9 replies on “Upsetting Day: Dennis Miller’s The Rant Zone”
It is astounding how much in the Nineties (with spillover into the early Oughts) it was ok for comedians to put out books that were just their routines, with at best a slight sheen of thematic organisation (like Paul Reiserās relationship books). They dominated bestseller lists! They were just acts stripped of performance by people who arenāt great writers of prose!
Drew Careyās book featured literally twenty pages or so of jokes about how big his dick was and then a short story about dealing with the intense emotional fallout from being sexually assaulted as a child by a family member.
They let me take these books out from the library as a adolescent and no one went to jail.
Counterpoint: George Carlin’s books were awesome. Probably because he didn’t try to make them out to be more than they were; he basically just said “here’s a bunch of my notes from over the years, with a few lines of added commentary.” Said commentary usually amounting to something like kicking off three pages of puns with “Fuck you, I like these kinda jokes.”
God, I miss him.
It was also the age of the mediocre comedian memoir. I was a stand-up obsessed kid in the 90s, and I read Jay Leno’s “Leading with my Chin,” Tim Allen’s “Don’t Stand to Close to a Naked Man,” and Jeff Foxworthy’s “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem,” none of which were appropriate for a 10 year old. Or anyone of any age, come to think of it.
Legitimately, I think any article of this type deserves hazard pay. I’m applauding, but in a worried way, like someone watching a gold metal run make it over the finish line, but then collapse dramatically. This was funny, brave, and has made me able to just barely understand the structure of the tweet in the Pocxo ad.
…mostly. What the fuck does this man think chevy trucks have to do with anything else he wrote.
I feel awful, but I know what he is referencing. Iām not proud of it, but I may have made fun of that same commercialā¦you couldnāt avoid that commercial if you watched any live sporting event for at least a year.
Dennis Miller has done unimaginable psychic damage to the 1-900-HOTDOG team and my heart breaks because of it.
Gotta ask…can we purchase that shirt, in single person size?
I never thought Iād be so upset by someone tweeting the word āunctuousā as I am right now.
Dennis, babe, you will look smarter if you use words appropriately than you do by just picking the most impressive ones.
Elmo would absolutely vibe at a GWAR concert, though. And then have some great stories to confuse Cookie Monster with.
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9 replies on “Upsetting Day: Dennis Miller’s The Rant Zone”
It is astounding how much in the Nineties (with spillover into the early Oughts) it was ok for comedians to put out books that were just their routines, with at best a slight sheen of thematic organisation (like Paul Reiserās relationship books). They dominated bestseller lists! They were just acts stripped of performance by people who arenāt great writers of prose!
Drew Careyās book featured literally twenty pages or so of jokes about how big his dick was and then a short story about dealing with the intense emotional fallout from being sexually assaulted as a child by a family member.
They let me take these books out from the library as a adolescent and no one went to jail.
Counterpoint: George Carlin’s books were awesome. Probably because he didn’t try to make them out to be more than they were; he basically just said “here’s a bunch of my notes from over the years, with a few lines of added commentary.” Said commentary usually amounting to something like kicking off three pages of puns with “Fuck you, I like these kinda jokes.”
God, I miss him.
It was also the age of the mediocre comedian memoir. I was a stand-up obsessed kid in the 90s, and I read Jay Leno’s “Leading with my Chin,” Tim Allen’s “Don’t Stand to Close to a Naked Man,” and Jeff Foxworthy’s “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem,” none of which were appropriate for a 10 year old. Or anyone of any age, come to think of it.
Legitimately, I think any article of this type deserves hazard pay. I’m applauding, but in a worried way, like someone watching a gold metal run make it over the finish line, but then collapse dramatically. This was funny, brave, and has made me able to just barely understand the structure of the tweet in the Pocxo ad.
…mostly. What the fuck does this man think chevy trucks have to do with anything else he wrote.
I feel awful, but I know what he is referencing. Iām not proud of it, but I may have made fun of that same commercialā¦you couldnāt avoid that commercial if you watched any live sporting event for at least a year.
Dennis Miller has done unimaginable psychic damage to the 1-900-HOTDOG team and my heart breaks because of it.
Gotta ask…can we purchase that shirt, in single person size?
I never thought Iād be so upset by someone tweeting the word āunctuousā as I am right now.
Dennis, babe, you will look smarter if you use words appropriately than you do by just picking the most impressive ones.
Elmo would absolutely vibe at a GWAR concert, though. And then have some great stories to confuse Cookie Monster with.