PASADENA, Calif. — It's a little weird to do an interview with a ventriloquist and one of his, um, dummies.

Of course you know it's Jeff Dunham doing the talking, even when his lips aren't moving. But who do you quote when the words are seemingly coming out of the mouth of Walter, one of his, um, dummies?

Dunham was very polite to a room full of TV critics. "It is an honor to be here," he told us a couple of months ago.

Walter — a cantankerous old man — was less impressed.

"This is a saddest event I have ever been to. ... Let's see, the TV Critics Association cable press tour? That's it?" he asked. "I think our career has peaked."

Yeah, well, maybe not. Thursday night (10 p.m., Comedy Central) marks the debut of "The Jeff Dunham Show" — a weekly series featuring the wildly popular Dunham and his, um, dummies — Walter, Achmed the Dead Terrorist, Bubba J and Peanut.

The half-hour show tries to build on Dunham's stand-up comedy success. He does bits with the various puppets in the studio, then goes out into public with the character for longer bits.

It's a nice try ... but it isn't as good as Dunham's regular act. A couple of the bits in the premiere fall flat.

Honestly, I think Dunham is hilarious. His comedy specials have been gems.

I wish I could tell you "The Jeff Dunham Show" is a gem, too. But the pilot, at least, is pretty disappointing.

And telling you that isn't as much fun as Walter thought it would be.

"Let me get this straight," he said. "So their job is to get up in the morning, turn on the TV, stuff their pie holes — and then trash the new shows?

"This is genius. I want this job."

THE INSPIRATION FOR WALTER was actually two real people. The first was the father of one of Dunham's college pals; the second was Bette Davis.

Really.

The first inspiration was actually named Walter. "This was a Korean War veteran, and to carry on a conversation with him was unbelievably funny," Dunham said. "He would either cross his arms or put his arms behind his back, wouldn't look you in the eye, would stare at the ceiling and grumble. Or when he would look you in the eye, you were just kind of scared, a little frightened. And I thought this is the greatest character ever to have in a show."

And then there was movie legend Davis, who inspired Dunham when she made her last appearance with Johnny Carson, not long before she died in 1989.