ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The comic ventriloquist who has sold more tickets at Allentown Fair than any other comedy artist will return with his zany cast of characters, it was announced Friday.
Jeff Dunham will headline the fair’s grandstand stage at 7 p.m. Sept. 1.
Tickets, at $59 and $69, go on sale to the public starting at 10 a.m. Feb. 2 at the fair box office or at Ticketmaster.com. Special box office hours will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 2 and Feb. 8.Allentown Fair release
Tickets, at $59 and $69, go on sale to the public starting at 10 a.m. Feb. 2 at the fair box office or at Ticketmaster.com. Special box office hours will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Feb. 2 and Feb. 8. All show tickets include admission to the fair.
Dunham is the third headliner announced for this year’s fair, for which the 172nd year is scheduled for Aug. 28-Sept. 2. The fair has said it plans to present five grandstand headline shows as well as the annual demolition derby this year.
Dunham, known for his cast of dummy characters Walter, Peanut, Achmed the Dead Terrorist, Bubba J and Jose Jalapeno, has sold out one show at the fair and come close three other times.
It will be Dunham’s sixth headline show at the fair.
In 2009, he came to the fair on the crest of millions of YouTube hits of a routine with the bulgy-eyed, no-skin-just-bones Achmed and was that year’s only sellout show at the 10,500-capacity grandstand. He played a second night that year that sold 8,500.
Those 19,000 tickets over two nights are a fair record.
More than 8,000 saw his return show in 2010, and he drew 6,000 people in 2013 and nearly 5,300 for his most recent fair show, in 2016.
Record-breaking success
Dunham is a fixture on Comedy Central where his appearances hold the network’s record for viewership. His Comedy Central show “The Jeff Dunham Show” premiered as the highest-rated series in the channel’s history, with 5.3 million viewers.
Dunham’s most recent Comedy Central network special, “Me the People” was the highest-rated and most-watched comedy special of 2022.
He now has had 11 record-breaking comedy specials. Two others also were Comedy Central’s most-viewed specials of their respective years (“Minding the Monsters” in 2012 and “Controlled Chaos” in 2011), and “Jeff Dunham’s Very Special Christmas Special” from 2008 remains the channel’s most-watched program ever.
Tickets also will be available Feb. 2 for this year’s previously announced Allentown Fair headliners, Brad Paisley on Aug. 30 and Pentatonix on Aug. 31.Allentown Fair news release
His NBC-TV primetime special “Unhinged,” which chronicled two sold-out nights at Los Angeles’ historic Dolby Theatre (home to the Academy Awards), ranked as the time period’s top non-sports program and became Comedy Central’s top-rated special of 2016.
Dunham has sold more than 7 million DVDs, and been viewed nearly a billion times on YouTube. Music industry magazine Pollstar says Dunham has been the top-drawing comedian in the country.
He’s also a best-selling author: His autobiography, “All By My Selves: Walter, Peanut, Achmed and Me,” was a New York Times best-seller three weeks in a row. He was also named Billboard’s Top Comedy Tour for three consecutive years.
Dunham also played two shows at Sands Bethlehem Event Center in 2014.
Tickets also will be available on Feb. 2 for this year’s previously announced Allentown Fair headliners, Brad Paisley on Aug. 30 and Pentatonix on Aug.31.
The fair also offers discount ride tickets, half-price fair admission, and prepaid premium concert parking.
For more information, visit the fair website at www.allentownfairpa.org.
