Jeff Dunham

Jeffrey Douglas Dunham was born April 18, 1962, and built a career around ventriloquism at a time when the form felt like a relic. He cycled through late-night spots and Comedy Central showcases, refining a stable of characters Time would later call "politically incorrect, gratuitously insulting and ill-tempered" - a approach Slate once compared to "a dressed-down, more digestible version of Don Rickles with multiple personality disorder". The 2007 Spark of Insanity tour introduced Achmed the Dead Terrorist, a bit that became the ninth most-watched video on YouTube at the time and pushed Dunham into a different commercial tier entirely. That same special broke records, the Christmas follow-up became Comedy Central's most-watched telecast ever, and the Spark of Insanity tour earned him a Guinness World Record for stand-up ticket sales. Between June 2008 and June 2009, Forbes pegged his earnings at roughly $30 million, slotting him behind only Seinfeld and Chris Rock. He now holds a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, credited with reviving ventriloquism and doing more for the art than anyone since Edgar Bergen.