ShareThisOh, sure, ventriloquist Jeff Dunham can sell out concerts and star in his own series, but he never wants to be the life of the party.
"I'm pretty shy," says the 47-year-old puppet master, who's launching the aptly titled "The Jeff Dunham Show" (premiering 9 p.m. EDT Thursday, Comedy Central). "When I'm not onstage, I'm not the life of the party. I'm usually the guy standing next to the punch bowl, wondering when the party is going to be over."
When it comes to his career, the party is nowhere nearly over. Dunham is one of the most popular live-comedy acts in the country right now.
His characters include Walter, a grumpy old man; Jose, a talking jalapeno pepper on a stick; Bubba, a rambling redneck; and Achmed, a skeletal corpse of an incompetent suicide bomber.
The concert-industry publication Pollstar says he is the top-grossing standup act in North America. As of this year, he has sold over 4 million DVDs and gotten more than 350 million hits on YouTube, making him one of the most-viewed entertainers of all time.
Dunham's specials for Comedy Central are among the highest-rated programs in its history. He is especially hot with the hard-to-grab young-men demo, ages 18 to 24, a group that rarely watches TV and advertisers covet.
The success of his Comedy Central specials and the audience he attracts earned him his series.
"We have a couple of generations living today that have never seen a ventriloquist in person," Dunham says. "Because of that, there's some novelty to what I do. But if it is funny and people enjoy it, then it's going to be popular. I don't care if it's something like a dog act.
"In fact, I'm waiting for the next big dog act to come along, and people will get back into that again."
Dunham's series contains pre-taped pieces, a lot of man-on-the-street bits with Dunham's puppets. Other segments have the puppets on their own in skits.
"I think all I do is comedy, and I happen to be bringing it through ventriloquism," he says. "If I were technically a really good ventriloquist but I wasn't funny, too, then none of this would be happening."
Other highlights for the week of Oct. 18 to 24 (all times EDT; listings subject to change; check local listings):
SUNDAY:
-- "HGTV Halloween Special" (8 p.m., HGTV). Three very different Halloween parties, all on the same block and set for a large array of ages, are profiled.
-- "The Simpsons" (8 p.m., Fox). The animated comedy's latest "Treehouse of Horror" special has zombies attacking Springfield this time.
-- "Monty Python: Almost The Truth -- The Lawyer's Cut" (9 p.m., IFC). The Python gang gathers to examine the group's success and its high points in this six-part documentary.
MONDAY:
-- "Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags" (9 p.m., HBO). Only 5 percent of American clothing is made in this country. This documentary explores what happened.
FRIDAY:
-- "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" (7:30 p.m., Cartoon Network). Neil Patrick Harris lends his voice to Batman's newest foe, the Music Meister. Like Britney Spears, he controls our minds with his tunes.
SATURDAY:
-- "Always & Forever" (9 p.m., Hallmark Channel). Barbara Eden plays a meddling mom who thinks she knows best for her single -- and lonely -- daughter.
(E-mail Terry Morrow of The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee at morrow2(at)knews.com.)
TV HILIGHTS
