'Grey's' Isn't Going Anywhere
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The Jeff Dunham Show comes to Comedy Central in October
by Nick Zaino, posted Jul 23rd 2009 10:04AM
Ventriloquist Jeff Dunham was selling out clubs and theaters for years before his first Comedy Central special, Arguing With Myself, aired in 2006. That was followed by two more specials, Spark of Insanity and Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special, all of which generated monster ratings for the network. Last year's Christmas special was the most watched in network history with 6.6 million viewers. So it seems like a no brainer for Comedy Central to step up and see what Dunham can do with his own half-hour series, The Jeff Dunham Show, which is slated to premiere October 22.
Dunham himself is a somewhat soft-spoken, unassuming figure; it's his puppets, like cranky old man Walter, Peanut the "woozle," Jose Jalapeno (literally a Jalapeno on a stick), and the more controversial Achmed the Dead Terrorist that garner the attention. Which is pretty much what a good ventriloquist should strive for. The more the audience pays attention to the puppet, the less they're looking at your mouth.
The format of the show should play to that strength. Dunham has already more than proved his mettle with a live audience, which will be part of the show. The other part will be taped segments. Those mentioned so far have Dunham and Walter visiting a licensed psychologist, Achmed trying to recruit people at a job fair, and Bubba J at a real life rifle range.
This is definitely a bigger platform for Dunham, getting in front of a TV audience on a weekly basis. But I would think there would be little pressure on Dunham for this to be a smash hit. He already has an audience that should show up for this, and the worst thing that could happen would be that he would have to go back to touring the country, something he's done successfully for about 20 years, and making popular stand-up specials.
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