MovieChat Forums > Dennis Miller Discussion > Does anyone think this guy is funny?

Does anyone think this guy is funny?

posted 6 years ago by Jehosaphet (1063)
36 replies | jump to latest

I've always liked Dennis Miller, but...its more about him seeming like a likable guy; his continual smile while delivering the monologue on his talk show back in the day, how his "wink and nod" style of delivery makes you feel like you're 'in' on the inside joke he's sharing.

His analogies are so obscure that the only way to really be able to enjoy his humor is to be sitting in front of a computer, mouse in hand with the cursor blinking over the search box at Wikipedia.org.
He references movies from the fifties, actors from the thirties, obscure names from poetry, things that require you having prior knowledge of a sub-movement in French culture shortly before the renaissance. And if you're lucky enough to understand the reference, you're often left wondering how it applies to whatever he's currently analogizing.

Listen to him with a search engine at the ready and it quickly becomes obvious that despite all the knowledge in this man's head, there's a disconnect between it and the points he's trying to make. Like he can't help his mouth from grinding it into a paste and shitting it onto the floor for others to sift through for meaning.
https://theoutline.com/post/4835/dennis-miller-option-podcast-really-bad?zd=2&zi=27pj3bqp

"Being able to understand a Dennis Miller analogy is like being able to recognize a brain tumor on your own CT scan — the sense of accomplishment only lasts a few seconds before the existential dread sets in."

IMO, there's a part of him that relies on the obscurity of his references...because it often seems like even Dennis Miller doesn't know what Dennis Miller is trying to say. But whatever it is, its generally pretty far away from "funny", and I can't help but wonder if its always been that way and we just didn't realize it.

Sorry if anyone's a fan of this guy, he's just seeming more and more a hack to me as time goes by here.

[–] ProFromDover (286) 6 years ago

You are of course correct: the answer is no. Never have got his success. He keeps getting hired.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 6 years ago

No. You like him, as i’ve always done, if you can follow him on your own, absent any help from hardware. Neither humor nor intelligence requires hardware nor Cliffs notes. Just intelligence. The “It just requires part” of “Just intelligence,” is in, the vernacular (look it up) part of this conversation known as, you know (actually, probably not)
“understood.”

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

[deleted]

[–] R_Kane (15828) 6 years ago

You made me laugh; but you knew that. ;D back atcha.

[–] Jehosaphet (1063) 2 years ago

You're trying WAY too hard here, guy.
If it wasn't so condescending it'd be a little sad. But, yeah you just sound like a prick.

[–] Wuchak (8732) 6 years ago

He's more amusing than funny. On top of that, he's well-read, has common-sense smarts and is usually right. He's also not a wussy sheeple of LIEberal nonsense.

[–] johnmiller (3889) 6 years ago

He was great until he became a reactionary.

But, his introductions of monster movies on TCM around a year ago were very funny.

[–] snepts (11123) 6 years ago

Yes. Love Dennis Miller. Not when he takes the Republican side, but when a guy that smart says something, I'll at least give him the benefit of an honest listen.

[–] Wuchak (8732) 6 years ago

Not when he takes the Republican side,

Which he sometimes does -- or, more accurately, he takes the wise (conservative) position -- because he's not a wimpy "Yes man" to LIEberal idiotology (yes, I spelled that correctly).

[–] snepts (11123) 6 years ago

Wow. Hate much? I tried to make a comfortable, centrist, accommodating comment, and we get wimpy LIEberal idiotology from a wise conservative position, (with insecure assurances about spelling -- my spell check says otherwise)?
Alrighty then ! Or should I say All Righty? Yes man !

[–] Jehosaphet (1063) 6 years ago

Jesus criminy man, you can catch more flies with honey, etc.

[–] 3840x2160 (359) 6 years ago

I always get a kick out of his shtick and though he was great in Joe Dirt.

[–] Jehosaphet (1063) 6 years ago

Yeah, he was way likeable in that movie.
Nah, he's a hard guy not to like...I can't help but like him myself =P

[–] captainbucky (15252) 6 years ago

Didn’t he do football too ?

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

Somewhere out there -- youtube? -- is a clip of his best calls. As the OP said, he threw in a lot of obscure sidebar stuff that left fans and his fellow commentators scratching their heads. He didn't last long on the job...

He was funny on SNL, then at some point years later he just morphed into this grumpy old guy who wasn't funny anymore... just cranky.

This happened to George Carlin too. He was brilliant but, by the end, his cynicism overwhelmed him and a lot of his routines were just him complaining about the Big Picture.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 6 years ago

Not for nothing, except for good sense: The phrase, for everyone who does not live in the ghetto, is “Back in the old days,” NOT “Back in the day.”

The first rendering make actual sense. The second does not. Back in WHAT day? Please, and I flat-out DEFY you on this: back in WHAT day, specifically, you ignorant so-and-so? Prithee, enlighten me. Name me a date and time. Yes, i am.being harsh, because ignorance offends me. If you can’t name a specific day whereof you speak, then you do not know whereof you speak.

[–] Jehosaphet (1063) 6 years ago

EXCUSE ME? "Back in the day" and "back in the OLD DAYS" are connotative of two very different things. One offers up imagery of 1950's, black and white "Casablanca", Jalopies, etc while the other allows the reader to infer the time-period based upon the context in which it was written. Thereof. As such.
And the context HERE was "back in the day when Dennis Miller had his talk show", not back in the days when we'd all gather around the family radio in our penny-loafers to listen to it.

It maybe grammatically inaccurate, but this is henceforth whereupon I call YOU the ignorant so-and-so for probably not ever having even been to the ghetto, so therefore having not an understanding of said ghetto...and insulting my people with your arrogance and probably some racism as well, too.
Prithee LOL

[–] gcarras (2770) 5 years ago

I still think he is HOWL_LAWRIOUS (howl-la we'en)

[–] R_Kane (15828) 3 years ago

Why the fuck would anyone want to go to a ghetto? Ghetto-visiting is usually not voluntary; and you misused “prithee.”

I reject the rest of your post out of hand, and stand by my original.

If a phras is grammatically incorrect, it is logically incorrect. Grammar is a rudimentary system of logic.

You can't write for shit.

[–] Jehosaphet (1063) 2 years ago

That was me making fun of you...on account of your trying so hard to be seen as smart?
Your taking it literal is just more evidence of your dumbassery.
Also, what the hell is a phras? Mr. "You can't write for shit". lol
You should get your ducks in a row if you're going to go around being such a pedantic little twat. Otherwise it just kinda looks like desperate posturing from someone insecure about their own intellect.
Its alright man, you don't have to always be the smartest guy in the room.