Year:  2011
Genre:  Comedy, Stand-up
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Jeff Dunham
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

                Jeff Dunham is coming to Ottawa October 23^rd.  He’ll be playing Scotiabank Place.  Seriously.  Scotiabank Place!  That’s Jerry Seinfeld territory!  But Dunham is THAT popular.  In fact, he’s currently the top-selling comedy act in North America, and probably the most successful ventriloquist ever!

     This makes me almost ashamed to admit – I don’t get it.  I just watched Dunham’s stand up special Controlled Chaos, out September 27^th from Paramount Home Entertainment.  I watched it, and I tried to find it funny, and I tried to laugh, but I just don’t get it. 

     He’s got these recognizable characters – Ahmed the dead terrorist.  The jalapeno on a stick.  And he makes them talk.  And he’s good at it.  Like, I can’t see his mouth moving at all.  So…that’s neat for a while.  But I’m not laughing.  And I’m bored.  And I don’t get it at all when the jalapeno says “on a stick” with a Mexican accent and the crowd goes WILD!  I’m confused.  Why is that funny?  That’s not a punchline, or a joke, or even a vaguely amusing observation.  It’s just a description of the puppet that I can already see. 

     I’ve got to say that Jeff Dunham isn’t the only comedian I just don’t get.  People love Dane Cook and Larry the Cable Guy and Robin Williams, but I just sit there in disbelief and scratch my head while I watch my friends roll in the aisles.  Am I the only one who realizes these people aren’t in ANY way funny, or am I the only one not sophisticated enough to grasp the humour?  I’m not sure.  All I know is I feel like I’m being left out of a joke when everyone starts splitting their sides.

     But the masses have spoken and they are not me, and Jeff Dunham is playing Scotiabank Place, and I most certainly am not.  And YOU can pick up Controlled Chaos on DVD and Blu-Ray.  And YOU can win tickets through CHEZ to go SEE him play Scotiabank Place in October.  But I most certainly will not.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 at 7:37 am and is filed under 2011, Comedy, Stand-up. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.