My brother lent me some Jeff Dunham dvd’s to watch over Christmas. I’ve always liked ventriloquist acts and am a fan of puppets and anamatronics in film and theatre, so I was looking forward to sitting down and watching the shows.

Sadly I was a more than a little dissapointed. Dunham’s puppets are generally well made and he’s an excellent ventriloquist… It’s just a shame the act isn’t so good. As a Brit some of the material is just plain lost to me… What is not lost however is a slightly ugly right wing tone. It’s never heavily stated and Dunham himself often plays the flabbergasted innocent as his creations push the boundaries, immigration, race and religion are all targets. The whole thing left me feeling a bit cold. Ironically his most famous creation – Ahmed the dead terrorist I found to be the least offensive, and at times the funniest and most original character.

Right wing comedy rarely gets broadcast in the UK so in an odd way it’s all a shock to the system – though it’s great to see puppets brought to the masses I can’t help but baulk at the content.