Jeff Dunham might film his next special in Florida, he announced Saturday night to a packed Amalie Arena. “We’ve been doing shows here in Florida for awhile, and we love our audiences here!” the ventriloquist veteran commented.
Jeff started off his biannual show in Tampa by giving a status update on his wife and twin boys Jack and James, with whom he FaceTimes with almost every night after shows. Along with mention of them came a slightly embarrassing story about a bath time incident, that some parents may be all too familiar with.
With the alarming growth of the coronavirus pandemic, Jeff-fa-fa had an ideal source of brand-new material. “If anyone here is coughing, get your ass outta here.” he demanded before letting the little people in the boxes emerge.
As usual, first up was Walter, who, as per usual, had a brand new set of problems. The old codger was propped up, and wearing a surgical mask. He admitted to stealing it off of some guy on a plane’s face, not realizing how wrong he was to have done that. “Just so we’re clear, yes, I know I look like Joe Biden,” he confessed while firing up the jokes about the former vice president’s memory problems, and a few non-PC jabs at future commanders-in-chief.
Last time, the new character was Larry the Trump advisor. This tour, it’s conjoined twins Rich and Happy propped up next to Jeff. Rich is a very conservative, borderline workaholic who loathes his more left-leaning, easy-going conjoined twin brother Happy, once known as Harold. “Shut up, numbnuts!” Rich would scold his brother with. Each were asked by Jeff about some of their world views. Happy, wearing a tie-dye t-shirt, was asked about the legalization of marijuana, to which about half the crowd cheered for on his behalf. “Those are my people!” he called out. Rich was asked about families being separated. “I’d separate us first!” was his only response, obviously referring to his brother.
Next up was Bubba J, who would express how much he wanted to contribute more than jokes about incest and NASCAR to the show, so he introduced us to a segment entitled Bubba J’s Drinkin’ and Thinkin’. This was mainly him listing off his thoughts about the world right now, like how he’s glad Pete Buttigieg dropped out of the presidential race, solely because his last name is hard to pronounce. Then again, this is coming from a guy who later couldn’t handle learning how to tell a knock-knock joke, and also, apparently doesn’t know his ABC’s, having to stop at F. “Bubba J, come on…what comes after F?” Jeff asked. His lazy eye went back into place, and he thought for a moment. “150?” he replied.
Then came the purple, the wacky, the legendary Peanut. Within two minutes, he was already in a heated argument with Jeff about Wi-Fi passwords, which cleverly were “ICantTellYou,” “IDontRemember,” and “YouHaveToGuessIt.” If you know comedy, you probably can guess what went down between the two. Other than that, Peanut made his normal, zany remarks about not losing, but finding a shoe, and telling the kids in the crowd not to say fuck, after being told that he swore one too many times. He even brought out his old frenemy, Jose The Jalapeño On A Steek, who announced that he might leave the show to become an astronaut. “I haven’t seen much of him since Trump got elected!” Peanut realized.
The only lovable terrorist on Earth, Achmed, closed up shop, venting to Jeff about topics such as him hoping to become the new major general in Iran, yet also lamenting that his 72 Virgins have become part of the #MeToo movement. But when the place erupted upon him hollering out his trademark “Silence, I kill you” threat, he felt better immediately. He’d then be asked questions that audience members scribbled down before the show. He sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to an eleven-year-old fan, and learned that there’s a Howard Franklin bridge here in Tampa. The highlight, though, was him admitting that he’d be screwed if Jeff contracted the coronavirus. He even sang a few lines of Harry Nilsson’s Without You, which lead to Jeff researching and pulling the song up on his phone, putting it up to the mic, and the whole dome singing along, or turning on their phone flashlights.
It was kind of a magical moment in Dunham history. Hopefully, that magic will still be there, if and when he tapes his next special in Florida.
Josh Bradley Live 