Jeff Dunham

Jeffrey "Jeff" Dunham (born April 18, 1962) is an American ventriloquist, producer, and stand-up comedian 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 six specials that run on Comedy Central: Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself, Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity, Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special, Jeff Dunham: Controlled Chaos, Jeff Dunham: Minding the Monsters, and Jeff Dunham: All Over the Map. Dunham also starred in The Jeff Dunham Show, a series on the network in 2009.

His style has been described as "a dressed-down, more digestible version of Don Rickles with multiple personality disorder". Describing his characters, Time magazine said, "All of them are 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.

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 November 2009, he has sold over four million DVDs, an additional $7 million in merchandise sales, and received more than 350 million hits on YouTube as of October 2009 (his introduction of Achmed the Dead Terrorist in Spark of Insanity was ranked as the ninth most watched YouTube video at the time).A Very Special Christmas Special was the most-watched telecast in Comedy Central history, with its DVD selling over 400,000 in its first two weeks.Forbes.com 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. Dunham also does occasional acting roles.

Famous quotes by Jeff Dunham:

"It will be less of a retail center and have more of a downtown, urban feel."

"I'm happy to see them doing well. I'm encouraged, and you don't really pull together as a team until your pitchers are warmed up."

"We've gotten so used to them making the playoffs, to not even come close was a disappointment. But I've been following the minor league development of the Red Sox on the Web, and it looks like we're going to have a much better, much more competitive team with genuine prospects this year."

"A comedian needs to have his own filters, needs to know his audience, how far he can push things."

"I try to make the majority of my audience laugh. That's my audience. They'll laugh at the dead terrorist."

"I had a happy, dramafree youth, growing up in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Dallas, Texas. The only thing that was slightly unusual compared to most of my friends was that I was an only child... I don't think that's why my parents gave me a dummy, at least they've never copped to it."

"Up until college age I was using the typical little-boy dummy that sits on the knee and makes woodpecker jokes. My first original character didn't happen until later, and that was Jose the Jalapeno on a Stick."

"When I was eight years old, I got a dummy for Christmas and started teaching myself. I got books and records and sat in front of the bathroom mirror, practising. I did my first show in the third grade and just kept going; there was no reason to quit."

"It's strange because even in the vaudeville days, ventriloquists were never the main attraction. They were the guys brought out to stand in front of the curtain while sets were being changed. Ventriloquism wasn't even celebrated as an art until Edgar Bergen came along in the 1930s."

"When I was in third grade I taught myself ventriloquism... What's hard is to learn to be an entertainer and make people laugh. I was a few years out of college before I felt I had enough material. Then in 1988 I moved to L.A. and started to do some shows at comedy clubs."

"Stand-up comedy is tough right now. Anybody can come to a concert, tape you, and put you up on the Internet. You either fight it or embrace it."

"As humans we like to laugh at our fears, we like to whistle in the dark."

"Growing up doing those Kiwanis Clubs, doing those Cub Scout banquets, doing those church shows, I learned to find that sensibility that most people could laugh at - that all ages and demographics could laugh at."

"I've skewered whites, blacks, Hispanics, Christians, Jews, Muslims, gays, straights, rednecks, addicts, the elderly, and my wife. As a standup comic, it is my job to make sure the majority of people laugh, and I believe that comedy is the last true form of free speech."

"The best place to find material is in real life. I've always maintained that it's not until the mid-20s that you have enough of a life to draw from. There's nothing better for a comic than to go through some bad stuff - and some good stuff, like getting married."

"In 1980, when I graduated from high school, my goal was to be on 'The Tonight Show' with Johnny Carson at least once before our ten-year class reunion. Our class reunion was in June of 1990, and I was on 'The Tonight Show' in April 1990, so I made it by a few months."

"I'm a geek to the bone."

Lyrics list:

lyrics

An American Christmas, Jeff Dunham
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Christmas Outside The Box, Jeff Dunham
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From Us to You, Jeff Dunham
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Jeff Dunham, Jeff Dunham
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I Hate Christmas, Jeff Dunham
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Song For Jeff, Jeff Dunham
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Roadkill Christmas, Jeff Dunham
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When Santa Comes To Town, Jeff Dunham
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Jingle Bombs, Jeff Dunham
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Mistletoe, Jeff Dunham
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Achmed The Dead Terrorist, Jeff Dunham

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Don't Come Home for Christmas, Jeff Dunham

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Christmas With The Achmed Family, Jeff Dunham

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Santa Is A Redneck (Bubba J), Jeff Dunham

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Spark of Insanity, Jeff Dunham

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An American Christmas

Just thinking of christmas
Makes me want to cry
Cuz thats the time of year that my back was never dry
We climb out of the ryder truck and race across the sand
Crawl beneath the fence and swim across the Rio Grande
It's an american Christmas for my family
While the border control is home by there christmas tree
We sold everything we had just to get here
and if we get deported we just do it again next year
My brother has a good job
working in L.A.
He brought us up from juarez and this is where we stay.
Mama cooks chimmy changas while papa drives the drives the roach coach truck
I get work by standing in the home depot parking lot
It's American Christmas for my family
illegal *?* undocumented to me.
Everybody say there happy if I was gone
Do they need someone to wash there car and mow there lawns
They dont welcome people here who sneak in from my land
*something something something* from the Micronesian land
Even though Mexico may have been the place of my birth
Can you blame me for want to come to the greatest place on earth?
Its American Christmas in a small house with a yard
This year I'm asking Santa for a green card
I dont want to go back and have to make another round trip

Jeff Dunham

Famous quotes by Jeff Dunham:

"It will be less of a retail center and have more of a downtown, urban feel."

"I'm happy to see them doing well. I'm encouraged, and you don't really pull together as a team until your pitchers are warmed up."

"We've gotten so used to them making the playoffs, to not even come close was a disappointment. But I've been following the minor league development of the Red Sox on the Web, and it looks like we're going to have a much better, much more competitive team with genuine prospects this year."

"A comedian needs to have his own filters, needs to know his audience, how far he can push things."

"I try to make the majority of my audience laugh. That's my audience. They'll laugh at the dead terrorist."

"I had a happy, dramafree youth, growing up in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Dallas, Texas. The only thing that was slightly unusual compared to most of my friends was that I was an only child... I don't think that's why my parents gave me a dummy, at least they've never copped to it."

"Up until college age I was using the typical little-boy dummy that sits on the knee and makes woodpecker jokes. My first original character didn't happen until later, and that was Jose the Jalapeno on a Stick."

"When I was eight years old, I got a dummy for Christmas and started teaching myself. I got books and records and sat in front of the bathroom mirror, practising. I did my first show in the third grade and just kept going; there was no reason to quit."

"It's strange because even in the vaudeville days, ventriloquists were never the main attraction. They were the guys brought out to stand in front of the curtain while sets were being changed. Ventriloquism wasn't even celebrated as an art until Edgar Bergen came along in the 1930s."

"When I was in third grade I taught myself ventriloquism... What's hard is to learn to be an entertainer and make people laugh. I was a few years out of college before I felt I had enough material. Then in 1988 I moved to L.A. and started to do some shows at comedy clubs."

"Stand-up comedy is tough right now. Anybody can come to a concert, tape you, and put you up on the Internet. You either fight it or embrace it."

"As humans we like to laugh at our fears, we like to whistle in the dark."

"Growing up doing those Kiwanis Clubs, doing those Cub Scout banquets, doing those church shows, I learned to find that sensibility that most people could laugh at - that all ages and demographics could laugh at."

"I've skewered whites, blacks, Hispanics, Christians, Jews, Muslims, gays, straights, rednecks, addicts, the elderly, and my wife. As a standup comic, it is my job to make sure the majority of people laugh, and I believe that comedy is the last true form of free speech."

"The best place to find material is in real life. I've always maintained that it's not until the mid-20s that you have enough of a life to draw from. There's nothing better for a comic than to go through some bad stuff - and some good stuff, like getting married."

"In 1980, when I graduated from high school, my goal was to be on 'The Tonight Show' with Johnny Carson at least once before our ten-year class reunion. Our class reunion was in June of 1990, and I was on 'The Tonight Show' in April 1990, so I made it by a few months."

"I'm a geek to the bone."

Jeff Dunham

ALBUMS

Don't Come Home for Christmas

Related Sites

An American Christmas