Comedy news: Jeff Dunham, Sparks of Insanity

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What can you say about Jeff Dunham that someone, somewhere, has not already said? The U.S comic is an Internet phenomenon. According to some estimates over 300million people have tuned into his various U-tube clips (which also ranks them the 8th most watched of all time) while the reams of viewer’s comments could give War and Peace a run for it's money.

Yet for such an internationally recognised ventriloquist Jeff Dunham is little known in the UK. He rarely ventures overseas so this, his first UK gig - a one-night-only appearance at the Hammersmirh Apollo - is a treat.

For anyone unused to his comedy, Dunham uses a range of characters from Walter, a cantankerous old man to Achmed, a failed suicide bomber to run through a series of sketches on comtemporary life.

Dunham started well enough, with a good quip about landing himself in hot water at an airbase when their flight was redirected but as the puppets came out something began to take hold. The jokes were coming at the same pace but I found my laughter waning. There was something in Dunham’s set which simply didn’t sit right.

A dig at the French here, some contrived material about marriage there, more monotonous material which materialises women, and so it went. The more I listened the more I became enthralled. How long would Dunham go on taking the same line?

I was hoping to find a hint of irony in the jokes but none materialised; which was when the realisation came. This wasn’t comedy it was simply crass.

For more than one of Dunham’s characters the wife, or simply any female, became the butt of the jokes. There was no equality in the humour, no self-criticism which accompanies a lot of the better gender comedy. This is a real shame as Dunham is obviously able to deliver some excellent comedy and there were some good jokes, but they were lost in the ether of misogynist commentary.

And it wasn’t just sexism, Dunham seems ready to use ventriloquism as a conduit to insult any race, religion, nationality, or social type except, of course, the ‘White Caucasian Male’, which brings me to his Achmed character.

For a long time comedians were too worried to breach the 9/11 taboo and Dunham does provide a voice for that, which is good. But to use ventriloquism as an excuse to be prejudiced is poor. The idea that his character Achmed the suicide bomber is not a Muslim because he has ‘Made in China’ printed on his arse is utter nonsense. The genesis of the whole sketch can be viewed as a cultural reaction to 9/11 – which, as the inspiration Achmed, was a watershed moment for Dunham’s own career.

But Achmed is part of, not a response to America's war on terror. The character isn't funny per se, he's a fall guy for jokes on Osama Bin Laden made popular by his tell-tale quip “I’ll Kiiill You”.

While any attempt to ridicule fanatical religion should be encouraged, it feels that Dunham's helps to belittle the whole Islamic culture. It is cheap comedy that appeals to the America which is intent on looking outward to explain it's problems, rather than judging itself.

A similar kind of humour works on South Park, but only because the whole point is that Trey Parker provides a much cleverer critique of U.S mainstream culture, a counterbalance to the overzealous Neo-con conservatism which would sooner see the wife chained to the sink.

I am not against the use of characters to push the boundaries of comedy or say very controversial things, far from it. Comedy is a vitally important part of social criticism, but if a comedian is prepared to take this route his work has to be of an exceptionally high standard, otherwise all the comedian achieves is to cement social stereotypes in an audience’s mind and his work can be used for the wrong purposes.

Bernard Manning is an example to every comedian. Sure, the comedian may be the nicest man on earth, but if his comedy is bigoted and misogynist then what is the point? The joke ceases to become a joke, it becomes a vent with which to spread intolerance in the public sphere.

To be fair the audience loved it, but it was an overwhelmingly American audience which was convinced of Dunham's genius before he stepped foot onstage, while the laughs came with the same zealous enthusiasm and racuous applause last seen at the Nuremburg Rallies.

The UK either isn't ready for the macho chauvinistic jokes or, more likely, we moved on a long time ago.

Tim Clark

(Original review was posted on April 11, 2009)