Fielding Mellish

This saddens me. It really does. Miller used to be one of my favorite comedians, but his post-9/11 neo-conservative bent has blunted his most formidable weapon: his pragmatism.

Now that - it appears - he's toting a "party line," you can predict exactly how he'll react to an issue. which is fine for an elected official, but pretty *****ty for a comedian.

So long, Dennis. And good luck.

HistoryProf

Bingo!! that for me, anyway, is the main problem I have with his latest turn. He seems to have completely flip-flopped on so much, and his lauding of Bush is nauseating given his history. It just seems so blatantly phony and pandering in order to rescucitate a dying career. I happened to catch him on Leno, Conan, and the Daily Show, and I knew i had seen everything i needed to in terms of the HBO show....it was obvious he was using the "A" material then....but even that wasn't all that funny. It's as if he was auditioning for a spot as a writer for Rush or something.

It's really pretty sad. I've always liked Dennis, and respected him for poking fun at the Left and the Right pretty equally....this latest performance is just so milquetoast of him.....So long Dennis indeed....we barely knew ye (apparently)......

das Monkey

Finally got around to watching this last night. Pretty weak. It didn't help that he reused all the funny parts in his appearance on The Daily Show. His delivery was much better then too.

Oh well. I don't have a problem with his political leanings either way or if he switches. Mainly, he pokes fun at stupid people, and there are plenty of stupid people on both sides of the aisle. Whether I agree or disagree with what he's saying, if it's funny, it's funny. Unfortunately, this special wasn't particularly funny, and that's a shame.

das

Jadzia

Dennis Miller does tend to repeat himself an awful lot.

I went to see him perform live in 1992 and I was so disappointed that he just recycled everything from the The Off White Album and his HBO Black & White special. In fact, I almost felt as if I could recite his lines along with him at that point.

The ironic thing is everyone in the audience was laughing their asses off. And I had to wonder why they paid $30 to see a performer if they had never heard his well-known jokes before.

inVectiVe

Yeah, this thread was getting too political anyway.

I agree it's rather lame knowing that all the "witty observations" a comedian makes are pre-packaged to such an extent. I guess when I was young and stupid part of me actually believed that there was only a base level of preparation involved, and the rest of the performance was basically the guy just winging it. Almost improving, if you will.

Now that I'm slightly less young, and not *quite* as stupid, I have to make a conscious effort to block out the knowledge that whatever [insert comedian] just said that made me laugh so hard, has probably been said dozens of times before. Verbatim.

The most astonishing example is when I saw Chris Rock in a special (on Comedy Central?) doing a bit on The First Black President. No, not Bill Clinton; he was discussing how you'll never see a black VP if the Prez is white, because many black Americans would just pop a cap in whitey's azz so the VP could get that promotion. Which I might have found humorous........except for the fact that I'd seen Rock do the same routine word-for-word several years before on SNL Weekend Update.

Yeah, the degree of scripted-ness truly ruins the fantasy.

Groucho

Depends on the comedian. Some have shows that are mostly improv, with a few prepared jokes scattered throughout. I've seen great shows that were nothing more than the comedian walking around talking to the audience. No two shows are the same. Robin Williams is an example of this kind of comedian.

das Monkey

I saw Howie Mandell live once, and he was almost completely improv. He had an opener and closer, but 90% of the show was him feeding off the audience.

When I saw Jay Mohr, it was half and half. Half of it was straight script and routines I was very familiar with; the rest was 0-day warez current events and audience participation.

das

Jadzia

I think the funniest thing Dennis Miller said (that I hadn't already heard before) was when he was making fun of how long Circuit City receipts are.

Dubya

A friend of mine saw him in Vegas for New Years Eve 1999 and he was still doing the same act! I think Black and White was a classic but it was 9 years old at that point, I would have asked for my money back

SleepyW

I guess I'm one of the few that wasn't disappointed by the show. Well, at least I seem to have a few more laughs than most. My wife turned over after the first 5 minutes and said, "He isn't funny" and went to sleep. We both loved watching DM Live, but I was hoping for an extended pragmatic, sarcastic rant monologue instead of a common stand-up "Didja ever notice" or "I went to so-and-so today" shtick.

I honestly didn't feel he wavered too far from his usual political beliefs. I just watched this last night, and based on the reviews the show got here, I was expecting some 60 minute pro-Bush rally, but never saw it materialize. I'm not normally politically-minded, but I just didn't see what many have suggested about him changing views and whatnot.

I also agree that I hate seeing comedians push the same jokes like an actor promoting his/her movie on every late night talk show. It ruins the experience - especially when the comedian uses the jokes everywhere before the show even airs. It's like seeing the best part of a movie in the previews, then when you see it in the movie, it's not interesting anymore.

he did have some great lines though..."Christ lady, it's a vagina, not a clown car!"

Groucho

Watch one of his routines from ten years ago and compare. The switch is obvious. Even Miller has stated that he used to be liberal, but has since become a conservative.

Josh-da-man

Miller never really struck me as a liberal, probably more of a libertarian lite, ala Bill Maher.

Whatever, I just find it kind of repulsive to watch a comedian ass-kiss and stump for politicians and parties. They should really be flinging crap at everybody across the political spectrum. Guys like Carlin and Hicks (RIP) would generally show some leftish political bias, but they've never openly ass-kissed Democrats and liberals like Miller has been doing.

The jingoistic crap spewing out of Miller's mouth lately is just ... wrong. This is a man who used to cynical and erudite, and now he's just wrapping himself up in a flag and calling for anyone wearing a towel on their head to be killed.

The question, though, is he sincere in his newfound beliefs, or is he desperate enough to be angling for a job at Fox News?

Miller's shift is really obvious to those of us who have watched him for a long time. He's been slinging lots of vitriol at Democrats, and Hillary Clinton, in particular, while he either leaves the Republicans alone, or brown-noses by sucking up to Bush II.

I really started noticing this in the final season of his HBO series, so it sort of makes me suspicious about his motives.

mkdevo

only caught the last 10 minutes or so last night.. had no idea it was on...

loved the 'ovarian mulligan'!!

kvrdave

I finally caught this and loved it. You are all wrong. -ptth=

He was spot on with the environmental stuff. The part about Caribou being reindeer who couldn't make the show was priceless.

Preacher

He is brilliant. He makes me laugh every time.