COMEDY REVIEW : Dennis Miller Skewers Absurdities
It was both fitting and slightly surprising that Dennis Miller’s show Tuesday at the Irvine Improvisation was both likable and very sharp.
Surprising because as the current anchor for Weekend Update on “Saturday Night Live” he often comes across as a smarmy guy who looks down his nose at everything --including the audience--which can undermine the incisiveness of his commentaries.
And when appearing on talk shows, he sometimes seems even more unctuous and downright mean in firing verbal salvos at public figures and issues, occasionally aiming a bazooka at a housefly.
On the other hand, he probably wouldn’t have landed the SNL gig--or be invited on other late-night programs--if he weren’t an eminently skillful, gifted performer.
Sure enough, while Miller started a bit slow and ended a bit low, overall he delivered a wonderfully intelligent, articulate, frequently biting set of topical material.
Opening a three-night stand Tuesday, he initially appeared listless, as if he would have preferred to be anywhere else. But it didn’t take long for him to inject some energy, edge--and appreciation for the absurd--into the proceedings.
After some pointed observations on the Persian Gulf conflict, he turned his attention to the presidential race: “My favorite moment in the political process this year was after the Iowa caucus, when Al Haig received zero percent of the vote, dropped out of the race and threw all his support to Bob Dole.”
That was the wry, mild Miller--the side usually reserved for discussing various aspects of show biz and media. For instance, he later revealed that he “went to see this new film, ‘Young Guns,’ the Western film where everybody in it is Martin Sheen’s son but nobody has the same last name.” And: “Stallone. There’s the quintessential thespian. This guy has about as much range as a Daisy air rifle. I don’t think I’ve seen depth in a character portrayal like that since--I gotta go back to Larry Storch on ‘F-Troop.’ ”
In a neat section on the National Enquirer, he noted the publication reported finding a woman in North Dakota “who is not a psychic,” and expressed some concern for the careers of Enquirer photographers who have to spend their time turning out “still lifes of a yam shaped like Hitler.”
But Miller devoted at least equal time to more cutting comments on weightier issues, some of which were so sharp they skewered two things at once. Even if it meant going less for the laugh than for the point.
One such double-whammy came during a section on televangelists--not the freshest topic, but Miller’s take is a little different:
“(I saw) Jim Bakker on the cover of People magazine a few weeks back--not the big picture, the little I’m-not-quite-(bleeping)-important-enough picture up in the corner. What kind of mediocre society do we live in that we put scumbags like this on the cover of major weekly periodicals? What has he ever done to earn our respect or interest? I think Bakker misses the point. I think he thinks we’re disillusioned with him because he got caught with his pants down, when it’s (really) the duplicitous nature of the message. . . .”
A shorter bit simultaneously carved up game shows and their studio audiences. Catching “Let’s Make a Deal” recently, he noted that “Monty (Hall) stumped the entire crowd when he offered $50 for anyone who could produce any dignity or self-respect.”
Sometimes, though, Miller merely directed a single-barrel shot of anger (and absurdism) at issues or societal shortcomings. “The thing that (angers) me the most is the leniency of our court system. . . . A guy kills somebody, and what’s the first thing we do: put him in a hospital for observation. Better keep an eye on him; he might do something crazy. What are we looking for--red wine with fish? White slacks after Nov. 1? I mean, the murder itself tipped me off.”
When Miller is rolling, no one is safe, nothing is off-limits, to the extent that, occasionally, the meanness is the message.
Take his remarks on the Deep South’s lack of sophistication. He said he recently returned from Birmingham, Ala., where he “was working a small comedy club called I Don’t Get It. . . . The sort of place where people read the Sunday comics with a yellow highlighter, just in case they stumble across a particularly meaningful passage in ‘Beetle Bailey’ that they might want to isolate and crochet into a sampler for the TV room wall.”
An astute observer with that kind of verbal facility should probably stick to going after bigger game. Taking on the hick stereotype would appear to be beneath him--certainly beneath the level of most of his act. In fact, the few other bits of inferior material--mostly collected, oddly enough, toward the end--were glaring, precisely because most of his stuff is so outstanding.
Moreover, isn’t it a bit inconsistent for him to mock fellow comics who do those generic Jack Nicholson impressions, then include jokes on the equally generic subjects of 7-Eleven stores and elderly women drivers?
Still, despite these occasional strikeouts and foul tips Tuesday, Miller was wielding a very hot bat. He ends his Improv stand with two shows tonight.
Middle act Ron Richards--who won an Emmy for writing for David Letterman--and opener Tommy Chun will then be joined by headliner Eddy Strange Friday through Sunday.