Dunham’s puppet parade set for extended engagement at Caesars

Dear Achmed, which ventriloquist has been booked for a 15-show engagement at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace next year?

Jeff Dunham!

Dunham, whose “Dear Achmed” question-and-answer session with his “Achmed the Dead Terrorist” puppet character, opens his “Perfectly Unbalanced” run March 8. The balance of the 2017 schedule is June 16, 23 and 30; July 7, 12, 19 and 26; Aug. 2, 10, 16, 23 and 30; and Sept. 6 and 13. Tickets are priced at $49.50, $69.50 and $49.50 (fees not included) and will go on sale noon Friday at thecolosseum.com and axs.com.

Dunham just finished a series of weekend shows at the Colosseum at Caesars on Sunday night, closing the night with Achmed singing his Christmas tune, “Jingle Bombs,” livestreamed on Facebook. Within an hour, the video had surpassed 300,000 views.

The popularity of that clip is no surprise. The 54-year-old stage vet has performed at several Las Vegas showrooms over the years, including those at Sahara and Riviera, and also headlined at Planet Hollywood in 2014-15. Dunham made his debut at the Colosseum in 2008 during The Comedy Festival at Caesars, and has drawn legions of fans to the 4,300-seat theater in his limited engagements at the hotel. Dunham’s tour stops around the country fill 7,000-8,000 seat arenas.

How does he explain his widespread appeal?

“It’s doing show after show after show for Kiwanis clubs and Boy Scout birthday parties, shows for churches, shows at comedy clubs, and appealing to a very wide range of people,” Dunham said at the Colosseum after Sunday’s show. “You see many mixes of audiences, and I think you learn people very well and what they like. There is a kind of down-the-middle sense of humor you have to find to have success.”

Dunham performed an unusually long, 45-minute stand-up set on Sunday, then hoisted crowd favorites Walter, Bubba J and Peanut to the stage, closing with Achmed. He also introduced a new puppet, Irish Baby (a baby with a real drinking problem) in a set that lasted 2 hours, 15 minutes.

“Oh, I think we’ll be cutting it down when I come back in March,” Dunham said, grinning. “But the crowd was into it, so we just kept going.” To use Achmed’s term, he “kiiiilt” it.

MORE WINK!

After mentioning my brush with radio and TV legend Wink Martindale at the Dec. 4 closing of “Million Dollar Quartet” at Harrah’s, I heard from … Wink Martindale.

The gentleman I remember as host of “Tic-Tac-Dough” sent an email of thanks and reminded me of his participation in one of the landmark moments in rock ’n’ roll history. On July 8, 1954, Martindale was a DJ at WHBQ in Memphis when Sam Phillips of Sun Records showed up with a new record by the then-unknown Elvis Presley.

The on-air DJ, Dewey Phillips (no relation to Sam), played “That’s All Right” for the first time on American radio; the phone lines went ablaze and Elvis’ career was launched.

Of the group in the studio that night — Sam and Dewey Phillips; Elvis; and his parents, Gladys and Vernon Presley) — the 83-year-old Martindale is the only person still living. In the summer of 1956, Martindale conducted the first filmed interview of Elvis, on his “Dance Party” TV show, just after the release of the movie “Love Me Tender.”

HEY, PARK IT

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas President and Chief Executive Officer Bill McBeath would prefer to watch Chewbacca and Storm Troopers on the big screen, not in his parking garage. As the hotel announced it would charge for valet and self-parking in early 2017, McBeath spoke of his frustration with costumed “buskers” who populate the Strip and pose for photos for tips.

You see these SpongeBob SquarePants, Spider-Man and Captain Hook characters most commonly along the sidewalk in front of the Fountains of Bellagio water show. They take up parking spaces, and as McBeath has detected, don’t practice much commerce at the Cosmopolitan.

“You have the showgirls, the people selling their wares, and ‘Star Wars’ characters, and I see them walking up and down the ramp,” McBeath said with a chuckle. “We’re kind of in a position, out of necessity, to protect our parking spaces for our true customers.”

DOING SOME GOOD

Hakkasan Group presented a check for $55,000 to the Goodie Two Shoes Foundation co-founders Tony and Nikki Berti on Friday to mark its third annual Hakkasan Gives Back effort. The campaign began in August and raised enough money to outfit 2,200 children with new shoes and socks.

WHO WAS WHERE

On Saturday afternoon, Kevin Hart and his entourage (the Hart Beat?) hit Marquee Dayclub Dome at the Cosmopolitan, then had dinner at Beauty & Essex, then hit Tao at the Venetian before finally returning late to Marquee Nightclub (and I thought I hit the streets hard). Hart just finished filming his upcoming film “Jumanji” in town … Also Saturday, actor Billy Burke and his crew were at Beauty & Essex ; Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Marco Estrada and friends at Tao (said to be enjoying an “Iron Man”-themed bottle presentation at the VIP table); and Jason George of “Grey’s Anatomy” at Tao Nightclub … Reba McEntire, Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn took in “Absinthe” on Friday night. Reba really likes her some “Absinthe” Bathtub Boy (David O’Mer).

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section, and Fridays in Neon. He also hosts “Kats! On The Radio” Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on KUNV 91.5-FM and appears Wednesdays at 11 a.m. with Dayna Roselli on KTNV Channel 13. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.

Note: This version of the column corrects the title of the song, “Jingle Bombs.”