Stardom For Dummies

You wouldn't pick ventriloquism as a star vehicle, yet for America's 'super celebrity of the dummies', there was never any choice. By age ten he was already performing and when he created his now world-famous character Achmed The Dead Terrorist in time for the DVD and YouTube explosions, his profile, bank balance and working life were transformed. Dunham is now solid gold A-list.
All of which means there's a career guidance counsellor out there shaking their head in sheer disbelief.  “My junior high school counsellor, Mrs Lutz was her name, was talking to all the eighth graders about what the future held for them. I remember her saying, 'Well, what are you thinking about doing when you're older?' and I looked a bit confused because everybody already knew, including her, that I was the ventriloquist kid, so I said, 'Well, I'm gonna be a ventriloquist.' I remember she took off her glasses, crossed her arms and said, 'Now Jeff, let's be realistic.'”
Yet even with his latest TV special, Achmed Saves America, just released, a bestselling autobiography doing the rounds and a brand new Disorderly Conduct world tour on the schedule, Dunham still has 'pinch myself' moments. “If you'd told me ten or 12 years ago that Achmed would take off and I'd be doing shows outside the US, that's when I would have looked at you and said, 'Hold on, I'm going to Kuala Lumpur? What's a 'Kuala Lumpur'?'”
However, he refuses to put his success down to the novelty of his art. “I've always looked at my act as stand-up comedy that happens to use ventriloquism as the vehicle. If I could stand on stage making the dummy talk while drinking a glass of water, I think my career would have gone pretty much nowhere. I'd be doing corporate shows and birthday parties.”
Aside from Achmed, Dunham's roll-call of oddballs includes the curmudgeonly old Walter, redneck Bubba J, the fiery Mexican Jose Jalapeno and the loopy and frenetic Peanut. These are the people, Dunham insists, that truly make his show. “Characters can get away with more because there's some kinda innocence assumed there. But really, I'm the victim of whatever my audience is laughing at. Whatever they laugh at I'm gonna go back and expand on.”
Unlike the South Parks and American Dads of the world, Jeff Dunham isn't about scoring satirical points. “I'm not trying to get away with anything or teach anybody anything and I don't have any political motivation. I'm just doing it to give people some entertainment and help them forget their troubles for a couple of hours.”