Friday, February 26th Jeff Dunham brings his undeniable talent and unstoppable laughs to Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, MI. Dunham has taken the art of ventriloquism to new heights and has transformed it into a cutting-edge comedy experience that has gained worldwide appeal.

 Jeff Dunham has been hailed by Time magazine as “perhaps the most popular comedian in the U.S.” He met the press on Tuesday, October 13 when he and his comedic sidekicks appeared as a prestigious newsmaker speaker at the National Press Club, the world’s largest professional organization for journalists. The invitation to speak at the dinner is part of a month filled with such high-profile events for Dunham as the premiere of his Comedy Central TV series “The Jeff Dunham Show” Thursday, October 22nd and a cameo appearance the following week on the Emmy Award-winning Best Comedy “30 Rock” on NBC Thursday, October 29th.

The National Press Club invites speakers to address its members on such criteria as their newsworthiness and national or international stature, and generally are high-level decision-makers or extremely influential setters of policy and trends. Dunham joins such recent speakers as Senator John Kerry, Congressmen Barney Frank and John Conyers, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, and “The Wire” creator and former journalist David Simon. Since 1932, more heads of state and government have appeared at the National Press Club than any other forum in the world outside the Oval Office of the White House, including every sitting U.S. president. Newsmakers luncheons also occasionally feature superstar entertainers like Toby Keith and Billy Joel.

Dunham has certainly become a newsmaker and influential trendsetter in recent years. Recently named to Forbes magazine’s Celebrity 100 list, he has been rated as “America’s favorite comedian” by Slate and the top-grossing live comedy act in North America by Pollstar. Dunham has sold an astounding four million plus copies of his three DVD titles (as compared with average stand up comedy DVD sales of 35,000) and racked up 350 million worldwide views of his clips on You Tube and other Internet sites. He earned the most-watched show ever on Comedy Central with his holiday show “A Very Special Christmas Special,” drawing 6.6 million viewers to its debut, and recently struck a multi-platform deal with Comedy Central and content partnerships with iTunes and Amazon.com. Next year will see the publication by Dutton of his unique autobiography, “All By My Selves: Walter, Peanut, Achmed, and Me,” in which the comedian and his characters tell his life story.

“The Jeff Dunham Show” is an innovative “comedy reality” series on which Dunham and his suitcase posse of comedic partners interact with real people in actual locations to hilarious results. His “30 Rock” appearance finds Dunham joining such other notables as former Vice President Al Gore, Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Anniston and Calvin Klein who have done cameos on the critically-acclaimed show. Dunham caps 2009 with his first-ever tour of Australia.

Check out the new cool content at www.jeffdunham.com   or www.myspace.com/jeffdunham       

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2010
8:00PM
VAN ANDEL ARENA
GRAND RAPIDS, MI.
TICKETS ON SALE SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2009 at 11 AM

Tickets are $44.00. Tickets will be available at the Van Andel Arena and DeVos Place® box offices, Ticketmaster ticket centers including D&W Stores and select Family Fare locations, charge by phone: 1.800.745.3000 or on-line: ticketmaster.com.