In a world where we already have The Muppets Christmas Carol, is there room for ventriloquist Jeff Dunham to cast his dummies in their own version of the classic Charles Dickens tale for the holidays? Dunham certainly hopes so, and whether or not he means it when he says his version is on the development horizon, he’s definitely going to pitch his casting of it in this specially-themed comedy special. God bless us, everyone?!?
The Gist: This is Dunham’s 13th comedy special, and his third time delivering his dummies in Christmas costumes, but it’s his first specifically for Amazon Prime Video.
Dunham has been perhaps the world’s most famous ventriloquist (and certainly America’s) for the past three decades, and most recently competed in 2022 on FOX’s The Masked Singer, where he performed in disguise in the Pi-Rat costume on season 8, singing “Crocodile Rock.” When he’s not putting his full body into character, his handiwork with Walter, Bubba J, Peanut, Achmed and the rest have taken him from comedy clubs to theaters to arenas, and past comedy specials on Comedy Central, NBC, Netflix, back to Comedy Central, and now Prime Video.
In Jeff Dunham’s Scrooged-Up Holiday Special, he has cast Walter as Scrooge, obviously, and figures out which of his dummies will portray the three ghosts who visit Walter’s Scrooge, as well as who gets to be Tiny Tim.
What Comedy Specials Will It Remind You Of?: Dunham already has produced and released at least two previous holiday specials, Jeff Dunham’s Completely Unrehearsed Last-Minute Pandemic Holiday Special in 2020, and 2008’s Jeff Dunham’s Very Special Christmas Special, both for Comedy Central. The 2008 special, just as this year’s version, was filmed at Pabst Theater in Milwaukee.
Memorable Jokes: Joining Amazon means joking about Amazon, and Walter delivers, so to speak. Dunham’s cranky curmudgeon cracks, upon learning where they’re streaming now: “So they’re going to deliver the special and leave it on everyone’s front porch? Inside another box that’s 10 times the size it needs to be? And some jerk comes and steals it off the porch and I need to order it all over again?”
You’ve got Bubba J as the Ghost of Christmas Past; Peanut as the Ghost of Christmas Presents, the last word made plural so Dunham could introduce some new merch by offering to sell you your very own Peanut dummy (no wonder the special is out BEFORE Black Friday and Cyber Monday); and Achmed (the “dead terrorist”) putting his exposed bones to good use as the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, wearing a Santa hat for good tidings measure. Dunham’s Little Jeff plays the role of Tiny Tim.
Our Take: In his opening monologue, the Dunham tells us how his kids ran around the Pabst Theatre in the hours before the crowd rolled in, and one of his sons pointed out how the theater’s carpeting seemed to spell out POOP.
I wish I could tell you that their father, the 62-year-old ventriloquist with decades of success in the business, had a more mature or refined sense of humor. Alas, alack, ’twas not to be this year.
Instead, Dunham’s joke writing and sense of humor is so basic that even the dads who tell dad jokes may roll their eyes. At one point, he even has Achmed “that’s what she said,” which just goes to show you don’t need to wonder what Michael Scott’s real-life comedy act would look like. It’s this. Dunham beats the proverbial dead horses of punchlines and keeps beating them until you get the idea he might turn that horse carcass into his next dummy.
At this point, he’s made no secret of his political leanings in courting a socially and politically conservative crowd. So nobody should be surprised that he’s got Bubba J wondering “would Democrats blame it on Trump” if the Grinch stole Christmas today, or Peanut joking that Dunham must’ve thought he was making “diversity hiring” by taking on an assistant with the last name White. But the more problematic aspect of Dunham’s joke-writing is simply how lazy and hack it is. References to the LGBTQ+ community being weird or gross or just for existing are met with giggles, and you better believe that he and his dummies and his audience still laugh out loud just thinking about prison rape. Dunham can’t seem to let it go, having Bubba J respond to the word “tailpipe” by suggesting, “I think there’s another prison joke here if you want it.” No. Just don’t.
Playing with ventriloquist dummies at a young age might keep you young at heart, or it may just stunt your own growth. Perhaps the very art form gives permission for audiences to indulge their own juvenile tendencies in a way they wouldn’t from a stand-up comedian. Then again, for millions of people for years on end, the same old jokes somehow never get old. Audiences have proved this for decades of watching TV reruns, and are proving it anew by making streaming hits out of old sitcoms.
It must be too tempting for some to keep churning out variations of the same routines if the audiences don’t demand anything more from them.
But I must also say that it’s not all reheated leftover stuffing here. Dunham does allow a few moments here and there where his self-awareness comes through, such as when Walter calls Dunham out for seeming to enjoy his life as a ventriloquist.
Walter: “You’re arguing” Dunham: “Yeah” Walter: “With me!” Dunham: “Right” Walter: “Which is actually you! You know what’s really weird? You’re also losing this argument!”
As he has previously showcased, Dunham also can engage in some physical gags, such as having Achmed’s skeleton fall apart in his hands and spilling onto the floor. And even when he has inserted a segment to sell merch, Dunham seems to be having some real fun moving his lips to perform a mocking impersonation of Peanut’s voice, which of course, is his own voice, in addition to his regular Peanut voice.
Trying to make sense of the rest of the act, however, sometimes just feels nuts.
Our Call: Are you the person in your friend group still saying “my wife” in a Borat voice? If so, then this humor is right up your alley. Otherwise, SKIP IT. Or should I say, Bah Humbug?! Even if you’re a Dunham fan, there are two less derivative Christmas specials of his worth your while, one of which also is streaming free on Prime.
Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat. He also podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.
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