Comedian Jeff Dunham says Trump victory is ‘a weight off’ comics' backs so they can get back to joking as usual.
Comedy legend and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham believes that comedians in America could breathe a sigh of relief once President Donald Trump was re-elected.
Comedy legend and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham believes that comedians in America could breathe a sigh of relief once President Donald Trump was re-elected.
The veteran stand-up star, best known for wisecracking onstage via a cast of ventriloquist dummies, told Fox News Digital that he believes Trump’s election was a huge blow to cancel culture, which he says was keeping comedians from making the jokes they used to make.
"But now with Trump back in office, just to me as a comedian, you just kind of felt this weight off your back… you feel like you can now joke about the things that we used to joke about," Dunham said.
Dunham, who holds the Guinness World Record for most tickets sold for a stand-up comedy tour during his "Spark of Insanity" tour (2007-2010), admitted to Fox News Digital that he felt that he hasn’t been able to joke about or express opinions on certain topics in the last few years due to the rise of cancel culture.
Legendary comedian Jeff Dunham says he's less worried about speaking his mind publicly following President Trump's re-election. (Rick Kern / Contributor)
He said talking about politics or promoting "common sense" ideas in the public arena has been "painful" with this dynamic going on, as sensitive groups looked to punish or shame prominent figures for saying anything they deemed to be politically incorrect.
Dunham went so far as to say that comedy – which he described as "one of the last forms of free speech"- was really stifled in recent years, until Trump’s victory.
"And the fact that in the past few years that was tromped on, and almost really squelched – really was squelched – it's just so refreshing right now to at least feel like it's okay to do real stand-up comedy now."
The comic stated that having just a dash of offensive material is ideal.
"To me, a comedian takes it to the line," he said. "He knows his audience, his or her audience. You take it to the line and you step over it just a little bit. So to me, I've always believed that if I'm offending three to five percent of the room, that's the entertainment that everybody else is laughing the hardest at."
"And that's why they keep coming back, because they're hearing stuff that they don't get to hear anywhere else."
Comedian and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham speaks to Fox News Digital about President Trump's election, breaking the hold of cancel culture on comedy. (Fox News Digital)
Duhham noted that people have taken offense to his comedy over the years, with some accusing the ventriloquist dummies crucial to his act of representing racial stereotypes. On his roster of puppets is Bubba J, a character the comic's website describes as being "proud of his redneck heritage." Another is José Jalapeo On a Stick, a pepper of Mexican heritage with a mustache and sombrero, and most infamously, Achmed, the Dead Terrorist, a puppet that originally portrayed Al Qaeda terror mastermind, Osama bin Laden.
The comic admitted that he always wanted these characters to be stereotypes.
"Well, when it comes to the characters, you know, inventing the character is responding to what's going on – like I said – it's responding to what's going on in society and what I think the audience is to laugh at. And then it's literally coming up with topics and subject matter that people can relate to. Same with the character. They have to be relatable. And people, as you know, accused me of having stereotypes of my characters. Like, yeah! That's the point."
"You've got this old grumpy old man, he's a grumpy old man," he said, mentioning his puppet named Walter. Bringing up Bubba J, he added, "You've got this redneck, you know? Borderline white trash. Yeah, people understand that. And then they expect a certain kind of material and a certain personality, and that works for you. It's just like a sitcom."
Dunham isn't afraid to get his puppets to talk politics onstage. For some shows, he has repurposed Walter to do an impression of former President Joe Biden, and in others, he has had him don a blonde wig to make fun of President Trump. "So yeah, Walter dressed up like Trump, and then he dressed up like Biden with the videos," he said, calling the political humor "good-natured fun."
The comic also talked about really pushing the boundary with Achmed, which he said was his "response to 9-11." Dunham mentioned that he refused to play it safe with the character, stating that at the time he decided, "I'm not going to go to Hawaii or Juneau, Alaska or somewhere in California to try this. I'm going to go where it counts. And I was booked at a club called Bananas Comedy Club, six miles from Ground Zero."
He said that when he introduced the character as Osama bin Laden at the New York club, "It was like God took a vacuum and sucked all the air out of the room." However, he recalled that the minute he brought out the funny-looking skeleton puppet and ad-libbed the character's now-infamous "I KILL YOU!" catchphrase, the show "could not have gone better."
"I mean, it couldn't have gone better, and it just went from there," he said, describing the debut of the puppet that would morph into a stereotype of radical jihadists the world over.
Jeff Dunham and one of his more infamous characters, Achmed, The Dead Terrorist. (NBC / Contributor)
The topic of cancel culture and offensive material came up with Dunham speaking freely with Fox about the political state of California, where he lives with his wife and children.
"I just feel this beautiful state has been politically run into the ground," he said. "And it's unfortunate because it's one of the most beautiful states in the country."
Dunham, who moved to Los Angeles in the late 1980s to develop his comedy career, said that "the people that have been in power in the last few years have made terrible decisions and made life ridiculous out here, and it could be a different way."
He does not want to be lumped in with the progressive crowd California is so often associated with, noting there is a vibrant conservative population there who want to bring the state back to "common sense."
He said he considers himself among the Californians who, during the 2024 election, "waved their hand and said, ‘You know, I live here too, and I'm going to vote the other way, and we have a chance of bringing the state back to some sort of sense of, of common sense.’"
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He added that he hasn’t moved out of the state because he believes that "it can come back to some sense of normality and sanity."
Dunham continued, noting that until the last election, he wouldn’t have opened up about what was going on in his state. "Would I have spoken this candidly a year ago? Probably not, because it was still kind of dangerous," he said, adding his claim that with Trump’s victory comedians can get back to pushing the boundaries with their humor again.
Still, Dunham believes people learned at least a little from that period of over-the-top speech policing.
"Have we learned anything? Yes. You don't want to make fun of groups, and there's certain topics and a line that you don't want to cross. But I do think that it's loosened up a little bit," he stated.
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