Review of Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity (2007) by J D — 14 Mar 2008

When I was a teenager, I caught Dunham's act on one of Comedy Central's many previous incarnations (Ha!, The Comedy Network, etc) and thought he and Peanut were hilarious. Unfortunately, my sense of humor and Dunham's have parted ways in the intervening years.

I was pretty disappointed. Dunham comes off more like an engaging speaker at a corporate retreat. The jokes are tired, obvious, and Dunham will beat a joke to death. His jokes about his Prius, his chihuahua, suicide bombers are kind of amusing at first, but after the third or fourth time it just feels lazy.

There were a surprising number of gay jokes, which I probably found hilarious at 15, but now they feel like just that, juvenile. If Dunham were more intelligent on top of his ventriloquism talent, this could be a helluva act.

Achmed the dead terrorist could be a brilliantly subversive and thought-provoking bit, but unfortunately it boils down to jokes about bombs and virgins and saying "I'll kill you" umpteen times.

I think what I find most problematic about his act is that it certainly has its funny moments and with the eye-catching, expressive puppets and innocuous comedy bits, I could at least potentially recommend this as a good family rental to enjoy with the kids.

Unfortunately, there's quite a bit of profanity in it as well. So that nixes that. Would only recommend this to 15-year-olds and fans of acts like Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy. Not for fans of acts like Patton Oswalt or David Cross.