So I watched Dennis Miller’s HBO’s Comedy Special, Dennis Miller, All In.
To catch you up, I reported in my Tabloid Review of 1/13/06, his special would air Saturday, 1/21, and I’d be watching, with the hope of seeing the old Dennis Miller. You know the one, Dennis Miller Live 1994 on HBO — THAT Dennis Miller was laugh-your-ass-off-funny! Not the stiff, often conservative, slightly boring, blue-suit-wearing, pro- republican Dennis Miller we see now. Well guess what…I should have followed my instincts and put in Mr. Ludy’s dvd of The ROCKFORD FILES rather than waste my time with this special.
What started out as the funny-witty-non-conservative-joke-telling Dennis Miller, quickly turned into the flag-waving pro-republican he is now. Oh sure, he started out on neutral ground with jokes about the ozone layer, fugitives hiding in Alaska, stuff like that. Then 20 minutes into the program, everything went south.
It started with small jokes about Howard Dean and his melt-down during his campaign, and then went to full-on jokes about Bill and Hilary, and what would happen if Hilary ran for President. It only got worse from there.
I know to give a fair review, I should have watched the entire show, but I couldn’t; just couldn’t. I turned it off 40 minutes into the program when he started talking about how great George Bush is for the country; oh, really? I haven’t noticed that. Perhaps he’s talking about another country.
Or maybe it’s something else.
I had a conversation with a friend today, and I came to an interesting conclusion. She had gone to see one of her favorite comedians the other day, George Carlin, and came away a little disappointed. Apparently, the material wasn’t what it could have been, and wasn’t so funny, or relatable, to the audience demographic that was present, which made me think…
Maybe what’s funny at 20 doesn’t play as well at 40. Meaning, in your 20’s, you’re not worried about politics, global warming and world hunger; that comes later in life. At 20, all you care about is getting laid, having enough money until the next payday, and hanging out with your friends; that’s basically your entire existence. At 40, you start to think about being “middle-aged”, what you have, or haven’t, done with your life, and the world around you.
Maybe I’m looking for Dennis Miller to be young and funny like he was in the 80’s and 90’s; unlike the self-professed, mildly-conservative Dennis Miller post 9/11. Maybe as comedians get older (George Carlin, Lewis Black, etc.) their material gets more serious as their life progresses, and because of the subject matter, becomes less funny. Maybe it’s the natural progression of things.
Politics; not so funny; world hunger; not so funny; Michael Jackson dressed in a black abaya robe; funny and sad at the same time.