The Miller Metamorphosis

03/30/2007 By

I’ve been far too busy recently to have many deep thoughts about much of anything, but if there’s been one Big, Weighty Matter I’ve been mulling over in my head at all of late, its most certainly this: I am utterly horrified by what’s become of Dennis Miller.

And I can’t be alone in that. For indeed there was a time, somewhere way back in the roaring 1990s, when Miller was at the absolute top of his game. His hyper-referential, ultra-postmodern-rifftastic shtick was fresh back then, and Miller carved out a whole new path for comedy that almost every single noteworthy comedian since has rightly taken cues from. When he was political — which he frequently was — he, like Jon Stewart after him, never lost sight of The Funny being The Point. And, as with Stewart now, back in the day I revered Miller, respected him, and most importantly, he made me laugh my ass off on a regular basis.

So what the fuck happened?

Was it 9/11? The Dubya administration? Was he at some point the unfortunate recipient of a gigantic gift basket of fucktard which he had no choice but to accept? How did that truly funny dude I loved back in the 90s turn into this flaming ultra-right-wing moron?

It pains me, deep down in my soul the good lord knows it does.

My horror was brought into even sharper relief — if that’s possible — earlier this week, with his appearance on my beloved Daily Show With Jon Stewart. Which, incidentally, I actually had to turn off mid-interview, such was my agony (and if you watch the video in that link, you’ll understand why, believe me). And it wasn’t just that he was spouting Neo-Con flavored bullshit. It was that he was supremely NOT FUNNY. Which, even more than radically diverting from my politics, is something I simply cannot abide.

So Dennis, I’m truly sorry its come to this, but I’m going to have to officially put you On Notice:

colbert-dennismiller

Yes, its indeed a sad day, my friends. But at least I still have my preshus memories of the Dennis Miller of the 1990s. Well, those that weren’t obliterated by all that glue-huffing and auto-erotic exphixiating I did.

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Filed Under: Arts & Entertainment, Politics, Television Tagged With: , , , ,
  • http://www.weaker-vessel.com michelle/ weaker vessel

    Even when he was putatively liberal, I’ve always thought he was annoying; the whole coked-up, smarmy, rapid-fire-patter thing just doesn’t appeal to me. But yeah, that appearance was monumentally, cringe-inducingly bad and uncomfortable. All of his hoary old barnacle-encrusted “jokes” were totally unfunny. My pet theory is that he’s just working the Ann Coulter angle, you know, staking out a contrarian niche as a way of gaining competitive advantage in a crowded marketplace.

  • http://slackermama.com callistawolf

    I totally feel the same way. I saw the Daily Show interview and literally cringed. I want to beat him with a heavy stick and make him rethink his life.

  • http://teamsugar.com/user/baltimoregal BaltimoreGal

    Yeah, my answer to his post-9/11 conservative conversion is this: He’s a coward.
    Mr. Postmodern got a taste of the real world and decided he “no likey” so he decided to back the people with the most guns. That’s his right.
    But fear isn’t funny. Comedy is a brave art and his fear has ruined whatever vestiges of humor he was hanging on to.
    When was the last time he was funny, anyway? I remember in the 90s he hosted the MTV VMAs and was making jokes about Bill Wyman marrying a teenager. Talk about not timely. I’m pretty sure half the audience didn’t have any idea what he was talking about. He just bombed.
    I think at this point his old friends like Jon and Leno just feel sorry for him and that’s how he keeps getting on the air. It won’t last- but if by some chance it does, we’ll at least know when the right-wing hacks are quoting him- they’ll do it rant-style.
    Can you tell I feel strongly about this one?

  • http://www.slouchingmom.com slouching mom

    I never found him all that funny. But you are right, what funniness he had disappeared long ago.

  • http://momcast.blogspot.com mamaloo, the doula

    Too true, yo!
    (Which is me, a 36yo mom pretending to be hip and with it as I attempt to say: “Yeah, me, too.”)

  • http://www.mamalogues.com Dana

    I like both Stewart and Miller; I’ve liked Miller since before the political turnabout. He’s smart humor, usually ridiculously obscure which I think is eccentric; his build-ups are equal in length to the intros of Cure songs. He’s not so very neo-con; he’s a social lib, but that kinda gets upstaged. Anyway, I think Lewis Black acts way more coked-out.

  • birdgal

    It’s a sad day when Dennis Miller becomes a circle-jerking panderer to Bill freakin’ O’Reilly. These clips just gave me the shivers man.