a Full Deck Nov. 28, 2014– Oct. 5, 2015 United States All shows at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada. Perfectly Unbalanced Dec. 2, 2015 – Sept. 13, 2017 United States, Canada Dunham received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame during this tour. Passively Aggressive May 5, 2018 United States, Canada Seriously!? July 10, 2021 – Dec. 12, 2022 United States, Canada, Europe First tour since the COVID-19 pandemic began – present United States, Canada

Filmography Documentaries and specials Year TitleNotes 1991 Hot Country Nights One episode 2003 Comedy Central Presents Also writer 2006 Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself TV special; also writer and executive producer 2007 Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity TV special; also writer and executive producer 2008 History of the Joke TV documentary Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special TV special; also writer, executive producer and songwriter 2009 I'm No Dummy Documentary film 2011 Jeff Dunham: Controlled Chaos TV special; also writer and executive producer 2012 The Batmobile TV documentary Jeff Dunham: Minding the Monsters TV special; also writer and executive producer 2014 Jeff Dunham: All Over the Map TV special; also writer, executive producer and co-editor 2015 Jeff Dunham: Unhinged in Hollywood TV special 2016 Hell's Kitchen Episode: "9 Chefs Compete" (with Walter) 2017 Jeff Dunham: Relative Disaster Netflix special 2019 Jeff Dunham: Beside Himself Netflix special 2020 Jeff Dunham's Completely Unrehearsed Last-Minute Pandemic Holiday Special TV special; also writer 2022 Jeff Dunham: Me The People TV special 2024 Jeff Dunham: I'm With Cupid TV special Gen Voice, English dub 2014 The Nut Job Mole Voice Achmed Saves America Achmed, Bubba J., Himself Video; creator, executive producer and original character designer 2017 Smurfs: The Lost Village Farmer Smurf Voice The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature Mole Voice Mune: Guardian of the Moon Phospho Voice Gnome Alone Quiksilver Voice 2018 Elliot the Littlest Reindeer Clyde, Peanutbutter Voice 2020 Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? Himself Voice, episode: "Too Many Dummies!" Tacoma FD Ventriloquist TV series, 1 episode 2021 Last Man Standing Himself (cameo) Episode: "Meatless Mike" 2022 The Masked Singer Himself / Pi-Rat Season 8 contestant