ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Christmas came early Sunday for fans of Jeff Dunham at Allentown Fair.
The comedian/ventriloquist tested out his jokes for an upcoming Christmas special slated to stream on Amazon to the local crowd at the fair grandstand.
It was the seventh time headlining the fair for the 62-year-old Dunham, who has sold more tickets than any other comedian in the fair's history.
The Christmas show will be based on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," and his 13th TV comedy special, Dunham said.
It also will feature his five sidekicks — puppet characters Walter, Peanut, Achmed the Dead Terrorist, Bubba Jay and Little Jeff.
The same five joined him at the fair as he decided what characters might play Dickens' Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.
"Christmas is extra special for me because when I was 8 years old, it was that year that Santa Claus brought me my very first dummy," Dunham told the crowd.
"I found it under a tree, I'm an only child, and at Christmas it was just mom and dad and me, and that year, we added a dummy."
Political pundit
Dunham took to the stage with no opening act and performed for 90 minutes.
The first dummy to appear was Walter, a retired and cantankerous old man and one of Dunham's longest-running characters.
Walter took aim at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Biden bit became popular in 2022 after Dunham dressed Walter as the commander in chief for a Comedy Central special filmed in Washington, D.C.
"We told some jokes and I thought that's enough of that," Dunham said. "It wasn't enough. People wanted to see more of it. So I just kept doing it."
When Dunham asked, "Do you think your mind is sharp enough to stay our president?" Walter replied, "Of course it is. Age is just a letter."
There also was a joke later about former President Donald Trump that glossed over the Republican candidate's ear injury after July's assassination attempt.
Walter, poised to play Scrooge in the Christmas special, set the tone for the night for Dunham's current tour, "Still Not Canceled."
The show was an hour and a half of jabs aimed at political correctness and cancel culture — a topic discussed by many in Dunham's line of work.
Bubba Jay and Facebook Live
In 2019, Forbes named Dunham the third highest-grossing comedian, behind Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock (Seinfeld made waves when he commented about political correctness in April's New Yorker).
Dunham's dummy digs were mostly met with laughs and applause from the fair audience of 10,000.
"You want me to be a ghost? Yeah, I shouldn't do it. It never goes well when there's a redneck in a white sheet."Jeff Dunham puppet Bubba Jay
When Bubba Jay remarked, "You know what I miss? Telling racist jokes," Dunham continued by saying he should play the Ghost of Christmas Past in their version of Scrooge.
"You want me to be a ghost?" he said. "Yeah, I shouldn't do it. It never goes well when there's a redneck in a white sheet."
Midway through the show, Dunham brought out a member of the fair's production team to introduce some classic fair eats: pierogies paired with a can of Yuengling beer.
"That's really, really delicious," the comedian said. "It's like mashed potatoes and dough. That's fantastic. And it's Polish — I almost did a polack joke earlier."
That went off fine and the crowd cheered as he recorded the bit on Facebook Live for fans watching at home.
Jokes on inclusivity, last zingers
Achmed the Dead Terrorist, who made his debut in 2007, helped the successful ventriloquist finish the latter part of the set.
"I'm curious, is the term elf politically correct?" Achmed said as a puzzled Dunham looked on. "Or do we now have to refer to them as vertically challenged North Polians?
"Also, I would like to thank my reindeer for flying me here tonight. It is much safer than on Boeing."
The zingers continued with Peanut, the most boisterous of all Dunham's puppets.
After joking about inclusivity ("I'm not purple, I'm of color," Peanut proudly said), the naughty "woozle" poked fun of Marnell White, Dunham's tour manager.
Or, as Peanut called him, the only "white guy in North American named Marnell."
"Come on, you knew and you hired Marnell White," Peanut told Dunham. "You thought you were doing a diversity hire, and then this guy got off a plane. What the hell?"
Toward the last 10 minutes of the show Peanut went, well, nuts.
There were more jollies, screaming and a sing-a-long to Lou Rawls' "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" that caused an uproar of laughter.
Dunham followed suit by plugging a 22-inch version of Peanut that retails for $199 and is the perfect starter gift for those wanting to follow his fame (if only it was that easy).
Somehow that led to Dunham and Peanut performing a monologue on what it would be to like to live and talk without a tongue (silly and strange — vocal sound effects included).
The pair capped off the night by reading questions submitted by fans before the show — the last reminder that there are only 100-something days left until Christmas.
