Jeff Dunham is, without a doubt, the most famous ventriloquist in the world. This is evident by the fact that not only has he become a household name, but so have the characters that he creates. Peanut the quirky purple "woozle," Walter the old curmudgeon, and José Jalapeño on a Stick are beloved characters (or as he would call them, “dummies”) that have come to life in his various comedy specials over the past 30+ years of work in the entertainment industry. Obviously, when bringing these folks to life, one is going to realize that they’re not all winners, and this is how we got Tony the Talking Meatball.

I recently interviewed Dunham to talk about his upcoming Comedy Central special "Me The People," when he dished on his box of failures, or as he refers to them the "what the hell was I thinking?" characters. His favorite amongst the dummies is a meatball who, of course, has an Italian accent.