Word: dunhams
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...most people, being caught in an enclosed space with either a terrorist or a ventriloquist would qualify as a hostage situation. But Jeff Dunham, a ventriloquist, is perhaps the most popular stand-up comedian in the U.S. And he broke through by playing straight man to a terrorist - a fiberglass...
Ventriloquism? Yes, it's a profession, and Dunham, 47, has been paid for doing it since he was 12, having been given an instruction manual and LP when he was 8. He started performing in Kiwanis clubs and church socials in his hometown, Dallas, and worked his way up to four nights a week, 40 weeks a year, at comedy clubs. "I was making between $600,000 and a million a year," he says. Not bad for a guy and a dummy, but Dunham had bigger plans. "I knew if we could let the masses see it and not just...
...explosion came, appropriately enough, with Achmed the Dead Terrorist, a character Dunham debuted in late 2007 on his DVD Spark of Insanity. Achmed, a bigheaded Halloween skeleton, is a failed suicide bomber. (He had a "premature detonation.") He has not yet come to terms with his demise - he just got a flu shot - and snaps "Silence! I kill you!" at audience members when they laugh, which is pretty much constantly. The Achmed sketch is the fourth most watched online video ever, according to the Web-tracking service Visible Measures; it's been viewed nearly 200 million times, more even than...
...Dunham is aloft now - in star territory. He has a tour bus with a built-in workshop (for the puppets), a new house with a 200-lb. (90 kg) model F-14 Tomcat in the atrium, a couple of homebuilt helicopters, a writing team and even tabloidesque buzz about his marriage. (He and his wife Paige are divorcing, he confirms...
...ambition that lusted for limelight and the talent to fill it. In the mid-'40s she landed a spot in the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe, touring the world with this famous company of black female dancers and soon ascending to featured roles. In Paris, a nightclub owner offered her a singing job, which brought her European fame and a sheaf of sexy French ballads. (Her repertoire would eventually comprise songs in 10 languages...