Jeff Dunham

A Skeleton is Coming to Town?

This next performer won’t have teenage girls screaming for autographs, and girls probably don’t have posters of him pinned up in their rooms right now. This star sports nothing but a white turban, and his cringe-worthy looks include yellowing eyes, harsh eyebrows, and an unkempt beard. His catch phrase isn’t “that’s hot” and he won’t be bringing sexy back any time soon. However, his catch phrase does get people laughing every single time, and the man that he is coming to town with is pretty funny too. Allow me to introduce to you Achmed the Dead Terrorist, the popular puppet behind the line “Silence, I keel you!” Achmed will accompany Jeff Dunham, ventriloquist extraordinaire, who was pinned by the Dallas Morning News as “easily one of the funniest stand up comics alive.” That’s right, Dunham, Achmed, and the rest of the puppet posse, will kick off October with a bang at The Theatre at the Frank Erwin Center on October 2!

Achmed the Dead Terrorist, who refuses to believe he is dead, is a definite standout in Jeff’s act. Achmed and Jeff have a certain dynamic on stage that reaches out to the audience and just makes you want more. Achmed provides a daring and provocative sidekick to Jeff, allowing him to touch on rather sensitive subjects in today’s society. With over 58 million views and counting, the YouTube clip of Jeff and Achmed is the 9th most viewed clip of all time, and even more impressive, it’s ranked as the 2nd most favorite! Even Dunham himself thinks his success is something to poke fun of saying “If anybody had said three years ago one of your larger-drawing shows is going to be a ventriloquist, I’m sure they would’ve laughed in their face because that just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.” But Dunham has done what many thought was impossible… made ventriloquism fun, hip, and cool!

Jeff and his characters like Achmed are what comedy is all about… making people laugh until it hurts. Dunham knows that you have to push a few buttons and ruffle a few feathers in order to be one of the greats. For instance, take a suicide bomber with a ratty skeleton appearance and put him on stage arguing with a grown man about something as black and white as being dead or alive. Now that is undeniably funny (and if you don’t find the humor in it, be here October 2 and Jeff Dunham will change your mind!) “I’m trying to inflame it and then squirt water on it all at the same time,” said Dunham. “I think there’s room there to make fun of that kind of thinking. Somebody who wants to blow everything up, that, to me, is just flat-out goofy. And I have a guy who’s not very good at it.”

So sit down, relax, and get ready for some belly-aching laughs from a skeleton on October 2!