Appearing on a TCA panel also featuring Kevin Nealon to promote the new Nickelodeon stop-motion-animation series he executive produces, Michael Eisner offered some insight into his post-Disney career.
“Instead of having 120,000 people at Disney to help me, if I have an idea, I have to figure it out to get it done,” said Eisner, whose Tornante Animation produces “Glenn Martin DDS."
The show voice stars Nealon as a dad who seeks to build family togetherness through a cross-country RV trip.
Eisner was asked whether he misses moguldom.
“I don’t miss it,” he said. “I like what I’m doing. Not being in a public company is nice – I can do things under the radar. It’s fun.”
Then there’s Comedy Central, which is known for series hits like “South Park” and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” but it was the one-off Christmas special last year hosted by ventriloquist Jeff Dunham that delivered the network its biggest audience of all time, 6.6 million viewers.
On Wednesday, the comedian — who’s now the third highest earning touring comic behind Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock — was also on hand at TCA with his grumpy puppet Walter, introducing his upcoming regular Comedy Central series.
With Comedy Central programming head Lauren Corrao standing nearby at a podium, Dunham used his puppet to take shots at both TV critics in the audience and his boss.
“Are you guys going to wait to get laid off or take the early severance package,” Walter asked TV writers.
“I call the network ‘Crapity Central,’ the dummy added. “They’ve got ‘South Park’ and ‘Jon Stewart,’ and the rest is crap.”
For his part, Dunham is still fascinated by the fact that filtering his insult comedy through a puppet seems to keep him out of the line of fire.
“It’s like my secret weapon,” he said. I can get away with things that other comics can.”
