page_title: Jeff Dunham
section_title: 2009–present
hierarchical_section_title: Jeff Dunham / Career / 2009–present
caption_attribution_description: Jeff Dunham performing with Achmed in July 2014
context_page_description: Jeffrey Dunham 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 six specials that run on Comedy Central: Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself, Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity, Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special, Jeff Dunham: Controlled Chaos, Jeff Dunham: Minding the Monsters, and Jeff Dunham: All Over the Map. Dunham also starred in The Jeff Dunham Show, a series on the network in 2009.
  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." Dunham has been credited with reviving ventriloquism and doing more to promote the art form than anyone since Edgar Bergen.
  Dunham has been called "America's favorite comedian" by Slate. According to the concert industry publication Pollstar, he is the top-grossing standup act in North America and among the most successful acts in Europe as well.
context_section_description: In March 2009, Dunham signed a multi-platform deal with Comedy Central. It included a fourth stand-up special to air in 2010, DVDs, a consumer products partnership, a 60-city tour beginning in September 2010, and an order for a television series called The Jeff Dunham Show that premiered on October 22, 2009. Despite having the most-watched premiere in Comedy Central history, and higher average ratings than other shows on that network initially, the show was canceled after only one season, amid poor reviews, dwindling ratings and higher production costs than other Comedy Central shows.
  Dunham appeared in a guest role with Bubba J on NBC's sitcom 30 Rock, playing a ventriloquist named Rick Wayne and his dummy Pumpkin from Stone Mountain, Georgia. In November 2009 Dunham also appeared with Walter in "Hart to Hart", an episode of the Disney Channel series Sonny With a Chance, as two security guards. He appeared in the 2010 Steve Carell/Paul Rudd comedy, Dinner for Schmucks, as Lewis, with a new puppet named Diane.
  His fourth special, Jeff Dunham: Controlled Chaos, premiered on September 25, 2011, on Comedy Central. His fifth special, Minding the Monsters, which was taped in Savannah, premiered on Comedy Central on October 7, 2012. His sixth special, All Over the Map, which was taped in various international cities, premiered on Comedy Central on November 16, 2014.
  On March 28, 2014, Country Music Television premiered Achmed Saves America, an animated film starring Achmed the Dead Terrorist.
  Dunham's seventh special, Unhinged in Hollywood, premiered on September 17, 2015. Rather than premiering on Comedy Central, the special instead aired on NBC.
caption: Dunham performing in 2014
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