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Dennis Miller's Got a Brand New Bag |
Unless you're a connoisseur of the high artform known as "A.M. talk," you might not be aware that the smarmy, smirky, obscure-reference-loving comedian/commentator Dennis Miller has recently RADICALLY REINVENTED himself as a smarmy, smirky, obscure-reference-loving right wing radio host.
I've always found Miller impressive, if not particularly FUNNY. When I was a lad of just 20 or so years, my rock band was working with a producer a couple of decades our senior who was a HUGE Miller fan.
One night, after a recording "sesh" (that's "session" for all you Squaresville residents), he fired up the VHS with a Miller HBO special, and proceeded to pause the tape after every "joke" to explain in detail the multi-layered cultural references contained within each smugly-delivered observo-nugget. The 60-minute program took about 3 and a half hours to get through. I was definitely amazed at the breadth of knowledge both men exhibited, but I certainly wasn't laughing.
Anyway, the fact that Miller unquestionably possesses a functioning brain makes his radio program a worthwhile alternative to 95% of what the A.M. talk universe has to offer. His reasoned, libertarian brand of conservatism is clearly superior to the repressed-homosexual-cowboy-Bush-love-hero-worship of many of his right-leaning radio peers.
My biggest objection to the show is Miller's overuse of the phrase, "I like the cut of your jib." At first, it's like, "Ah, that's kind of cool, like something James Cagney might've said." But after he's used the line on Ann Coulter; the junior Republican senator from Wyoming, Jim Breuer; the chief political correspondent at Politico.com; Gary Sinise; Rudy Giuliani's campaign manager; Dick Cavett; and an ESPN baseball analyst (all within a single 20-minute segment, mind you), it becomes a bit tiresome.
And I have to admit, as well-read and "in touch" as I believe I am, I still find myself thoroughly confused and befuddled by much of Miller's incessant obscure referencing. So in closing, I'd like to officially review Dennis Miller's radio show in the style of the man himself: Listening to "The Dennis Miller Show" is like watching Germaine Greer edit Wikipedia entries with the homeless on an Apple IIe during the Spanish Inquisition while Jeremy Piven and Xerxes the Great team up to lobby Congress to force the reintroduction of New Coke. (No, I have no idea what it means either.)
Filed under: Ann Coulter, Dennis Miller, Dick Cavett, ESPN, Gary Sinise, Jim Breuer, The Dennis Miller Show
posted 7:56 pm on 12/24/2007
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Mr Burns: "Smithers - who is that dashing young fellow in Sector 7 G?"
posted 11:28 pm on 12/23/2007
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posted 2:14 pm on 12/23/2007
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That couldn't have anything to do with Bill Maher claiming that label or with Ron Paul's cult popularity, could it?
Some of us with memories recall that Pennis declared his long-defunct MSNBC show a safe zone for W. Bush. There would be shots taken at everyone but W., whom Pennis said he liked a lot. And W. returned the favor, having Pennis as a guest on Air Force One and using him at some fundraisers.
I'm not one of those folks who used to like Pennis but changed my mind after his opportunistic turn to jingoism. I've always thought he was a smug, mean, self-aggrandizing douche nozzle in love with himself and his thesaurus.
This prick has no redeeming qualities and never has had any, so far as I'm concerned. His reactionary politics merely make him more misanthropic and loathsome. I suppose that is some sort of achievement on his part.
posted 9:32 am on 12/22/2007
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posted 2:27 pm on 12/21/2007
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Dennis has indeed lost his ever-loving marbles. Apparently 9/11 scared the shit out of him to the point where this guy completely abandoned every belief he held up until that point. Now it is obvious that he is about as principled as Lew Rockwell tripping on absinthe, channeling Neville Chamberlain while giving the keynote speech at a Daughters of the Confederacy function honoring Tecumseh Sherman.
BTW, don't take this the wrong way, but I like the flow of your shim (or something like that).
posted 1:26 pm on 12/21/2007
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"I like the cut of your jib" is indeed one of his awkward, but nevertheless continuously recycled defensive riffs. When confronted not long ago on a Bill Maher panel with the humble, but for real, towering, progressive intellect of Michael Dyson, Miller could only manage to sputter a pathetic "I love the way you talk man."
How poetic that Miller, who has, among other enchantingly fringe exhortations, urged his listeners to beat up anti-Bush demonstrators, now descends to the level of talk-show Torquemada where he may compete in the marketplace of ideas with like-minded luminaries Limbaugh, Ingraham, Savage et al.
posted 8:20 pm on 12/20/2007
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The old Dennis Miller would have taken the curmudgeonly Bradbury to task telling him, "Hey, Buckeroo Bonzai, there's a long and heralded history of protected satire in America. A play on your famous title is not only protected speech, it's consistent with the tone and content of Moore's movie, whether or not you and I agree with his politics." But instead Miller nodded his head in approval, chastising Moore for having the audacity to use the title, agreeing with every pedantic and pointless complaint a befuddled Bradbury had to say on the subject.
I thought to myself at the time, Dennis, you've made your career off this very type of wordplay. Aren't you the one who named his first comedy album "The Off-White Album"? What, did you get Ringo, George, and Paul's permission to parody their famous rock album, you sleazy bastard? You drop some acid and contact John Lennon with a Ouiji board and a Magic 8-Ball and get the thumbs up to co-opt the Beatles' work for your own second-rate stand-up routine? You lazy, hypocritical,insincere, duplicitous phony. To me, you have no credibility on any subject ever again.
Miller built his career and routine off of finding the comedy in pragmatism. After 9/11 he became a fearful coward. Back on Weekend Update, he had a twinkle and a smile in his eyes; today, you can see the pain, fear and apprehension. He looks like an abused, wounded puppy trapped in the corner, ready to lash out at anyone who comes close to him. What a sad, little man he has become.
posted 5:39 pm on 12/20/2007
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posted 5:18 pm on 12/20/2007
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