Talk about multiple personality disorder … Jeff Dunham does it all.
“We’re in New York on a Saturday night! Let’s go crazy! Let’s get a diet coke and go see a puppet show!”
While ragging on a front-row patron receiving his drink order from the waitress, Dunham somehow summed up the evening for the 2,000 people at his first of two sold-out shows at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square this weekend.
Dunham, a ventriloquist who has been featured on Comedy Central, performed in Manhattan on Saturday night alongside five of his most popular characters.
Dunham’s talents have made him a classic favorite with those who are familiar with his work. It is easy to be amazed by his uncanny ability to throw his voice and create unique, appealing characteristics of his many puppet ‘friends.’ He simultaneously controls the volume and pitch of his voice depending on the context, to make the overall performance incredibly convincing.
Before Dunham hit the stage, comedians Jeff Rothpan and Brian Haner opened the show. Haner, also known as “Guitar Guy,” gave the audience an entertaining bio of himself as the original Guitar Hero. His antics and stories made him a memorable addition to the show. His act, though, was no where near as entertaining as the man of the night, Dunham.
Click to see a clip of Rothpan .
Walter, a character who is known for his grumpy and witty remarks, was the first puppet to make an appearance. Dunham always describes him as lovable because everyone knows someone like him, which is a legitimate statement.
As soon as Walter uttered his first, “Shut the hell up!” the audience immediately cheered to welcome him. Walter then began complaining about how annoyed he was to be in New York because it was too cold, adding that he did not enjoy “frozen spit.” Walter’s overall performance also shared new items with which audiences aren’t familiar.
One can only hear cheering and applause at the mention of terrorists and the war in the Middle East at a Jeff Dunham show. The response was nothing but enthusiastic as Dunham took Achmed, the Dead Terrorist, from his suitcase to join him on stage. The routine opened with Dunham greeting Achmed, who proclaimed to be a “terrifying terrorist.” Click to see a clip of “Achmed, the Dead Terrorist” .
Before Achmed could ask if the audience was scared, trouble arose. Achmed was simply sitting on his pedestal and, through no one’s fault, Achmed’s arm fell off. Dunham was surprised and tried to handle the situation with finesse, but the audience quickly began to realize that, if this was simply a fracture in Achmed’s skeletal body, Dunham would have fixed it quickly.
“What are the odds that after how many hundreds of shows, this happens on our first night on Broadway?” Dunham asked, before teasing Achmed that he would need a lot of duct tape before their evening show.
Peanut and Jose the Jalape’ntilde;o came out next. Jose is my favorite puppet, but I was extremely disappointed that the spa incident, my favorite sketch, was not performed. Rather, Dunham stuck with old classics from his first DVD, “Jeff-fa-fa Dun-ham.”
Click to see a clip of Peanut and Jose .
He got a lot of laughs when he made sure that Jose is not an illegal alien, asking, “Are you here on a work visa or tourist visa?”
“He’s here on a stick!”
Dunham happily offered an encore and took Bubba J out for the first time in a while. Since it has been quite some time since Bubba J has appeared in his act, Dunham had to use notes to remember some of the punch lines. Even with his note cards, though, Dunham still managed to flub a line, which definitely did not go unnoticed.
Realizing this, he joked that the audience could help him with the act. Sure enough, with every prompt, the audience began reciting with Bubba J – every line, word for word. After each line, Dunham grew more and more surprised with how well his audience knew his act, calling it one of his weirdest shows ever.
“It’s like a strange form of church. We now recite from the book of Bubba J 2:19. The Communion will be Budweisers and corn dogs!”
For a night at a puppet show, Dunham was fantastic. The old adage of breaking a limb for good luck seemed trite. Achmed may not have survived the show, but everyone else left in good spirits.
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