What We Talk About When We Talk About Jeff Dunham
The New York Times had an extensive article in the Sunday Magazine yesterday about your boyfriend, Jeff Dunham. It is a pretty interesting read for both the Jeff Dunham fan and the Jeff Dunham opposite-of-fan. It describes his career trajectory and the ways in which his "comedy" (still not sure about that classification) has surprised TV executives and blah blah blah. You should read it! But if you don't feel like reading it, I have pulled a lot of choice quotes from the article. In a word: yuck!
[Jeff Dunham] quickly realized that a dummy could crack jokes and level insults that he was too shy to touch.
OK, just so we're all on the same page on this: Jeff Dunham is touching those "jokes" and "insults." Because he is writing them. And he is saying them. His hand my be holding a puppet, but that puppet is not alive and that puppet cannot talk. I understand what the reporter is saying here, we all do, but I feel like this is a classic Jeff Dunham feint, and maybe we should not be so quick to justify and absolve and legitimize it. Even he doesn't seem to be able to do that:
He's become a genuine connoisseur of the big, goofy laugh and confessed to me that there are still times Peanut's Chinese routine makes him break character and lose it a little onstage.
He confessed that sometimes the blatant racism in his routine makes him break character and lose it a little onstage? How charming! "Even he can't help but laugh at how stupid Chinese people are." Even Jeff Dunham. He's like a young Jimmy Fallon but, you know, with racism.
Going back to that first quote, I'm also not really sure that I would classify the hesitation to spew unapologetic hate speech on stage as "shyness." It's more like self-preservational common sense, and also a modicum of human decency. He might be an unfunny nightmare with hate in his heart, but he is not a stupid nightmare with hate in his heart! He knows that you can't just say the stuff that he just says. Which of course goes back to the coward thing, but we've already discussed that.
Here are some things we haven't discussed:
Gradually, a lot of Dunham's material has come to reflect his exhaustion with political correctness.
Can we please not pretend like this is a thing? The fight against political correctness is such a nonsensical throwback argument to the early-'90s. No one is pushing for "political correctness" as a decontextualized blindly dogmatic philosophy. What people are pushing for is not pretending that racism and homophobia and misogyny and anti-semitism don't exist, or trying to camouflage these things as "jokes." Suggesting that hate speech is offensive and upsetting and dangerous if used in an unilluminating and...well, hateful way is not "politically correct," it's just correct. If Jeff Dunham wants his puppets to "say" the word nigger, or whatever, he should just do it. That's his constitutionally-protected right. But please, let us not pretend that it has anything to do with a non-existent, hyperbolic, media-created movement from 15 years ago.
But this is the real mind-blower right here:
He defends himself by noting that he tries to insult all races and ethnicities equally, and ultimately seems to treat jokes about all Indians being customer-service operators or all black people drinking malt liquor not all that differently from jokes involving other well-worn comedic tropes -- like all wives being annoying nags or Florida being way too humid.Dunham does concede that he's extra-sensitive to one of his largest constituencies: the conservative "country crowd." "That's why I don't pick on basic Christian-values stuff," he told me. "Well, I also don't like to, because that's the way I was brought up." He then stopped himself short and said: "Oh, boy. I'm walking into something here."
Dunham started to explain -- as if realizing it for the first time -- that this would appear to make the jokes he does about Islam with Achmed "hypocritical." But he quickly unburdened himself of the idea. "I try to make the majority of my audience laugh," he said. "That's my audience. They'll laugh at the dead terrorist."
Uh, yes, Jeff Dunham, you were walking into something there! You try to insult all races and ethnicities equally except for your race and ethnicity? You know what that is called? EXTREME RACISM. "No way, man, I also make fun of women as being the worst." Perfect. I also like that "all Indians are customer-service operators" and "all black people drink malt liquor" are jokes? Those are jokes? Good jokes! Those sound like funny jokes. "A black guy walks into a bar and orders a malt liquor and the bartender says 'would you like any crack with that because of how all black people also smoke crack?'" That's how jokes work, right?
Unbelievable!
Of course, as I have always maintained, the most depressing thing about Jeff Dunham is not Jeff Dunham himself, but the popularity of Jeff Dunham, which is something that we, America, have created. His awfulness would simply be the disgusting rantings of a lonely man if it weren't for us. We do this.
In fact, the jokes that get some of the wildest, loudest reactions aren't really even jokes, just statements. Like when one puppet shouts that all Mexicans should learn English, or when Dunham wishes Walter "Happy Holidays" and Walter responds: "I've been wanting to say this for a couple of years now: Screw you, it's 'Merry Christmas'!" And the crowd doesn't laugh; it riotously applauds. Dunham describes them as moments of "catharsis," when the dummy says something "everyone wants to laugh about, or that you snicker at with one or two friends, but that you could never say out loud."
Shame on us.
The article did contain one pretty epic diss:
J. P. Williams is the Hollywood producer behind the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, which first demonstrated that there was an overlooked and hugely profitable audience for comedy in Middle America, and even he told me he doesn't think Dunham's act is that funny. "His material is pretty soft," Williams said. "If you take away the puppets and close your eyes, there's not really that many jokes there. He's not a comic. He's a ventriloquist. He's got a great gift, and his gift is that he makes stuff talk and he keeps his mouth pretty much closed when he does it."
He is not a comic, he is a ventriloquist who keeps his mouth pretty much closed? Yikes. J.P. Williams is a ZINGtriloquist! Also: agreed!
But perhaps the most problematic paragraph in the whole article was this one:
For weeks, Dunham's handlers had been stressing to me how "multigenerational" his audience is. They were so relentlessly on-message about it that I assumed they were exaggerating -- until I saw it for myself. It was an odd kind of diversity: the crowd at the Prairie Capital was almost entirely white, but other than that, I was hard pressed to find a phrase to describe even a majority. Maybe "not thin."
Really, New York Times? A tossed-off remark about Jeff Dunham fans' weight? This is seriously why middle America hates the New York Times, and why Rush Limbaugh and pals win. What a lazy, poorly thought out comment! Did all the editors get fired last week and this article just got rushed straight to print? No one thought "hey, let's not call all of Jeff Dunham's millions of fans, who often view the New York Times as antagonistic, Communist propaganda, fat for no reason since it has absolutely nothing to do with any of the genuine problems that Jeff Dunham's popularity poses, such as the resurgence of a self-congratulatory type of bigotry that wears its hatred as a badge of honor. Just a bunch of silly fatsos? Perfect.
This is going to be a long, protracted culture war! Well, not that long, I guess. Two years.
Posted by Gabe at 10:45 AM in Backlashes
Tags: Homophobia | Jeff Dunham | Misogyny | New York Times | Puppets | Racism
"Gradually, a lot of Dunham's material has come to reflect his exhaustion with political correctness."
NO IT DOESN'T
HE HIDES BEHIND PUPPETS
AND THAT'S THE MOST PATHETIC THING TO HIDE BEHIND.
Fuck off, come back, then fuck off again, Dunham.
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TWSS
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I'm not sure someone dressed up as a horny-clown-faced-bear-man is allowed to talk about someone hiding behind a puppet.
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What do you mean "dressed up as"
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I didn't know who this Jeff Dunham guy was until Videogum. I don't know if I can forgive you for introducing him to me.
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I like to think Jeff Dunham uses his puppets as his own personal Shake Weight. And he also likes to ventrilo-kiss them. . . with his penis.
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as i am sure WE ALL know, boggarts assume the form of whatever your greatest fear is, i.e. deeply unfunny, wildly racist and regressive ventriloquists. in order to counter the boggart, we must imagine that thing we fear doing something totally absurd, in order to make us laugh at it, which will disorient it, which will allow us to zap it with our magic wands.
duh. that's defense against the dark arts 101. i don't have to tell you all this.
therefore, let us ALL follow jawbone's example and imagine jeff dunham in a very passionate embrace with any of his puppets, whispering sweet nothings into its foam ears as the sweat from their unholy coitus dries. that way, he will become disoriented and we can zap him with our magic wands and hopefully send him back into the cultural wardrobe from which he was accidentally released.
mischief managed! accio remote control!
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Wingardium Leviosa votes!
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That is not Defense Against the Dark Arts 101, that's year 3 level shit. But yeah I understand. Personally my boggart turns into Fire Demons but Jeff Dunham also sucks.
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hlebby, do i need to remind you of how deficient quirrell and lockhart were in their teaching abilities?
it wasn't until lupin that they finally learned something, and he just happened to come during their 3rd year. for all you know, boggarts are 1st year stuff but they had never had a robin williams for their dead poets society.
don't force me to bite you very hard on the butt.
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When the producer behind the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, the man who gave LARRY THE CABLE GUY a job, criticizes you for not telling enough professional-level jokes, you have got some serious fucking problems.
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The "Don't blame me, because that's how Middle America feels" argument is upsetting for two reasons:
1. It's the biggest cop-out in the history of cop-outs.
2. It's probably true.
This will be someone's sociology dissertation. Maybe mine.
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I hate it because there are many, many perfectly nice and good and not racist people in "Middle America" who value culture and intellegence just as much as the next American. Shitwads like Jeff Dunham, someone who claims to speak for Middle America, just make the cultural divide in this country even worse. I speak as someone who grew up in Texas and recently moved to the East Coast. I am socially liberal and am politcally in tune with the majority here, but the cultural elitism makes me gag. When someone shoots me the shankeye when I tell them where I'm from and they laugh at my "y'all"s, I just want to scream and move back home. Seriously, Gabe's not kiddin' about them culture wars.
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Of course, I also want to move back home for the readily available firearms, my beloved cow farm, the persecutin' of the gays, the casual racism, and the daily prisoner executions (the best is when the prison runs out of lethal injections and the crowd gits to bludgeon 'im to death instead). But I assumed that was implied.
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Don't forget drunk driving in our big-ass pickup trucks. That shit is fuuuun.
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Let's not forget the formal racism, too. Nothing looks better than a racist joke in a suit.
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You kind of beat me to it, with this comment. I totally feel you, because when I'm at home in the midwest I get sick of the ignorant bigots all the time. But whenever I hear the same from East coasters I get defensive. Because there are plenty of non-bigots out here. There are actually some pretty awesome people out here. So I kind of don't know what side I'm on some times.
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as a southerner, i have this to add: we in the south live with our history of slavery, institutionalized racism, and fucked up social constructs every day. it's on the table in practically every conversation we have. and we are also well aware that everywhere else in the US looks down at us for being a bunch of fucked up assholes, which, in a way, we play up but we also own up to it in a lot of ways. sometimes i wonder if that's true in other places in the US- i mean, people up north seem to pretend that they don't have the same level of bigotry that we have, or that somehow they're just more evolved than us because they happened to outlaw slavery a few decades before we did. it annoys me, mainly because i feel like we deal with it. we sit around and talk about it. i don't know if that conversation happens in places more "advanced" than the south.
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As a person that has experienced racism in a multitude of forms and witnessed it in others still, I can safely say it is alive and well across America, most people are too willing to ignore it or ignore the feelings/actions perpetrated by themselves.
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oh, yeah. i am also consistently pissed off at this whole "we are living in a post-racial era because we elected a black man president!" it's just another way for large segments of our population to completely dismiss our frankly racially divided society and use one success story to pat ourselves on the back. not to mention that it reinforces all these fucked up ideas we have about how we live in a barrier free society now, which is a complete joke that only middle class and up white people believe anyhow. and michael steele. but he's just a big ole dummy anyhow.
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To be fair. It's not as if the South simply "outlawed slavery a few decades later" than the North. They actually fought a huge bloody war over it and had to be dragged kicking and screaming to outlaw it. #historicalaccuracy
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oh, thanks, i wasn't aware of that!
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It was a bit more complicated than that.
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STATES' RIGHTS!
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Here we go. The Civil War was about a lot of things AND slavery. The southern US was/is still a resource-rich land not to mention ports and trade routes to other nations and territories, and it's no coincidence that this war began after the Industrial Revolution in Europe, but before industry was widespread across the US. In the decades preceding the war, the US was changing from largely agricultural to largely industrial, and the southern states were losing money/political sway. The southern states didn't want to abolish slavery because less agricultural production=less money=less power in the relatively newly established United States. And that's definitely not a defense or rationalization for slavery, it's just a more in-depth view than "The South hated black folks."
Also, let's not pat ourselves on the back for abolishing slavery until it's no longer practiced the world over. I'm looking at you, India and Pakistan.
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The South totally did hate black folks, though.
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yes. a lot of the south did. some of the south still does. but some of the north does as well. and the west. and the northwest, and the southwest. we are all pretty much equally populated by dirtbags. i mean, the state with the highest population of KKK is pennsylvania at this point, and the only place that i know of that has done a truth and reconciliation movement around slavery and jim crow has been greensboro, north carolina. so the south versus the north in regards to dealing with racism used as a monolithic trope is pretty much false at this point. we haven't dealt with all our demons but every day i feel like we are getting a little closer.
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southernbitch has it right. I've lived in Virginia, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Colorado, and PA had by far the worst open, public, institutional racism of any state where I've lived or visited. It was uncanny. It's been years since I've lived in the South, even though all my family is still there, but I still love it, and I'll defend the South especially in these sorts of blanket-statement situations. Racism is no more prevalent in the South than it is all over our country. Just try bringing up immigration in a lot of western states. You're black, you're cool; you're white, you're cool; you're brown? GTFO.
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All of those people are dead now.
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All of your face is dead now.
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I'm loving this thread. So very true. And it's why Jeff Dunham is a double douchebag--not only is it belittling to a huge portion of Southerners and Middle Americans to assume that we find this kind of thing funny, but it also embraces such a fucking false assumption, that the majority being racist makes racism ok? Or something? Wrong on both counts, dickhead.
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As a fellow southerner, I completely agree. Some old friends who live in the north, while saying to me things like "Obama is who the terrorists wanted to win", think that by virtue of living in the North, they're not racist but entitled to say truly racist things. I know that's not everyone but it's frustrating to see the South get painted with one brush stroke when racism exists literally everywhere and at least in the South there is an awareness. Case in point: read Jonathan Kozol's "The Shame of the Nation". 98% of NYC public schools are either 99% white or 99% minority. That racial segregation exists so starkly in such a liberal place is startling, especially when here in Nashville, there's been a huge lawsuit based on redistricting one school. Nashville is a blue city, but it's not as blue as NYC, and it truly makes me wonder what the eff is going on. Now, I'll end my rant so I have some left over for the TWMOAT.
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One thing I think a lot of people don't realize is that because the north didn't have to integrate like the south did after segregation was outlawed, nothing about the de facto segregation in the north has ever changed. Schools are a good example of that, like you mentioned, and there are plenty of other places, like the real estate industry, where things are still very much kept segregated in the north.
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And lemonne, thank you for sharing this "Real American" gif with us.
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You're welcome.
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Agreed. From now on I think we should try to free "Middle America" from its geographical meaning and change it to just mean "Ignorant Asshole America"--I mean, if Sarah Palin gets to claim fucking ALASKA as being Middle America, the whole concept of tying the term to geography is pretty much boned.
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Yes.
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I have the same experience as a southerner who moved to the northeast. In Europe I never got shit for the "y'alls" (the last remnant of my accent I haven't been able to shake) because I guess that's how they think all Americans talk, but here it's like the pink elephant in the room when I let one slip. Like a palpable "Everyone Notice That She Is Not Really One of Us." There are many things to love about the South, but asshats like Jeff Dunham make some people's latent racism the only thing that is noticed, and it reflects badly on all of us. He gets the biggest Fuck You Award of all time.
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I'm also from Texas, and moreover I went to the same [crappy] [Baptist] [but I repeat myself] college that Jeff Dunham did and I know this because of the saddest thing in the world: At the office of the apartment manager, there were three autographed photos of Jeff and Peanut hanging on the wood paneled wall behind her desk. :(
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(thanks I've been to the top of it those were heady days)
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OH! I could kiss you for that comment. Wait... why not? *SMACK!*
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I had the exact same experience as you moving from Texas to Boston. They called me "Tumbleweed" and told me that I wasn't allowed to vote democrat. It was all joking and in good fun, but it sucks that people have those views about everyone from the area. I ended up moving back anyway because I thought my cousin was cheating on me.
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Obvs there are people in "Middle America" who like this crap. But I grew up in Indiana, I live in Ohio, and myself and many people I know are so fucking tired of hearing ignorant and brainless people like Jeff Dunham assign this region of the country, full of MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of different, individual brains, these moronic traits and preferences just to justify their mindless idiocy. Yes there are lots of people in America. There are bound to be bottom-feeders in that huge area you generalize.
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And of course, when I said "Middle America," I meant it as a state of mind, not as a specific location. I know there are folks in the geographic location who cannot abide this shit either.
My apologies if the brush was too broad.
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This reminds me of the Seth McFarlane quote, trying to explain why Family Guy is funny: "Because [Peter] is so oblivious. You’re not laughing at rape; you’re laughing at him being an idiot.' This is such a copout in so many ways, and while I do not believe McFarlane is what Jeff Dunham is, I think this is how Dunham might explain his comedy, too.
Both of them project their own sense of humor and politics, (McFarlane, rape jokes and blanket liberalism; Dunham, racism and blanket conservatism), through devices, be they cartoons or puppets, as a means of deflecting the blame. Dunham's own prejudices would have a tougher time gaining an audience if it was just him up there. The puppets are a gimmick, (and a cheap one at that,) used solely to deflect his "upbringing"? and his "Christian values"? to gain general acceptance.
Of course all comedians do this. But the talented ones have expanded outside of themselves, crafted different characters to expose, or even explore, deep rooted racial tensions/ugliness in our society. Then, the audience laughs at the absurdity of our condition, rather than one dude's yuks about Islam. Jeff Dunham just feels content in the latter category, projecting his own prejudices and myopic perspective to the masses.
That his audience is so big for his scope being so small is absolutely beyond me. He speaks for no one but himself.
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to be fair, I bet the dummies themselves are a bit costly. at least for the average joe the ventriloquist. but i also agree with you.
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your face is probably true.
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This is something i would like to share on my facebook, so the few friends i have who like jeff dunham can read this and re-evaluate their lives. unfortunately...they are jeff dunham fans, so i'm sure most of this would go over their heads.
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A dumb racist fisting a racist dummy.
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How would he make fun of the conservative "country crowd"? There's absolutely nothing hilarious about them. I'm sure he's tried and tried, but there's just no jokes there.
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Their real life is a joke. Just look at skoalrebel.
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Jeff Dunham is just really sensitive to white people's feelings, you guys. They've got it pretty rough these days.
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Yeah, and it's okay, because he also makes jokes about women. Such originality!
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Women be shopping.
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Sometimes I try and tell myself that my dad is hard of hearing, and he just laughs at Dunham's jokes when he sees the camera shot of the crowd laughing.
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I am constantly surprised at how many people I respect like Jeff Dunham. They say, "Have you seen this guy? He's hilarious!" I've seen it with educated east-coasters, and progressive west-coasters alike. Dads, bookish relatives, and people I thought were just smarter than that.
The people talking about 30 Rock in this comment thread are right. Last week's episode is poignant in two ways: 1. What America Wants (and can profit from), and 2. There aren't two Americas. It doesn't matter where you live in the states, you're no more "real" of an American than the other person. It takes something like Jeff Dunham to reveal how much bigotry pervades every part of this country.
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When I first got to college, I was hoping I could leave the relatively uneducated trappings of high school and find fellow people who liked Daniel Day-Lewis, Radiohead and 30 Rock.
The fact that I've watched Secret Girlfriend threw those hopes out of the window.
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I thought that too in college (oh those many years ago before Kid A!!!). Don't worry, you'll find them in adulthood. Adulthood rocks!
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(Adulthood does not rock.)
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Your comment makes me :(. "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined." - Thoreau
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Depends on the adult.
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UGH!
There is so much ugh here that I can't find place to begin. Except I can find a place to begin, and that place is the somewhere that he decides that he doesn't make fun of Christians because of the way he was brought up! Dear Jeff; Jesus, a man who spoke Aramaic and lived in the middle east, looked a lot more like the Islamic terrorists that you hate than he did like you or your audience! And then he was killed by a bunch of people and he looked more like that terrorist puppet you have that's a skeleton! And I
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...I got cut off. Character limit?
...And I
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...love Jesus! I am basically Jeff Mangum in King of Carrot Flowers Pt. II! Jeff, you are not picking on Christian-values stuff, you are making a mockery of what Christian values ought to look like by spewing very many hateful and untrue things about very many people!
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Neutral Milk Hotel upvote!
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It's okay, the break in your comments added suspense.
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woot
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"ultimately seems to treat jokes about all Indians being customer-service operators or all black people drinking malt liquor not all that differently from jokes involving other well-worn comedic tropes -- like all wives being annoying nags"
Because all wives being annoying nags is A TRUTH UNIVERSALLY ACKNOWLEDGED and not all offensive. Jeff Dunham = SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER. But through puppets.
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And Florida is HUMID. That just nails Florida to the wall, right there. This is why Florida has to ride in the back of the bus and get denied promotions. THE HUMIDITY.
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Florida from Good times?
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Florida, from Good Times?
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Bad Times.
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Oh the humidity!
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One of my friends is a big fan of Jeff Dunham and whenever I've tried to explain that I don't find his dumb jokes and horrible racist attitude funny she says I'm being an elitist. This is the same person who said she doesn't "understand" David Cross. I need a new friend.
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One of my friends is a big fan of Jeff Dunham and whenever I've tried to explain that I don't find his dumb jokes and horrible racist attitude funny she says I'm being an elitist. This is the same person who said she doesn't "understand" David Cross. I need a new friend.
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Oh god, I hate the 'elitist' card. It's like, hey stop lynching that person! That's wrong! STOP BEING SO ELITIST
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there is nothing more folksy and down to earth than beating up gay people or keeping people of other races from advancing based on your own insecurity in your social position. NOTHING!
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I think Jeff Dunham and Jeff Foxworthy are a lot alike. The difference, however, is that Foxworthy plays to his audience's insecurities (like a lot of great comics do); Dunham plays to his audience's prejudices and hate (like a lot of good dictators do).
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This is an important distinction to make, because I think a lot of people just lump Dunham in with the "Blue Collar" guys. Foxworthy made his money being self-deprecating, and more or less making fun of his own audience. The closest Dunham gets to that is his redneck character (the one that was on 30 Rock), but from what I've been able to sit through of his act, it seems that character is not self-deprecating and making fun of rednecks, but rather used as a vessel to make fun of every other race, gender, and creed in a funny hick accent. Infinite downvotes, Jeff Dunham.
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Gabe, you said everything I could have hoped to say.
Except this: Florida be humid. You can't stop a Florida from being humid.
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making jokes about racism is one thing. making racist jokes is another thing. jeff dunham is unfortunately really good at doing one of these things, and he is also too fucking stupid to know which one it is.
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God, THANK YOU for tearing into the "PC" BS again. Even in the 90s, the nonstop crowing of every bigot that he was "politically incorrect" was fucking annoying; now it's also insane. I would love for someone to explain to me the difference between saying things that are racist and saying things that are "politically incorrect." Oh wait, I got it—if you say it out of the side of your mouth, in a high-pitched voice, it is "politically incorrect."
(Please note also that if you can't help but laugh at racist things that YOU WROTE IN ADVANCE, which CAME OUT OF YOUR OWN MOUTH, and which are also NOT ACTUALLY JOKES, you are not just racist, you are FUCKING RIDICULOUS and POSSIBLY INSANE.)
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Yes, I agree as well. The term "politically incorrect" or "correct" needs to be KILLED WITH FIRE. People only use them to act like the world is victimizing them by controlling their God given right to free speech. Speech which is hate speech. So basically these people complain that the 'politically correct' fascists victimize them for victimizing others. Poor guys.
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Most people who still use either term tend to get them mixed up, anyway... "You don't like Jeff Dunham? Aw, stop tryin' to act so politically incorrect!"
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The thing I never understand about political correctness is that it seems to be something that is hated only by people that it really has no control over. Like the article made it seem like when one of Jeff Dunham's puppets talks about wanting all Mexicans to learn English, it's a "moment of catharsis" for the audience because it's something they could never ever say. Huh? Have they ever heard a conservative talk show host before? It's all they ever fucking talk about. They literally spend about 2 hours every day complaining about Mexicans learning English (in the South, it's about eight hours) to the point where you'd think it'd be a "moment of catharsis" if they, you know, just stopped giving a shit about it. And those people are on the fucking radio, not on a porch in Louisiana. So, basically, what they are saying is Jeff Dunham says what his audience can't, but definitely has, ad nauseum, for as long as they can remember.
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"black people drinking malt liquor" = "Florida being way too humid"?
My head hurts. My heart hurts.
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yeah, insinuating that stereotyping a racial group is just like making jokes about the weather is a logical leap that i fail to understand. isn't there like a basic rule that says if you could put a racial epithet in place of the punchline you shouldn't make the joke? or maybe i just know that rule because i'm a white girl from the south and these are things you get told when you're a kid. maybe we could just fix this whole jeff dunham thing by sending him to my grandmother's house, where she could school him on how to be polite and racially sensitive.
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He's totally talking about Flo Rida, he of Apple Bottom jeans and furry boots appreciation. That guy is humid!
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That's just science right there.
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the timing of the Dunhamanon fits nicely with teabaggers doesn't it?
better start making my TEAM GABE shirts for when the coming Dunham wars start.
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This is why 30 Rock was so genious last week
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but it left me so confused (can't think of a better word).
on one hand, there is no way anyone involved in that show finds him funny, so clearly everything they say about him is insulting or a back-handed compliment.
on the other hand, as stupid as jeff dunham probably is, i cannot conceive him being so naive as to not catch on to the fact that they are not just making fun of the character he plays in the episode, but the also character he plays in real life that the character on the show is based on.
my mind grapes hurt...
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Couldn't it just be that as stupid as Jeff Dunham is he knows two things: 1. His audience will not watch 30 Rock and/or catch on to the fact that he/they are the butt of the joke. 2. He wants all the leprechaun's gold. If he were the hedgehog, he would only know one of these things.
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a guest spot on a network show is golden publicity when you have your own comedy central show starting... even in a mocking context it gives him a level of legitimacy that makes my stomach hurt. :-(
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I'm guessing the guy who's happy to make money by cracking racist jokes out the side of his mouth is also happy to make money by letting "elitists" make fun of him.
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Right, because this is a TV show? And between "television scene takes" (source: wikipedia) Jeff Dunham and Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin were just like hanging out?
MAYBE EVEN KISSING?
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I can absolutley see him being that naieve
Score = 2
I'm interested in a response to this (I have a poorly worded opinion on it but will keep silent for now (or maybe FOREVER!)): what is the difference between someone like Jeff Dunham and someone like Lisa Lampanelli, aside from how one might be objectively funnier than the other? Do most people hate both, or like one and hate the other?
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I think they're both terrible.
Score = 5
see reply below
Score = 0
I'm going to buy tickets to his next comedy show, sneak backstage and fill all of his puppets with farts.
Score = 18
Do you really want to put money into his pocket?
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Not really. But I do really want to put farts in his puppets.
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LOLOLOLOL. I love Videogum.
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I hope you ride this comment on a wave of upvotes all the way to the Ball.
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LOL there's lots of caps and yelling in this thread.
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SHUT THE FUCK UP!!
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This is probably the only time someone saying "Shut the fuck up" has ever actually made me laugh. Mysteries are all around us.
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*To me. Surely someone saying Shut the fuck up to someone else has made me LOL.
Score = 12
If I could give a blog post a standing ovation, I'd be standing in my cubicle clapping right now.
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Oh, NYT, thanks for proving Liz Lemon is correct: All God's children are terrible.
I just want to sit in peace and eat a sandwich, with no chuckle.
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I know racism is really evil, but if there is one thing The New York Times has taught me, its that fat people are worse.
Score = 56
Says Ricky Gervais
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Absolutely Flabulous.
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Absolutely Flabulous
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stupid internet connection. downvote, me.
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Hey, if you can't say something nice about Jeff Dunham, then why aren't you going out and putting food on the starving children? Everyone's entitled to their opinion, so knock it off, already!
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Lol you're retardgum of the day
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Hey, if you can't say something nice about this post, then why aren't you going out and putting food on the starving children? Everyone's entitled to their opinion, so quit being all hypocritical already!
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I better go put some food on the starving children now myself, since I couldn't say anything nice about your comment.
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It's okay, Petepetepete, I see what you did there.
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What are you talking about? I was being absolutely serious and not at all trying to be ironic for satiric effect. STOP MAKING FUN OF MY RACIST VENTRILOQUIST BOYFRIEND!!!
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But seriously folks, thanks cizmad, and Angelaaaaaaaaaaaaa, I was making fun of this person: http://videogum.com/user/93241-opinions%20vary
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Lemme try again:
"Hey, if you can't say something nice about Jeff Dunham, then why aren't you going out and putting food on the starving children? Everyone's entitled to their opinion, so knock it off, already, and I'm a stupid moron, and my butt smells, and I like to smell my own butt.">"
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andrew, don't interrupt!
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So according to his logic, I guess "all ventriloquists are racist assholes." I have to go back and re-watch Howdy Doody and Lamb Chop...
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Lambchop hated the Irish.
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Oh, Lamb Chop! Upvotes for reminding me that there was one amusing, totally not-at-all creepy ventriloquism act in the world. Miss you Shari Lewis.
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Gabe you ending that passage with 'two years' reminded me of the (perfect) movie Total Recall in which Arnold S. (your boyfriend/politician) is wearing a robot-old lady suit and keeps saying TWO WEEKS over and over again. so thanks for that. also look at how fat Jeff D-bombs got.
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Dunham’s ventriloquist friends.
I just love that phrase.
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I'm sick and tired of the 'middle America' generalization. Other than the fact that we all live on farms, we're just like the rest of America.
Score = 1
you need two new friends.
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this was supposed to go up way further, in response to the double post. It wasn't a funny joke anyway. I've officially become Gallagher. *smashes watermelon*
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Lisa Lampanelli makes fun of her own weight, age, ethnicity, appearance, sexual failures, etc. It’s safe to assume Lampanelli has taken some hurtful lumps in her day. This difference is all-important. Her handlers dubbed her (a little forcedly) the "lovable queen of mean," because she gets her "victims" to laugh with her in a spirit of shared absurdity: anyone in the audience is fair game, and her jokes are, as you say, actually clever (even though based on the crudest stereotypes). Her message is clear: We all can get made fun of cruelly, so laugh it up, but you’re next. Contrast Jeff Dunham’s audience. They are not there to laugh at themselves and others, they are there to laugh at others only, and Jeff is there to let them off the hook.
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I don't know holding "SUP FAGS, I LIKE BLACK DICK HA!" Lampanelli as an ideal is something I can go along with, I agree that she isn't appealing to terrible aspects of humans like Dunham, but how about comedians be funny? Of course, I guess I'm not her audience, but she's really off putting to me.
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Maybe you're just too PC.
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Linux, actually.
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I bet her nickname was "Hurtful Lumps"
Go on, Comedy Central, give me a puppet and a fucking show.
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I'm convinced Jeff Dunham is mentally retarded and thinks that the puppets are real and are really talking. If that is the case SHAME ON YOU AMERICA FOR LAUGHING AT THIS MAN'S "HUMOR" WHEN YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN HELPING HIM.
Score = 18
I take comfort in the phrase, "this too shall pass". Jeff Dunham reminds me a lot of Carlos Mencia. Both relied heavily on racial stereotypes to make trite jokes and observations that other comedians had already made a million times. Both were unfortunately rewarded for their mediocrity by comedy central with their own show. And although Carlos Mencia did go on for several horrible seasons, eventually it did end. This will too, hopefully in less time.
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I hope! Carlos Mencia was even worse because he gave permission to every awful cracker to say racially ugly crap while hiding behind "hey that Mexican dude says it, why can't I?" Dunham is just another racially/culturally tone-deaf douche who honestly doesn't get it. I truly believe he believes his protestations. That's the worst kind of monster.
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but even with insightful use of supposed hate speech/slurs will result in people using words they should not. dave chappelle is a good example. i think it was the beginning of the second season, before he did the "niggar family" sketch, where he said that white people would come up to him on the street and say "...something something n*****..." and he was taken aback by peoples comfort in using that word just because he used it on tv.
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I think Dunham came into his show with a much larger existing fanbase, though, so we may be stuck with him longer. And as horrifically awful as Carlos Mencia is (I had seriously almost forgotten about him, so thanks for bringing that hot mess right back to the front of my mind), at least he was willing to make fun of himself (or half of himself, because wasn't he supposedly half-white?). Granted he was making fun of himself if in an offensive, terribly unfunny way, but point still stands. BUT I do really really hope you're right on this! Because I get angry even having to watch the ads!
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Watching Jeff Dunham's comedy must be what it's like to experience a Dementor attack. I know I thought I would never be cheerful again.
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you elitists don't get it: THEY'RE PUPPETS!!! duh!
he's only horribly prejudiced against puppets from different backgrounds.
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Jeff Dunham doesn't care about black puppets.
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Jeff Dunham and Willie Tyler should meet at the White House for Puppet Beer.
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whoops, I just read the article. I meant character beer
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I am pissed off that no one will write an outright condemning article about him. I understand that NYT has to maintain a certain level of objectivity in order to remain "credible," but they clearly feel some sense of opposition to his act, yet the biggest bone they throw us is "Maybe it’s offensive to you. Maybe you’re just bored." Jeff Dunham is certainly not society's biggest problem, but if you're going to write a fucking 5-page article on the guy, then do the complexity of his embedded racism some justice! He is basically making it okay to subscribe to homophobia, xenophobia, racism, and jingoism as long as it's cute! Shame on NYT, shame on America.
Score = 11
Maybe if they condemned him via hilarious puppet it would be more palatable to a general audience??
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I'm sure elmo could think of some things to say to him!
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As someone who was raised on "basic Christian values stuff", I find it very un-Christian to make hurtful jokes about people based on race/gender (something they were born into) or culture (something they celebrate). Christ totes wants us to love our neighbors as ourselves - and not just the neighbors that look and act like us - even the neighbors on other blocks far, far away.
Score = 35
"Christ totes wants us to love our neighbors as ourselves"
The tagline for our era.
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I am in no way advocating violence, but I must admit, I would be curious to see what would happen to Jeff Dunham if he were standing around outside a club in Torrance after performing his act.
Score = 2
Why Torrance? I was born in Torrance.
Listen, gummers, I've been wading through the comments on this article and allowing the nutrients to soak into my skin. I liked reading that several of you are from Texas, Ohio, and other places that get co-opted by the Big Dumb America Concept expoused by Palin et al. I know better, but I still love knowing that people like you, people like ME, exist out there everywhere in America. We are on the right side of history. We will eventually win. I love you, videogummers.
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Look, I appreciate that Jeff Dunham sucks and says offensive things, but I still think you are being too hard on him. I think a big part of his appeal is that his act exposes these negative ideas as ridiculous while justifying and validating the emotions at their roots. It's an Archie Bunker kind of thing. The audience knows he's wrong but also that he's kind of right, and they have to examine that conflict inside of themselves.
Of course, I'm not suggesting that all or even most of the audience is doing that consciously; I just don't think you're giving them enough credit.
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And just to clarify, I don't mean that the stereotypes he caricatures are "kind of right." I mean that his understanding of his audience's feelings about things hits a pocket of truth. It doesn't mean that they're necessarily hateful, but they are certainly conflicted.
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You're right, dunham's audience could never have such involving and introspective ethical self-debates consciously.
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That's the root of the problem for me though. I really don't think there is much, if any, self-awareness in the vast majority of the audience. I think the stereotypes and racism that Dunham's act brings out only reinforces these stereotypes in people's minds. There's no self-awareness when he makes a joke like that, and the reaction is "Haha, he's right. Muslims ARE pretty hateful," or "Hey, Mexicans ARE pretty damn lazy and should learn English."
If Dunham treated the values and belief systems of his main fanbase's demographics (Christianity, conservatism, etc.) in the same way, I don't believe he would be getting the same reactions from them. The audience wants to be placated, not challenged or forced to be self-aware.
Score = 7
Like I said, I don't think you're giving them enough credit.
Score = 1
Norman Lear was a good enough writer and human being to show Archie Bunker for what he was, narrow-minded and flawed. There is no self-awareness or empathy in the people laughing at Jeff Dunham or in Jeff Dunham's "writing", and that's the difference.
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And I know you aren't.
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How is a person who finds his act funny being self-aware (aware of the human condition) or empathetic? Credit should be given for what?
Score = 2
Credit for being human. For maybe being decent, possibly conflicted people with maybe a modicum of complexity in their tastes and opinions. We are talking about millions of people here, Perhaps some of them deserve the benefit of the doubt.
You know, it's easy to see something like this, something that looks tacky and obnoxious and broad and simplistic, and just assume the worst about the people who enjoy it; just jump directly to the conclusion that all of Jeff Dunham's fans are lazy, stupid, simpleminded, mouth-breathing hicks with "no self-awareness or empathy," but that's unfair. It's lazy to look past the possibility that maybe there is something else in his act that we're missing. Something that speaks to them on a different level that's not apparent to those of us who scoff.
I don't like Jeff Dunham, but I can see ways that his act might be cathartic to a person harboring guilt for having latent thoughts and feelings that they know are frowned upon by society. It doesn't seem to me that any of his caricatures of cultural stereotypes are meant to reinforce those stereotypes; they are too silly and ridiculous. What they might do is tell a person who is conflicted that it's okay to laugh at themselves and the world.
Sure, there are probably a lot of real assholes in the crowd at Dunham shows, and most of the audience lacks sophistication, but they are human. They hold a a full range of human complexities, and they deserve a little of the empathy that you seem to think them incapable of.
Score = 5
I agree with what you're saying with one exception: Catharsis implies change as a result. I'm not sure these people laugh about this stuff and then leave the arena thinking, "Hey, why DID I laugh at those horrible one-dimensional stereotypes?" And as far as laughing at themselves, I don't think there's any of that in Dunham's act. He admits it himself. He won't go there, so he (they) don't have to examine the final crucial part of the puzzle, which is, "Someone else could say the same shit about me, and it wouldn't be any more true." Hence, no self-awareness.
Score = 2
Well, I'm not saying Dunham's comedy is transformative. It sucks. There is an interesting dynamic created by Dunham's shyness to directly mock his core audience; the cathartic self-examination is entirely an internal one. I also don't think most of the audience is necessarily entirely conscious of it, but that doesn't mean it isn't happening. It also doesn't mean they are not self-aware. We all enjoy some silly, shallow shit from time to time without getting all Chuck Klosterman about it.
Score = 3
when the ventriloquism gang wars that Mr. Show predicted hit, that softball of a comedian is the first one to go
Score = 3
thank you, gabe
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Seconded. Posts like this are why I love Videogum.
Score = 2
he is the putin behind the medvedev!
sorry, the russian....
Score = 1
Jeff Dunham is the poor man's Otto and George
Score = 1
Way too PC
Score = 16
Jeeze Gabe, stop being so politically correct. Now get your KKK uniform on, I hear Tom Cruise is hosting this rally.
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[IMG]http://www.mywii.com.au/img/gallery/normal/8PYYM9WR.jpg[/IMG]
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[img]http://www.mywii.com.au/img/gallery/normal/8PYYM9WR.jpg[/img]
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South Park should do a show about Jeff Dunham. It would be a potentially hilarious way for them to re-engergize their show by being irreverent and relevant a la the "Cartoon Wars" episodes.
(I still kind of care about South Park)
Score = 9
Also, the caption to every Jeff Dunham picture: "HaGULP, I sure hope these puppets don't say anything racist today!"
Score = 3
What is this; a republican site? Post only comments that agree with you? Where is my post?
Score = -3
The people who view Dunham as a racist are dummies. He's a comedian just like that ass-hole Jamie Foxx; now that's a racist.
Score = -3
I hate jeff dunham and think he is incredibly unfunny, but his racism isnt too much different from "jokes" on south park, family guy, etc. that don't really take as much heat
Score = 0
I really think South Park has been phoning it in for the last few years, and they're often too preachy, but they have a point of view. Their better "message" episodes have obviously had deliberate thought put into them, much more than "black people are lazy!"
Family Guy isn't and will never be in the same ballpark as South Park, so there's no point in comparing them.
Score = 3
I still basically love South Park even though I think they resort to a graphic depiction of violence in every episode for a shock laugh. I've wondered, though, if their 11 year anti-semitic joke has actually inspired people to rip on jews more than they might have otherwise. I think one of the creators is jewish, so I have a feeling the intent isn't to be hostile to jews. They probably want to be able to say to anyone else whose religion they rip on, "Look we make fun of jews all the time, so we're even," but I wonder if they've made people feel comfortable with hearing or saying really anti-semitic shit because they've been playing that card from their first season. It's kind of like Mother Night, right?! Mother Night is great.
Score = 2
Here’s the problem I have, and this going to come across bad considering I rubbed Gabe the wrong way earlier. Actually, first I’d like to say that I find the fucker hilarious and gifted and more serious writer than he may see himself. I mean Eggers gets his dick sucked regularly for writing about cutesy middle-age high-brow snark usually directed at people a lot less deserving than creepy pedophiles who sing on You Tube. But (here comes the but) to me the logic of this tirade is ultimately flawed and clouded with anger and an off putting tone that gives way too much credit to Gabe’s ability to acknowledge his own intolerance. Gabe makes his living ridiculing everything with an occasional pit stop to big-up Madmen or Thursday night TV or, again, losers who devote themselves to shit Gabe deems at best silly and at worst this puppet guy. It’s a constant deconstruction of the million ways this world is stupid, celebrity obsessed, untalented, misguided, crazy, and yes fat. Go through this site and try to tell me that there aren’t jokes that feature individual’s physical appearances/choice of lifestyle. And good for these jokes; dub-stepping fatties, midi-rock magicians and Corey Feldman are all clown-shoes and deserve low profile ridicule that get a lot of the people through their workday. But how come when race enters into the equation do we all have to stop what we are doing and lose our collective minds? Or even homosexuality – a lifestyle that may or may not be a choice, and by that definition, open to ridicule at least 50 percent of the time based on the standards you’ve set Gabe? Standards that claim people’s decisions make them fair game for ridicule. Juggalos choose, your boyfriend chooses, homosexuals and heterosexuals debatably choose, why not make fun of them? Two fat gay Juggalos involved in pillow - talk would be hilarious. But wouldn’t it also fall into Jeff (whatever his name is) humor? And I’m absolutely sure it would be dealt with by some stand-in voice of the author and get all kinds out comments, up-votes and best of end of the week plaudits. Not to mention
So I guess, in a round about way, what I’m saying is that the New York Times calling puppet guy’s fans fat or puppet guy calling black people enthusiasts of the Double Malt is, in many cases right on. And for some people fat and happy is actually happy and the Colt 45 wide-mouths are the best beverages for balmy nights in Bodymore Murderland.
Gabe, you are, in this instance, the Spike Lee of masturbatory pop culture blogging. Spike calls Tyler Perry’s humor coonery because, as he insists, black people are incapable of defining what brings them pleasure entertainment wise. You believe middle America cannot define itself because you see racism as a deal breaker when the constitution sees it as an unalienable right. We are free to believe what we want, laugh at what we want, and find fault in what we want regardless of how misguided that may be. You anger over this puts you in right in the same category as fuckwad puppet guy.
Jeff you threw that Raymond Carver reference in for good reason. You want to write something important, something you can be proud of, And you have the ability. Quit this shit and write something worth reading even if it requires you to start featuring Thuderbird Wine and Vienna sausages at your next party. I’ll buy it.
No bring on the leftover nineties sarcasm and sub-par imitations of Gabe’s best work.
That is all and sincerely vermits,
Alex
Score = -5
I meant Gabe through the Raymond Carver title in there. Very cool in my opinion.
Score = -1
I meant Gabe gave us the raymond carver reference
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I meant Gabe through the Raymond Carver title in there. Very cool in my opinion.
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You know what? I agree because being comically horrified at a grown man cutting the skin off of a life-sized sex doll, then wearing that skin, then wearing a latex catsuit over that skin with high heels and dancing in front of a camera, then uploading that video to youtube for the pleasure of other doll skin wearing men across the world is the same as saying (or having your puppet say) "ha! all black people are criminals and love malt liquor!"
You sir, are a genius.
Score = 0
Another comment on Jeff Dunham: I went to high school in California but in a remote place indistinguishable from the midwest in many ways. We had farms and dairies, orchards, mintruck clubs, mostly white kids and nothing to do but hangout in parking lots.
Because this upbringing did not afford a lot of mixing with other viewpoints, races, religions etc., it was easy to hear people say really awful, offensive things because they never met a gay person, a jew, or whoever. They only had the stereotypes - we - only had the stereotypes to go on. That's also just being young and dumb, and when you leave the hick town and go out into the big world you quickly get disabused of those small town racist hick thoughts. But the problem is that a whole lot of people I knew never did leave that town, and they never did have their ideas challenged, and I think it's the same for Dunham fans.
Dunham allows you to stay ignorant because you have thousands of fellow travelers right there with you. We have got to get rid of this idea that America is for white Christians who love country music.
Maybe Godsauce is right in that there are many people in the Dunham camp who know, deep down, that something is very wrong with Dunhamania, but where will they get the courage or the knowledge to confound their own latent racism/homophobia/sexism/assholery? Dunham is on the TV, making the $, and there are millions of jackasses braying along with him - so this encourages them to stay stupid, not to enlighten themselves.
Score = 2
This is sort of where I ended up after reading the article. He's from an affluent Dallas suburb and never put himself in a place to challenge what he learned there. Literally all he knows is casual racism and divorce.
Score = 2
What do we talk about when we talk about James Kuhn?
Score = 1
We should put all the Jeff Dunham fans, Jeff Dunhams, his hand toys, etc, on a farm in Saskatchewan (for political correctness) and let them live out their days. It's a win win.
Score = 1
P.S. I found this website out of my pure hate toward Jeff Dunham and the general malaise of the "American Sterotype" that Jeff feeds off so lovingly. I think I'm in love. Wait, I know I am. People that hate like me!
Score = 2
The piece of wood sure does have a pretty mouth.
Score = 0