I am – Hercules!!


Comedy Central has a truly terrible new sketch show starring the unfunny ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. I believe it to be one of the worst things ever to hit the channel, and they’ve cablecast “Secret Girlfriend,” “Mind of Mencia” and “Mad TV.”

I’d no idea why they would give this guy a series before the hilarious Triumph The Insult Comic Dog. Maybe because puppeteer Robert Smigel insists on moving his lips? For the record, you can see Dunham’s lips move as well.

It turns out Dunham was the star of a 2008 Christmas special that garnered Comedy Central a record 6.6 million viewers. If that special was anything like this pilot, one has to suspect a grave Nielsen bookkeeping error.

Entertainment Weekly says:

… He's a low-key charmer, and his ventriloquial skill is so superb that folks talk to his creations as though they were human. …

The Washington Post says:

Every so often the inexplicable success of a bad comedy act just cannot be explicked. I mean, you don't have to like Larry the Cable Guy in order to see why his fans do. Same with Dane Cook: Even if his comedy drives you up a wall, you can always stop mid-climb, look back, and at least understand why so many millions are laughing and laughing at his jokes. But Jeff Dunham? Readers, I'm stumped. … Not only is it deadeningly unfunny, it also defies all the known constructs of television criticism. I simply have no idea why it's on. …

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

I'd never heard of comic/ventriloquist Jeff Dunham before press tour this summer when Comedy Central introduced him to TV critics and he bombed in a flopsweat of hurled invectives. … a weekly dose of Dunham's wooden characters who are all unlikeable and offensive in different ways. … I don't mind offensive when it's genuinely funny or satirical -- "South Park" has been offensive from day one and it's still one of the most cogent, topical shows on TV -- but Dunham's humor didn't make me laugh. And worse: I could see his lips moving.

The Boston Globe says:

… As the dummies spout predictable jokes, most of them revolving around racial stereotypes, Dunham stands by looking like a smirking Kiefer Sutherland. …

Variety says:

… a talented ventriloquist with a not-particularly-scintillating act … Dunham's main wrinkle appears to be that the dummies have been updated for a red-state audience, from the curmudgeonly Walter -- who gripes "You're on TV. There's a black guy in the White House" as a sign the world's going to hell -- to Achmed the dead terrorist, who gets the audience to chant "I kill you" along with him. …

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… What do 6.6 million people love so much? Having watched the pilot of "The Jeff Dunham Show," the answer is, "Heaven knows." … racist caricatures, full of meanness and cliches, ranging from Achmed the Dead Terrorist (a skeleton with the heavily accented catchphrase of "I kill you") to Peanut, the disturbing Muppet-like troll creature who has the hots for guest star Brooke Hogan. … their escapades are at best wretchedly crude (did we need to see a doll on the toilet?) and at worst homophobic. It's all a complete train wreck, but it still is can't-miss comedy because after watching an episode, the rest of television looks better by comparison. Perhaps that's the secret of those 6.6 million: They're not looking to laugh. They're looking for the life-affirming moments that come from the commercials.

9 p.m. Thursday. Comedy Central.

$9: From A Dead Man’s Chest!!