Dennis Miller was never funny

[Fixated]

I'm tired of this "Aw, he left our side and now he's not funny because he makes me feel bad about myself" schtick that so many people pull. Dennis Miller sucks long, sucks hard, and sucks with astounding commitment. And he always has. He is capable only of making jokes about people he disagrees with. This means he's stupid.

Someone name a place/time where he was consistently funny and intelligent. And give me the jokes.

[newgreataunt]

1. I agree

He was never funny and he always pouted when his shows were cancelled as though the viewers were guilty of incredibly bad judgment.

[demnan]

2. I agree

he always sounded like he was writing rants to impress people with his use of big words. His delivery was never good, the comedy was mediocre and I always had the impression that deep down he was a royal ass and a jerk.

[Liberal Classic]

3. I still think he's funny

But that's just me. Of course, I have no problem with the political opinions of various entertainers.

[ElementaryPenguin]

4. I agree. I loved SNL - but NEVER liked Miller - not even then!!

He always rubbed me the wrong way - a condescending, pompous ass!!

[Kathy in Cambridge]

5. He thinks he's so damn funny

I hated his smarmy, superior humor. give me Chris Rock anyday! Now HE'S funny!

[gratuitous]

6. I disagree

Last year during a Monday Night Football game, the Jets were on the opponent's two yard line (or some such). They lined up in a tackle eligible formation, and long-time offensive lineman Jumbo Elliott was in that position. The quarterback did a play fake, then lofted a little flare of a pass over the line of scrimmage to Jumbo, who to my knowledge had never had possession of the ball in his career, and had never scored.

The play caught the opponents totally by surprise and before Jumbo even had a chance to fall to the turf, Miller remarked, "You can't keep Jumbo down forever," a line usually reserved for some offensive scoring machine like Jerry Rice or Emmitt Smith.

I don't care much for Dennis Miller (whose career high point was a cameo appearance on the series "News Radio" as a demented conspiracy theorist wearing an eyepatch), but that line was funny.

[BurtWorm]

7. I'm with you.

He's completely canned. Imitation Mort Saul. Lousy imitation.

[theboss]

8. Was always the best part of SNL

And his early stand-up specials on HBO were great. His syndicated talk show sucked. But his HBO talk show was consistently entertaining.

He started to fade well before his "conversion." The last two seasons of the HBO show got upstaged by the younger, hipper Chris Rock Show, I felt. And he seemed more concerned with making bizarre references than in getting to punchlines.

He really lost it when the Monday Night Football fiasco began. He had no idea what to do in that booth and let himself get turned into Merlin Olsen of all things because he liked the fat paycheck. And then he started pitching every product thrown his way, again for fat cash.

It's almost always the case that when comedians get big paydays they stop being funny. Because great comedy comes from anger and it's hard to be angry when you are richer than a pharoh, living in a big house, with a beautiful wife and some kids.

I think the only two comedians who ever kept their fastball once they got mega-rich and bloated (at least for a little while) were Bill Cosby and Jerry Seinfeld. And that was probably because they were always the least confrontational of comics.

I mean look at Eddie Murphy. He is big-time not funny anymore. And he was once the funniest person on the planet.

I miss the old Dennis Miller. But that's what Comedy Central is for.

[skypilot]

9. I've said it before...

...on some of those "What the hell happened to Dennis Miller?" threads, he was NEVER funny. I couldn't agree more. He always oozed the most obnoxious smugness. He just seemed to think that he was so damned hip or something. And I hate that he seemed to have co-opted the word "rant". His "anger" always seemed really phony to me as if it was simply an excuse to rant--or rather "rant"--rather than being based on any real convictions. He "anger" was a schtick. Just like that other Dennis. Leary.

[Kolesar]

10. Talking about Chuck Colson (Nixon/watergate fame)

Chuck Colson is claiming that he found Jesus now. More likely Jesus saw Colson coming and said "hey, here comes that ^$#^$&&* Chuck Colson"


Or something like that. I laughed at it a decade or so ago.

[Fixated]

11. ....

Excellent. I have bred my army. Now we go out and destroy bad comedians.




I just need attention.

[Forkboy]

12. Citizen Arcane

and The Off White Record are both hilarious.

I'd give you jokes but hey,it's your mind to make up and it seems you already have :shrug:

[screembloodymurder]

13. You're right

he stunk. Almost ruined SNL. I never could figure out why he was on the show. No talent at all.

[edward]

15. Don't agree.

If you look at the history of "weekend update" there have been a lot of mediocre people doing it(eg, the current bore with Jimmy Fallon.)
Dennis Miller was usually pretty funny, but even when not, at least tried to be relatively articulate and witty.

[uptohere]

14. the guy is a scream

but not everyones cup of tea.

[SeanT]

16. hmm I disagree

I thought he was great on Real Time..

[uptohere]

20. feel free

I said he will not appeal to everyone. I also loved Sam Kinison but many people thought he was terrible too.

No accounting for taste !

[DarkPhenyx]

17. Not always funny I would agree with...

...but never funny? Sounds like more gratuitous Dennis Bashing to me.

[Fixated]

18. ....

There is no such thing as excess Dennis-bashing. And yeah, he proved his worth on Real Time by making no insights into anything.

[DarkPhenyx]

19. mmmmmmmm, ok.

let's remember that when they start talking about Moore or Franken again, shall we?

[ejw]

21. response

Dennis is still witty, irreverent, still enjoys using salty language, and criticizing politicians. Dennis may have changed some in political orientation, but he does what he pleases. He is an individualist. Also, remember, he still is no friend of the religious right, nor does he seek to bring religion into the political arena. I'd say he is closer to a libertarian than he is to a true conservative. As far as a football commentator, I have to agree, he was, to be kind, misplaced! LOL

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

22. his biggest problem

is that he recycled the same material over and over. if i ever have to hear that bit about how virtual reality sex is going to "make crack look like sanka" again, i'll kill myself

now, of course, all he's doing is recycling his old jokes except he puts 'al sharpton' in where 'dan quayle' used to go, and so on