The Jeff Dunham Show
Comedy Central puts forth another controversial yet sometimes funny show with ventriloquist Jeff Dunham and his trunk load of hilarious characters.
Film making 5/25
Video 18/25
Audio 18/25
Bonus Features 5/25
Total 46/100
Walter, Bubba J, Sweet Daddy Dee, Achmed, Jose and of course Peanut are all here with that hilarious character that always seems to be following them around Jeff Dunham. The Jeff Dunham Show is trying hard to bring the magical comedy styling's of Jeff Dunham to a series and just falls flat.
Jeff Dunham is the second ventriloquist I sought out on the internet back when Terry Fator was appearing on America's Got talent and the first I knew that had a show available on DVD. Jeff has a fantastic stage act and is the only ventriloquist I have been able to find with multiple DVD's available for purchase of his comedy/ventriloquist acts on stage.
The first show of Jeff Dunham's I watched, Spark of Insanity, was hilarious and I was actually laughing so hard I was crying during parts of the show. His second show I saw on video was just as good and I cannot recommend these two gems enough.
The Jeff Dunham Show from Comedy Central is really falling far short of his usual quality comedy using the ventriloquist act. The Jeff Dunham Show is mostly skits and some stage work using his dummies as the center of attention and occasionally Jeff is also in the shots.
The show has his dummies going out into the public for much of the show with some stage work between Jeff and them before each skit. The ventriloquist act with his dummies works well and Jeff is even a really hilariously funny guy when he takes the stage.
Using his dummies solo so to speak just does not work and he really should stick with the stage comedy routine instead of trying to branch out to a show. The skits involving his dummies are at times funny but most of the time just corny or lame and really missing the mark of the heart of ventriloquism.
I had no problems myself with the content which is very questionable when it comes to political correctness but that is the heart of some of Jeff's comedy that works so well. The comedy gold that Jeff brings to the stage is how the puppets and the real world meet and mingle, at least in Jeff's mind.
In the Comedy Central series his puppets really do meet the real world, staged to be sure, but they go out and mingle in various situations. Achmed the dead terrorist trying to join the marines or crotchety old Walter getting a physical exam works on several levels but when you take Jeff out of the equation things just aren't the same.
Seeing the puppets trying to be regular people and their unique take on the world is fine but when you remove Jeff as the ventriloquist it just looks like a Muppet Show without the magic of Jim Henson. Some of the acts are funny but not the gut wrenching humor or tear jerking tales that his stage act brought to my whole family.
When the rest of my family move off to different rooms of the house to seek alternate entertainment on their own computers in DVD's or the internet I know the series is not working. The Jeff Dunham show is a mixed video quality due to some of the show being on stage, others seem to be in a studio but most are on location.
Audio is pretty good but you have the same on location scenes that are not top studio quality so it is also mixed with quality but all the voice is audible and pretty good. The quality of the DVD series is pretty good and extras include a skit not shown on the release on the Comedy Central channel and a few other short extras.
The bonus content is very short with some behind the scenes footage and a few bloopers but if you don't watch it you really are not missing much. The only extra worth even bothering with is the extra skit with Sweet Daddy but even that is not very good.
The Jeff Dunham Show is really a mixed bag of some good jokes and one liners but you have to wait through the slightly worse stuff to get to the good moments. I really do not understand what they were thinking when they came up with this and about the only recommendation I can give this is if you're a Jeff Dunham fan and just cannot wait for his next stage act release you might give this a try.