Last night I saw Jeff Dunham at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, FL. The show was set up sort of oddly: first Guitar Guy (as the Dunham character’s call him), Brian Haner, came out and performed a few songs/bits. He was very entertaining and performed for about 15 minutes, at which point an announcement that there would be a 15-minute intermission before Jeff Dunham took the stage.
A 15-minute show, followed by a 15-minute intermission seemed a bit odd, but it gave me time to go to the bathroom and it gave many show goers the opportunity to buy t-shirts and other goodies from the kiosks in the lobby.
First off the bad: the sound at the Bank Atlantic center is horrible. I hope to never see another concert there. Echos throughout the performance were distracting and annoying.
The good: Jeff Dunham has made a name for himself with his well developed characters. As a ventriloquist, he has five puppets that come out during the show: Walter, a curmudgeonly, perpetually pissy, but very funny old guy; Achmed, the very popular dead terrorist; Jose, the jalapeno on a stick; Peanut, the wildly popular, fuzzy, purple, inappropriate diva; and Bubba J, the redneck with a drinking problem.
Each character has a personality all their own and Dunham has developed a routine that both embraces and builds on his previous performances and shows. He took his bit on his Prius, which he did in his Spark of Insanity DVD, and built on in with a bit on a Smart Car, quite cleverly, I might add. If he is in your area, definitely check him out. For a guy who plays with dolls for a living, he is very funny.
