Jeff Dunham Talks Brand New 'Black Friday' Comedy Central Special 'Me The People' (Exclusive)
This year, Jeff Dunham fans are getting an early Christmas gift, as the longtime ventriloquist comedian is debuting a brand new "Black Friday" Comedy Central Special, titled Me The People. Debuting the day after Thanksgiving, the new special finds Dunham and his crew of puppet pals doing what they always do best: making audiences laugh til they cry. Ahead of the big special's debut, PopCulture.com had a chance to chat with Dunham and Walter, one of his fan-favorite characters all about the new show, as well as what the holidays are like in the Dunham household.
When asked about Me The People, Dunham joked that it's "The Black Friday special... After everybody's nice and full, sit down, gather around the warm glow of the TV and enjoy." Walter then joined in saying, "Folks asked Jeff if his show is family-friendly. You know what the answer is, don't you? It depends on your family." Elaborating on what fans can expect from the special, Dunham offered, "Well, as everybody knows now, comedy's taking a hit right now. What can you talk about? What can you not talk about. And not just comedy, anybody. You say one thing out of place and it gets recorded, then you're done."
"So, my approach is," Dunham added, "I took my show — the comedy when it comes to politics anyway — where Will Rogers, Bob Hope, Carson, Leno, you never knew what their politics were really. They made fun of both sides equally. It was just was whoever in office and whoever's was on the highest pedestal, you get hit with those eggs. So, that's the way that I approach it."
He continued, "I think the difference is, most comedians now, they pick a side, and they start getting mean and nasty about it, and they call the other half of the country idiots, and both sides do it. And I just think that's a mistake because you're alienating half of your potential fans. So, mine's... I'm not going to say it's soft-served, but I do make fun of both sides equally, and without calling anybody stupid. When Trump was in office, I had a lot of fun with that. And now with Biden in office..."
Water then quipped, "I look suspiciously like the leader of the three world. Yes, yeah." Dunham explained, "So, we grayed in Walter's hair a little more, and put some glasses on him." Walter chimed back in, "I got his suit and now I play the part." Dunham went on to clarify that many of his other say, "We have a lot of fun with it. There's a lot of stuff going on that you can't ignore. But I think no matter what side of the aisle you're on, I think you can watch the show and still have a good time with it. But that's just Walter's portion. There's all the other guys as well, yeah, there's so many."
We made sure to compliment Walter in his President Biden "cosplay," to which he replied, "Oh, thanks a lot... I was quite proud of myself." Dunham added, "You don't imitate them though. You don't do an impression." Walter clarified, "No. I'm just me with a costume on."
In addition to discussing his new special, we asked Dunham about what the holidays are like for his family. "My wife is the one that handles all the decorations, and she is amazing," he shared. "And we actually... This is no joke. We actually have to have a moving truck for every holiday, including Halloween. It's nuts.'
He continued, "The moving truck shows up and it's like, 'Where do all these boxes come from?' And every year, we used to say we're going to get one little new decoration every year. No, we end up getting catalogs and new orders, new stuff. And it's like you know. So, no, it's like Halloween is Halloween. Thanksgiving is Thanksgiving." Dunham then noted that he "missed one," because it goes, "Halloween, FALL, Thanksgiving, Christmas... and the house looks different every time." Jeff Dunham's Me The People premieres Friday, November 25 at 8:00 pm ET/PT.