Comic ventriloquist Jeff Dunham is having twice the fun on his second round of fatherhood.
Last October, he and his wife Audrey Murdick welcomed twin sons, adding to his family of three grown daughters by a previous marriage.
“It’s completely different because girls versus boys, and twins versus never having twins,” Dunham said last week from home in Los Angeles. “I feel like one at a time is the norm because having two at a time is definitely a new kind of fun, little challenge. It’s fascinating and fun. The other good thing about it is I’ve got another 45 minutes of standup. And ... that doesn’t count the characters making fun of me.”
And boy will his cadre of puppet characters — Peanut the Purple Woozle, Walter the curmudgeon, José Jalapeño on a Stick, Bubba J and Achmed the Dead Terrorist — take aim at the notion of their puppetmaster wading into the joys of fatherhood at his age — 53.
We asked Dunham what we can expect to hear from the bunch when he brings his “Perfectly Unbalanced” tour to Tucson Arena on Sunday, March 13.
The tour follows his previous treks — most of which have stopped in Tucson — including his Guinness World Record setting “Spark of Insanity” tour that sold more tickets for a comedy show than any other comedy tour.
“We always try and come up with a title that acknowledges that nobody’s taking this real seriously, and I may have some sort of problem,” he said. “In a parallel universe I may be having mental stability problems, I’m not sure. But what I do is not completely normal.”
Which of your characters is giving you the most grief?
“I’m working on all of them doing that, but I think the easiest one right now is Walter. ... It’s gone from him making fun of me for being single and a loser to ‘You idiot! You’re getting married’ to ‘How’s married life? Not so great, is it?’ Each step along the way, however life changes, it has opened a whole new Pandora’s box for Walter. He’s the easiest to write in these situations. ... As I’m approaching his given age quickly — I’ve always said he was in his early 60s ... — and it’s going to be two guys on stage that are the same age. Soon we’re going to be discussing our colonoscopies.”
What role do the babies play in your show?
“I think where it’s affected more is my standup, the 45 minutes up front. People love real life and they love by example and if a comedian is doing what he’s supposed to be doing, he’s taking something we all understand and we all recognize but looking at it from a different angle and pointing things out that hopefully people haven’t thought of.”
What are some lessons you’re learning in daddyhood round two?
“Because this is the second time around for me, there’s not that giant ‘Oh my God, what do I do next?’ I kind of remember. But then you add into that, though, they were premature because they were twins. So now you’ve got a whole other thing to think about because they are in the incubators and that’s a whole other scary thing.”
So you just launched Bubba J for President.
“We started out thinking what is that political part going to be on NBC. You just look at the candidates now and it’s a gift to all standups, how things are going. So we figured, why would Bubba J be any worse than those eight or nine guys? … Real life just writes the comedy by itself.” (Dunham is filming his next NBC special this summer and it should air in the fall.)
Bubba J has some interesting positions. Abolishing the drinking age is my favorite.
“Of course. But again, some of the stuff going on right now, I’m sorry. It’s just a shame, it truly is a shame, what’s happening right now. You almost don’t want to talk about it no matter what side you’re on. Really, is this going to be the leader of the free world?”
But as a comedian, this has got to be gold. You flip on the news, open a newspaper and there’s your act.
“Yeah, and some of the stuff all you have to do is quote some of the candidates … . How many of the late night shows, all they have to do is say, ‘Look what this guy said’ and show the video. I’m not saying that one side is any better than the other, but they are giving us a lot to work with.”
