But every once in a while, there comes along a comedian who is not only bad, but is actually bad for this mystery-filled world of ours. Ladies and gentlemen, this comedian is Jeff Dunham.

Dunham, by all accounts, is the most successful and beloved comedian in America right now. If you haven’t heard of him, he’s a ventriloquist — yes, they’re still out there — who makes jokes with the help of a number of puppet characters, all of which TIME magazine described as “politically incorrect, gratuitously insulting and ill-tempered.”

Dunham was the highest-grossing comedian in North America last year, bringing in more than $19 million in ticket sales. Most recently, he was given his own show by TV network Comedy Central. The premiere of “The Jeff Dunham Show” had 5.3 million viewers — the network’s highest-rated debut ever.

So what is it about Dunham that the American people find so appealing? His new, fresh brand of humor? Jokes that makes us think? Intelligent comedy that challenges us and reveals a greater truth about human society?

Hardly. I would argue Jeff Dunham is so popular because he caters to the lowest common denominator of America. His “characters” crack jokes and insults based on horrible, outdated and uncreative
stereotypes. Just a few of Dunham’s signature characters include Jose Jalapeño, a sombrero-wearing pepper who is the butt of jokes consisting of Latino stereotypes; Sweet Daddy D, a black puppet who refers to himself as a “pimp” and Achmed the Dead Terrorist, a skeleton puppet who is the basis for many anti-Muslim jokes. A clip of “Achmed the Dead Terrorist” is the 7th most-viewed YouTube clip of all time.

At this time, I’d like to remind everyone that this is 2009. Can we really be living is a so-called “post-racial America” when a puppeteer who makes jokes about malt liquor-drinking black men and lazy Latinos is America’s favorite comedian?

Now, people can find Dunham’s jokes funny. They might even see a little bit of truth in them. And it’s true that many of these stereotypes are too extreme for people to take too seriously — or so one would hope. Dunham and his puppets might or might not be responsible for perpetuating these racial and religious conventions.

African Americans, Latinos, Muslims and other minorities might think Dunham is hilarious. But it’s unlikely that they are the ones primarily responsible for Dunham’s meteoric rise to fame. For that, we must thank what Dunham himself classifies as his major audience: conservative white Christians.

“I don’t pick on basic Christian-values stuff,” Dunham told The New York Times last week. “Well, I also don’t like to, because that’s the way I was brought up.” But even if Dunham’s humor wasn’t excluded to minorities, that wouldn’t make it much better. Jokes about another person’s racial or religious group aren’t playful — they’re put-downs.

Dunham himself has said he’d “shudder to utter” some of the jokes and epithets that his “characters” say. And that’s precisely the problem. We’d be embarrassed to stereotype others or make damaging jokes on account of people’s race or beliefs, but when a puppet says it, suddenly it becomes OK. Suddenly Dunham — and those who laugh at him — are devoid of any responsibility and guilt.

My point is that as long as we think guys like Dunham are funny, we’re not going anywhere as a society. Can we really have a greater compassion and understanding for others when we laugh at jokes about lazy Mexicans or how all Muslims are terrorists? At its core, this is comedy based on cowardice.

There undoubtedly are many people reading this column who are big Jeff Dunham fans. They have watched his show, laughed at his YouTube clips, and maybe even seen him live. They perhaps would say that I need to lighten up.

And if I were to say, for example, that a Jeff Dunham fan has the mental capacity of a bar of soap, they might be quite offended. And they probably would think it’s not very funny.

I haven’t the slightest idea why. You’d think Dunham’s fans, more than others, would know how to take a joke.

Dan Faas is the State News opinion writer. Reach him at faasdani@msu.edu.