Jeff Dunham’s Show Will Not Be Renewed

Even though he had the highest ratings than any other Comedy Central premiere, The Jeff Dunham Show is not going to be renewed for another season.

Jeff Dunham is a comedian who uses his mastery of ventriloquy to illicit laughs.  He has a cast of characters he has created, ranging from the cranky old man Walter to the dead terrorist Achmed.  Dunham is one of the highest paid and most sought after stand-up comedians in the business today and after creating a pact with the Comedy Central Network, The Jeff Dunham Show was born.

However, the show has received a lot of critical attention for its racial and offensive nature.  Don’t get me wrong, many comedians are offensive and make a living off of doing so, but they don’t have a weekly program that assaults your senses. The Jeff Dunham Show did have the highest ratings of any premiere in Comedy Central history, but its viewership dropped 55% by the second episode.  Still, Dunham’s show rated higher than newcomer Daniel Tosh’s program Tosh.0 which was renewed for another 25 episode season.  I’d imagine it’s the negative attention that killed the show more than ratings.

Dunham’s show was only part of his pact with Comedy Central so we aren’t seeing the last of him.  He still has a special to perform for the network come fall of 2010.