The smartest man in show business in the past sixty years may very well have been Edgar Bergen… an entertainer who became a superstar as a ventriloquist… on the radio! Although Mr. Bergen technically was never the best at his craft, in fact very often it was apparent to all that his lips moved, he had a unique and wonderful talent… an ability to create characters that America fell in love with, and remained in love with over 40 years on radio, television, motion pictures and personal appearances. Jeff Dunham may well be the heir apparant to Mr. Bergen’s unique talent. This young veteran of over 25 years of performing, while never holding a job in the “real world” has compiled an impressive list of statistics: the only person to ever win the prestigeous Ventriloquist of the Year Award twice, the person who appeared on The Tonight Show more than any other ventriloquist in history, and winner of Best Stand-Up Comedian at the 1998 American Comedy Awards [with his wooden and ever-cranky partner Walter] The hundreds of thousands that have flocked to Jeff Dunham’s live engagements, and the millions that have seen his multiple television appearances is a long way from the beginning of his career at the tender age of seven with an oral book report given by a toy Mortimer Snerd puppet. Dunham has moved with considerable skill from book reports to critical acclaim, as one reviewer recently put it, “What makes this performer the best at what he does is the believability factor… to put it succinctly, Dunham’s animated characters have more personality than a lot of people I know.” For Jeff the most significant stamp of approval will always be Johnny Carson inviting him to the couch on his very first “Tonight Show’ appearance, an honor Jeff shares with only four other comedians during Carson’s 30 years.
