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 Jeff Dunham mini-bio: The Dallas native has come a long way since breaking into show business at age seven. As an only child, he invented "a menagerie of characters" that helped ease his natural shyness. Dunham began teaching himself ventriloquism with a plastic Mortimer Snerd puppet. His first show was in the third grade. It was for an oral book report on Hansel and Gretel. He recalls, "I spent about three minutes on the book and twenty minutes berating my classmates."It was not until 1975 that Dunham would meet a live ventriloquist, and soon thereafter he would take weekly inspiration from actor/ventriloquist Jay Johnson on "Soap" (1977-81). Having never even seen Edgar Bergen as a child, he learned his craft from books and records. Performances for the local Boy Scouts led to corporate engagements by age twelve. "I'd be in front of the Kiwanis Club making cracks about high-level executives," says Dunham who, to his surprise, was audited by the IRS at age thirteen.
Dunham continued to pursue his career while picking up a degree in Communications from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. "While most people were going out on weekends and partying, I was flying off somewhere to do my show," says Dunham, admitting that, in Waco, he quickly became "somewhat of a big fish in a small pond."
In 1988 he moved to Los Angeles and discovered a much larger pond, one filled with performers whose proficiency in comedy overshadowed his technical skill as a voice thrower. After sharpening his act at the Improv, the Comedy & Magic Club and other comedy venues, Dunham earned his first "Tonight Show" spot in April of 1990, putting the audience on the floor and himself on the couch next to Johnny.
Q. When did you first become interested in ventriloquism?
A. I was a kid in the third grade ... saw a dummy in the toy store. In the '60s and '70s there were a lot of those vinyl ventriloquism dummies, just about every toy store had one … it was just something that I thought was cool. I started doing book reports with it. I developed the skill. I easily got A's on all my reports. It was just something that a little kid grasped on to, so I stuck with it.
Q. What inspired each of your characters?
A. None of them have a similar creation story. Walter ... I figured he would be a good three minutes of the show. I created him thinking that nobody would enjoy a grumpy old character like that. Little did I know, he is an "every man"... everybody has that guy in him.Either they're married to him or he's their father ... but people for some reason love him.Jose the Jalapeño, that's the weirdest story. When I was in college, I was doing a radio campaign on the radio station, and I was doing all the voices of this pizza. Every ingredient on the pizza spoke. And one of them was Jose Jalapeño. He ended up having all the funny lines. So I thought about making a dummy in the act. So I thought, "Why not a Jalapeño on a stick?"With Achmed, sad and scary things were going on in our country –– and still are –– and I thought if I can make fun of those guys (terrorists), there's something people can laugh at in our country. And then the big surprise was that I had no idea it would go worldwide
Q. Since you build the dolls yourself, does that cultivate your affection for the characters?
A. Vent figures vary in every variable imaginable … from materials used to complication of movements, to what type of paint and how it's applied. I construct the characters myself, and much blood, sweat and angst is put into every one of them. Then, and the more difficult part, is creating material and writing the funny stuff. It's easy to get lost behind the doll. People pay attention to the dummy and forget who you are and that you're even there. I do my own stand-up and that's fun, but if somebody said you need to do straight stand-up comedy and you can't use the dummy anymore, I would give up and go into real estate. | VITAL STATS | Jeff Dunham Information:
| | Birth Name: Jeffrey Dunham | | Eye color: Blue | | Hair Color: Brown- Dark | | Height: | | Nickname(s): | | Notable feature(s): Ventriquolist | | Education: Baylor University in Waco, Texas. | Family: Paige Dunhma 1990- 2009 (Divorced)
He has three daughters:
| | Resides in: Encino, California | | Religious affiliations:yet unknown | | Political affiliation:yet unknown | Personal interests/hobbies: Jeff has a passion for helicopters. He has built and flown his own full-sized personal helicopter.
(speaking of his passion for building and flying helicopters) One of my oldest friends said to me once when he was in the passenger seat at 1200 feet, 'I just realized I'm flying in a helicopter built by the same guy who built WALTER. | | Charities/Causes:yet uknown | | Other: | | |
Tay0915posted 232 days ago
