Jeff Dunham is back at Comedy Central with another first-of-its-kind special: I’m With Cupid. If you’re vaguely interested in comedy or ventriloquism, chances are you know the name. Dunham has been in the game for a staggering 53 years, having started with “dummies,” or as he also calls them, “the little people in the box,” at just nine years old. This multifaceted guy also designs and builds his own dummies, leaving plenty of fodder in his path for creative thieves to be inspired by. According to Dunham, this also includes the Disney parks, who he thinks may have been a little too “inspired” by his famous dummy, Achmed.
I recently caught up with Jeff Dunham to discuss I’m With Cupid, and when we stumbled on the subject of being ripped off by other creative entities, he said this about Disneyland:
You know, I'll tell you one that really ticked me off is when the Indiana Jones ride came out in Disneyland. I went on it, loved it. And then there's one part we get through. You know, the part where the blow darts are going past you? There's all those skeletons painted on the wall, like Natives, like skeletons Natives. That is literally Achmed’s face. 85 to 90%.
I don’t know, man… the designs are similar, but is it enough to say that one could have borrowed from the other? The Indiana Jones ride came about in 1995, and it’s too classic to change, so chances are that skeleton design has been the same since. Then again, who knows? Not that Dunham was angry about it, as he went on to explain that he was flattered:
So I always wonder that every once in a while if some artist goes, ‘that's a good looking skeleton, maybe I'll emulate that.’ And then maybe that's what happened in the Disneyland ride. I take it as a compliment.
It’s crazy to think that Jeff Dunham has the time to knock out record-breaking comedy specials on a regular basis, as he is constantly touring, with dates going well into next year. That's not to mention his appearances on several television shows, including The Masked Singer, during which he was aptly paired with a puppet.
That is just another symbol of how effectively Dunham changed the game for ventriloquist/comedians everywhere, having paved the way for the likes of Darcy Lynne and Terry Fator. He is also on our list of one of the best comedy specials to stream on Amazon Prime, even though he doesn’t really consider himself to be a comedian, and would never release a straight stand-up special.
It’s good news for those of us who need their fix of the little people in the box, as Jeff Dunham’s new special I’m With Cupid premieres on Comedy Central tomorrow, February 3, at 8 PM ET. It's a solid way to kick off some comedy for the 2024 TV schedule.
