People must love celebrating the holidays with puppets, because comedian/ventriloquist Jeff Dunham seems to have had quite a bit of success with holiday specials. In 2008, he released Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special, which drew in record-breaking viewership for Comedy Central. Just last week, he released Jeff Dunham: I’m with Cupid, a Valentine's Day special that would surely quench this year’s thirst for seeing ‘the little people in the box’ wear themed outfits, right? Well, you would be wrong, because it looks like 15 years later, Dunham is taking yet another crack at a Christmas special, and for a hilariously sarcastic reason.
I recently caught up with Dunham to talk about Jeff Dunham: I’m with Cupid, and when I accused him of perhaps working too much, he said the following:
What's really crazy is–so the Valentine's one coming out on Saturday, and then I'm already working on the next special, which I think we're going to be doing in, shooting in June. If I can get it ready, it's going to be my second Christmas special because my first Christmas special was back in 2008. And so it's time for another one. And, you know, religion has changed.
Well, there you have it, religion has changed! Obviously Jeff Dunham seems to be somewhat sarcastic here, poking fun at himself for releasing yet another Christmas special, so it better be for good reason! Well, what reason better than the ever-evolving machine that is religion?
There’s seemingly no intention of poking fun at religious folks or their nonreligious counterparts, as Jeff Dunham makes a conscious effort not to take firm stances when it comes to such things. He doesn’t pick a side when it comes to political humor, and he’s self-aware enough to know that people aren’t looking to ventriloquists for their opinions on current events. He won’t even do a straight stand-up special without puppets, as a firm believer in giving the people what they came for.
Of course, it’s unfair for me to label Jeff Dunham simply as a ventriloquist that should stay in his lane. It’s more fair to say that he’s the ventriloquist of our time. He paved the way for the likes of comedian/ventriloquists like Terry Fator and Darcy Lynn, and has cemented his place in pop culture by appearing on a slew of TV shows, including The Masked Singer, where he was recently a contestant wearing a costume that, of course, had a puppet.
The point is that constantly pushing out record-breaking specials isn’t the only reason Dunham is still relevant after 53 years (yeah, you read that right) of ventriloquism. Sure, he has one of the best specials on Amazon Prime, but in the time during which he plans to shoot this year’s Christmas special, he will also be touring the country in the midst of a Vegas residency. Does that sound kind of impossible? Check out the tour dates, they speak for themselves. As I also mentioned in our interview, which you can view at the top of this article, this dude works.
You can see Jeff Dunham: I’m with Cupid on Comedy Central’s website right now! While I cannot confirm this, I also assume they will be re-airing the special on Valentine’s Day. Otherwise, what’s the point? I’ll keep you updated as any other comedy specials work their way closer to us on the 2024 TV premiere schedule.
