I'm depressed - Do college students love Dennis Miller?

[Iris]

I stumbled upon a website that was free-republic-ish and they were saying how Dennis Miller is a has been but managed to help Bush make millions of dollars in California by performing for college students?

God help us if this is true.

I'm going to find the link. . . .

[JVS]

1. no

[Iris]

2. Here's the link

And I got it wrong. The college students didn't contribute to the millions raised in California but here's what the the said:

"Fortunately, outspoken comedian Dennis Miller continues to flourish on cable TV and in front of standing-room-only college audiences.

Most important, he's now also become an important celebrity component of the George W. Bush re-election push. And with the help of Miller, Dubyah raked in $5.1 million in campaign funds in a recent barnstorming tour of California that featured the acerbic humor of the former ABC Monday Night Football commentator as the entertainment lure."


http://www.iconoclast.ca/MainPage.asp?page=/WeGotMail.asp

[Wetzelbill]

3. not anymore

that guy is so trite. He's funny, but his humor is so condescending even though the content is shallow. (the guy is stuck on Clinton jokes) Plus, he practically blows the status quo everytime he opens his mouth. It's not possible to get anymore washed up. He's a retread.

[ScrewyRabbit]

4. Conservatives don't have a lot of comedians to choose from

It's hard to have a sense of humor when you have a stick the size of a telephone pole up your a**. So they're desperate for even a has-been like Miller. Those Young Republican groups on campus have to book someone for the frat-boys to watch...

[Iris]

5. it's true

laughing out loud can lift depression!

[amber dog democrat]

6. who is

Dennis Miller?

[mac56]

8. A once-funny comic

who was in the cast of "Saturday Night Live" for many years. After he left there he hosted a series on HBO, did commentary for "Monday Night Football" for awhile, and slowly morphed from a clever observational comic into a right-wing shill. Sad really.

[disgruntella]

7. College students love Dennis Miller...

... just before his alarm goes off in the morning and he wakes up, looks in the mirror, smirks, and says "cha-cha"

[zekeson]

9. He is so pathetic

If he weren't spewing such bile it would almost be easy to feel sorry for him. He always looks like hell these days and seems to be wearing a sign that sez, my life whoring for Karl Rove is a living hell, please shoot me. I imagine the BFEE has pics of him with little boys or something.

[Barad Simith]

13. heh

"I imagine the BFEE has pics of him with little boys or something."

I just wanted to see it again.

[Bertrand]

10. a funny headline from that website

"CLINTON ADVISED CLARK TO DODGE DRAFT MOVEMENT"

The rest of the website is pretty pathetic overall in its attempt to critique "liberalism." I cant see how someone can defend Ann Coulter with a straight face, and i mean that in a non-partisan way.

[newyawker99]

16. Congrats Bertrand!! 200 posts

:toast:

[PittPoliSci]

11. not us smart college students.

we really dislike him. i really used to like him though before he lost his damn mind.

[elcondor]

12. Um, I don't

LOL, I don't know of anyone who does, either. :shrug:

[LeftistGorilla]

14. not at mine....

at least I don't think so...
www.ryerson.ca

[theemu]

15. Miller tried and failed...

I really think the case of Dennis Miller is a sad one. Miller was, at one point, an extremely intelligent comedian, albeit one who had to use big words to cover up for his own self-hatred. He was funny often, and he had very pointed criticisms of both political parties. But it wasn't enough. He was, for all his wit and intelligence, never able to charge the pure energy and emotion of his heroes Carlin and Pryor - no matter how shocking he wanted to be, he couldn't really provoke the way he wanted to, especially not after the passings of a pair of great Texan comics, the scathingly funny Sam Kinison and the brilliant Bill Hicks (my personal favorite standup).

And then he saw that even HBO was tiring of him. Dennis Miller Live stopped getting the push for Emmys from the network, because HBO had a new show with the new Richard Pryor, Chris Rock. Hell, HBO even started pushing for Mr. Show with Bob and Dave to get comedy awards over Dennis Miller Live. (BTW, if you like Mr. Show and haven't heard it, David Cross' SHUT UP YOU FUCKING BABY! is probably the best live standup recording since Hicks' Dangerous.)

And so he started to sell himself. He realized that in this day and age, it's hard being an outrageous comic - you have so much competition from brilliant young comics like Rock, Cross, Silverman and even from the old guard like Carlin. So Miller became an NFL color commentator - when he didn't know what he was saying, his audience didn't, and so he failed at that. Miller then saw 9-11, I think, as an opportunity to find an audience that didn't like the popular brand of outrage comedy (that is, the brand espoused by Rock, Cross, etc.) - angry white Republicans. He realized that angry white Republicans are, for one reason or another, the most outraged demographic in America, and he's run with it ever since.

The thing that Miller doesn't realize, though, is that he's lost any credibility he could ever have now that he's repping for the establishment. Good comedy has always been, even at its most polite, anarchism and saying 'fuck you' to the powers that be. Miller is a failure for the same reason the whole imported-laddie-culture magazine fad is a failure - it brutalizes and teases from a position of power. That's not outrageous - that's fascism.

My school had the option of inviting Miller last year, but ended up bringing Lewis Black instead. He was hilarious.

[Wickerman]

20. Nice work

and right on. Miller traded in being cutting edge for working on wall street. what a douchbag.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Iris]

21. I need to say a big "THANK YOU" to the masked poster,

aka "Deleted Message," for kicking my thread up this a.m.


(which also allowed me to read theemu's post)