| Jeff Dunham | |
|---|---|
 Dunham and Achmed the Dead Terrorist, 2009 | |
| Birth name | Jeffrey Douglas Dunham |
| Born | April 18, 1962 Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
| Medium |
|
| Alma mater | Baylor University |
| Years active | 1976–present |
| Genres | |
| Spouse | Paige Brown
(m. 1994; div. 2008)Audrey Murdick (m. 2012) |
| Children | 5 |
| Website | jeffdunham |
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.[1] 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.[2] Forbes ranked Dunham as the third highest-paid comedian in the United States behind Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock[3] and reported that he was one of the highest-earning comics from June 2008 to June 2009, earning approximately $30 million during that period.[4]
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."[5] Dunham has been credited with reviving ventriloquism[6] and doing more to promote the art form than anyone since Edgar Bergen.[1]
- ^ a b Mooallem, Jon (October 29, 2009). "Comedy for Dummies". The New York Times.
- ^ "Jeff Dunham and Friends have found a Home at Comedy Central signing a Multi-Platform Deal to Encompass all Areas of Entertainment" Archived September 4, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Comedy Central; March 23, 2009.
- ^ Morris, Tom. "Success for Dummies", The Huffington Post. November 9, 2009.
- ^ Rose, Lacey (July 13, 2009). "The Top-Earning Comedians". Forbes. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
- ^ Luscombe, Belinda. "The Puppet Master". Time magazine. June 8, 2009
- ^ Braxton, Greg. "Jeff Dunham throws his voice into stardom", The Los Angeles Times, November 4, 2009.