I used to be a big Dennis Miller fan. His rants (later made to books) as well as his overall TV show on HBO was often smart and funny. He knew how to take good pot shots at all the angles. Then after 9/11, he started his decline (his latest show on TV is awful). Once his TV show on HBO ended, this special came. I was interested to see what he had to say, and I *tried* to not put a political bias in my way of liking it or not. But the problem is that, aside from the material verging into just aimless pontification and even talking points from the right-wing, it's just not up to par with his past stand-up stuff. Sometimes a funny line will come up when talking about celebrities (the Willem Dafoe joke was my favorite). However with the political jokes, he doesn't seem to even get as big laughs, per say, from the audience as he gets applause for his lines. It's also of note that the special was taped right before Bush plunged the US into Iraq, and from here you can clearly tell his alliances. It's somewhat of a drag seeing how he's so drastically changed in nine or ten years from his special in 93 (he used to be not necessarily liberal or conservative, somewhere in the middle, not so here), but I didn't want to care about his bias while watching it. Meanwhile, it seemed as though the audience itself had a bias. What I cared about was if the jokes worked, the ironies, and it just didn't do it for me. I'd rank it as my least favorite special of his, despite a few laugh-out-loud jabs. C-
5 Reviews
Looking back 3 years later
airmania2 June 2006
Warning: Spoilers
*** contains slight spoilers *** I've always been a big fan of Dennis Miller. His ongoing and rather verbose rants were not only funny but very intelligent responses to world events.
However, after first viewing The Raw Feed in 2003, I could not finish watching the whole thing. Miller pretty much hit most of the ultra-conservative views in a "common Joe" point of view, like the review stated. Yes, my political views lean more to the left than they do to the right, and yes Miller had of lot to say about each topic, but I was appalled.
Miller sounded like a self-absorbed stereotypical American who was p'd off at everything that criticized America. He sounded angry, scared and racist. I understand that most views in Hollywood is Left-leaning and Miller must have made The Raw Feed in retaliation to all the Left-wing media, but wow. 2003, the beginning of the war, 2 years after 9/11, just wow.
Ever since I couldn't look at a program with him in it. Miller completely turned me off. It could just be my biased views, but when I see such a brilliant comedian making comments that are wrong in my opinion, it makes him look stupid in my eyes.
Anyhow, regardless of my views, 3 years later everything Miller praised in favor of (ie President Bush, WMD in Iraq, global warming, fear of Muslims, etc..) must be biting him in the butt today.
I understand Miller had his own views and I loved his rants before. However, the whole Ultra-Conservative blowout rant didn't work in the long scheme of things. Miller's political show didn't last very long because of the rants.
You really have to view this man's opinions in 2003, and hopefully he'll make another comedy show so we can compare his thoughts. A very interesting post 9/11 commentary from the right side of the Hollywood.
However, after first viewing The Raw Feed in 2003, I could not finish watching the whole thing. Miller pretty much hit most of the ultra-conservative views in a "common Joe" point of view, like the review stated. Yes, my political views lean more to the left than they do to the right, and yes Miller had of lot to say about each topic, but I was appalled.
Miller sounded like a self-absorbed stereotypical American who was p'd off at everything that criticized America. He sounded angry, scared and racist. I understand that most views in Hollywood is Left-leaning and Miller must have made The Raw Feed in retaliation to all the Left-wing media, but wow. 2003, the beginning of the war, 2 years after 9/11, just wow.
Ever since I couldn't look at a program with him in it. Miller completely turned me off. It could just be my biased views, but when I see such a brilliant comedian making comments that are wrong in my opinion, it makes him look stupid in my eyes.
Anyhow, regardless of my views, 3 years later everything Miller praised in favor of (ie President Bush, WMD in Iraq, global warming, fear of Muslims, etc..) must be biting him in the butt today.
I understand Miller had his own views and I loved his rants before. However, the whole Ultra-Conservative blowout rant didn't work in the long scheme of things. Miller's political show didn't last very long because of the rants.
You really have to view this man's opinions in 2003, and hopefully he'll make another comedy show so we can compare his thoughts. A very interesting post 9/11 commentary from the right side of the Hollywood.
Painfully unfunny
Brendan314 January 2014
Dennis Miller can be funny and has had his moments. Sadly, this isn't one of them. It appears he used up all his best material before this 2003 appearance. I don't mind his conservative politics, but in this concert it seems his idea of political humor is simply uninspired attacks at the left. I don't mind attacking the left with humor... so long as it's actually clever. What he presents is simply angry self righteous insults that clearly appeal to a those on the right so hungry for conservative humor that they are just happy to enjoy the rare sight of a comedian attacking the left that they don't bother to notice he's not funny.
Aside from his weak attempts at political humor, the rest of his routine seems to be unrelated rants made up of pop culture references, recycled (stolen) material from other comedians, and his signature pretentious use of multi-syllable words to give the false impression he's being clever.
The saddest part about this angry rant from this chicken hawk is watching it again all these years later (I just caught it on TV again last night) and seeing just how wrong and misguided he was about nearly all of his political rants... particularly his call to invade Iraq and mocking those that questioned it. He sounds like a fat man giving diet advice and the irony is completely lost on him when he questions the patriotism of any on the left and insinuates they lack the courage to fight... while he forgets that he, himself, never served.
Aside from his weak attempts at political humor, the rest of his routine seems to be unrelated rants made up of pop culture references, recycled (stolen) material from other comedians, and his signature pretentious use of multi-syllable words to give the false impression he's being clever.
The saddest part about this angry rant from this chicken hawk is watching it again all these years later (I just caught it on TV again last night) and seeing just how wrong and misguided he was about nearly all of his political rants... particularly his call to invade Iraq and mocking those that questioned it. He sounds like a fat man giving diet advice and the irony is completely lost on him when he questions the patriotism of any on the left and insinuates they lack the courage to fight... while he forgets that he, himself, never served.
Brilliant, hilarious and fearless
strangedays10 January 2004
With liberal humor dominating television and print, it's a testament to the strength of the material that Dennis Miller was able to drop this bomb in the heighth of the anti-war protests it mocks. Drawing on his experience as the 10-year host of his Emmy-winning HBO show "Dennis Miller Live" and his frequent appearances on political and talk shows, Miller fashions an eloquent, insightful and dangerously edgy monologue as hilarious as it is brilliant. Miller's humor is very intelligent, but he speaks from a very common-man perspective, and it's about time someone thew back what the liberals were dishing out. Soon to be launching a political talk show on CNBC later this month, Dennis Miller is sure to be a fixture for common sense political humor for years to come.
Great Stuff
Michaelrsear21 September 2008
Warning: Spoilers
With all of the Hollywood liberal brain-dead crap out there it's a major breath of fresh air to hear Dennis get political and social comedy right. I'm not what I'd call a conservative or right winger but when EVERY OTHER DAMN COMEDIAN TRASHES BUSH OR REPUBLICANS OVER AND OVER AGAIN it's beyond refreshing to hear Dennis inject the voice of truth and commonsense into the cesspool that is stand up comedy. How utterly droll the constant anti-Bush garbage has become by lock-step left-wing idiots. So, then there's Dennis Miller, who speaks his mind and doesn't give a crap what his holier-than-thou politically correct moron friends of the Hollywood left think. He too seems tired of garden-variety liberal whack-jobs who constantly cram liberal garbage down the throats of us all. Instead, Dennis continuously bitch slaps the smirks off their over-bloated kissers. This video was excellent from the beginning - right through to the end. I've watched it 3 times so far and laugh every time. It's well worth your time and money.
Michael
Michael
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