By Tim Branch

Ventriloquist Jeff Dunham is a very funny person. Well, let me take that back. Ventriloquist Jeff Dunham is many very funny…people, as is evidenced by the tremendous popularity of the many dummies (shhh, don’t tell them we used that word!) he’s created to share the stage with him. There’s Peanut, furry, out of control, and just a bit off his rocker, Walter, who’s perpetually grumpy, Bubba J, the NASCAR-lovin’ redneck, and Achmed the Dead Terrorist, who manages to bumble his way into our hearts with his bumbling, harmless ways.

Jeff Dunham is also a very multi-talented person. Not only does he create, craft, and bring his “posse” to life (and how DOES he keep his mouth from moving when it’s their turn to talk, which they make sure it is quite often) onstage all around the world, he’s also a comic, a frequent guest on shows like “The Tonight Show” and “Late Night with David Letterman,” a Comedy Central phenomenon, a producer, a writer (if you haven’t already read it, you’ve GOT to pick up his 2010 autobiography All By My Selves: Walter, Peanut, Achmed and Me), and much, much more…

He’s also a very nice person ~ despite being in the middle of a major tour, Jeff took the time to answer a few questions about himself (despite protestations from Peanut et al that all the questions should focus on them…sorry, guys!)…proving that he’s not just funny when he’s got scripted material, he’s also just plain funny off the cuff, too.

Who…or what…makes you laugh? Lewis Black, “The Simpsons,” “South Park,” and any dog in a superhero outfit.
Forbes named you to its list of “Most Powerful Entertainers” two years running ~ what does “powerful” mean to you in that context? Well, I’ve been an Apple and Macintosh fan since the first Mac commercial in 1984, and one of their slogans used to be “The Most Powerful Macintosh, Ever.”  So, I guess it means I’m a really kick-ass computer… At least for six months until the next one comes out.

Are there topics that you consider too taboo to touch, or is it all in how you present them to an audience? The comedy adage says that tragedy plus time equals comedy… But it’s not a formula that will ever apply in tragedies  such as 9/11, the Shuttle disasters, loss of life by soldiers, law enforcement, firefighters…  Humor can play a part in dealing with grief and learning to move on in life, but a comic must have a keen sense of what to joke about and what not to.  So yes, I draw a line for myself in many subjects.

You’ve been to a host of European countries ~ is there one country that you’re dying to visit so that you can create a character based on a “native?” I’ve already been there, done a show, and the little guy is currently in my head ~ “percolating,” if you will.  So my answer is, “Oui.”

Any plans to write another book? Yes.  But what exactly that book is right now, I have no idea.  It was a process that I loathed and loved all at the same time.

For more on Jeff, please visit www.jeffdunham.com.

And don’t miss Jeff and his cast of characters when they land at the DCU Center on Friday, October 21!

Photo credit: Andrew Smallz and Jared Raskind