So he's on the top of my pile of 'What the hell was I thinking?'"ĭunham said he'll decide to retire long-running characters when audiences stop laughing at their jokes, but even that can sometimes lead to backlash from devoted fans. There was only one joke that worked, and that was: I say, 'Do you speak Italian?' and he goes, 'No.' 'Well, why not?' and he goes, 'I don't have-a no hands!' That was the only joke that worked. "I thought this was going to be genius, and of course it wasn't.
Tony, a meatball on a plate of spaghetti, debuted in the early 1980s, and soon after made his final appearance on stage. So if I have Jose the Jalapeno, why not Tony the Talking Meatball?'" "I thought, 'Well, this is working - talking food. "My favorite example of a complete failure was after Jose," Dunham said.
The stand-up comedian conceded that not all of his ideas have worked out, and many characters that seemed like brilliant ideas at the time have ended up in a trunk he's labeled, "What the hell was I thinking?" And now I say that! Is that offensive, to say 'the average person?' It probably is, I just realized that," Dunham laughed. "I grew up doing shows for very general audiences and doing those kind of shows, I think you get a sense for what makes the average person laugh. But, again, I say that knowing that it's a much more difficult thing to do that now than it was even five years ago, or 30 years ago," he said. "If it deserves being made fun of and you're not gonna offend 60 percent of the population, OK. "I've always believed that if there's 2 or 3 or 4 percent of the audience who think things are going too far, that's probably about the right place, because the other 96 percent of the audience, that's what they're laughing the hardest at," he said.ĭunham also cited abortion and child abuse as subjects he wouldn't consider for comedy, but he said most topics are in play if he can find an angle he thinks will work for an audience. He said that when it comes to offending an audience, "it's the comedian's job to find that line and then figure how how far you want to step over it." I did it because I wanted it to be evergreen because I knew we'd eventually catch Osama bin Laden," Dunham said. Achmed didn't know what religion he was, and didn't know exactly where he was born, so we just try and scoot past that issue."Īchmed first entered Dunham's act as Dead Osama, a parody of Osama bin Laden that made its debut at a New York comedy club just one year after the Sept. "I actually addressed that the very first time he was on stage. "When it comes to Achmed, people go, 'Oh, you're making fun of Muslims,'" Dunham said. "I never make fun of anybody's religion, because that's so personal," he said.ĭunham acknowledged some controversy has surrounded one of his most popular puppets, a turban-wearing skeleton named Achmed the Dead Terrorist, who some have criticized as insensitive to Islam. The performer, who took up ventriloquism at a young age, said nearly 40 years of performing for audiences has given him a sense of what subjects can be mined for humor and what subjects should be avoided. "You don't have to be a Rhodes scholar to understand my show." "I'm not trying to pick fights or teach anybody anything. And that's who I play to."ĭunham said he's not trying to lecture the audience or change anyone's mind on issues. I tend to think that there's a lovely big chunk of America that's just sensible thinking and it's all somewhere in the middle. "I truly believe that most people in this country are somewhere in the middle, a very small percentage is way far left and a very small percentage is way far right. The comedian said he was inspired by some of his own comedy heroes, such as former Tonight Show hosts Johnny Carson and Jay Leno, in attempting to craft jokes that mock both sides of the political spectrum without alienating anyone in the audience. "I think I treat Jose very respectfully and we talk about those matters, as well," Dunham said. One of Dunham's oldest puppets, Jose the Jalapeno - a talking jalapeno who speaks with a Mexican accent - also makes a return in Beside Himself, after a long absence, to address immigration-related issues. trying to figure out how much do you help? How much do you push back? What's right? What's wrong? It's a very confusing time for everyone right now," he said. Dunham tries to strike a delicate balance in mocking the issues of the day with the newest dummy in his menagerie: Larry, the personal adviser to President Donald Trump.