Rating: 
Summary: Genius...
Review: The Rants is all the best of Dennis Miller's most hilarious social commentary. He is one of the very few people in comedy (George Carlin and Chris Rock also come to mind) that present us with extremely funny material, while also making us think. It's intelligent, witty, and most important...funny. I laughed out loud multiple times throughout the read. He hits on things such as education, sports in America, religion, and a variety of other topics. Most of these are serious issues, but he makes us laugh about them. While I don't agree with 100% of his beliefs, Miller makes such good points and convincing arguements that I can't help but respect his point of view. He is a great comedian and social critic, and this book is a compilation of some of his best work. I highly recommend it. The only reason it receives 4 stars instead of 5 is due to the fact that it is a DIRECT transcript of the opening rants performed on his show on HBO, most of which I'd already seen on television. I would've liked to see more material native to the book. Also, it went too fast! I blasted through it in one evening. All in all, a terrific book, and all fans of Dennis Miller should own a copy.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: Miller accomplished a somewhat difficult feat in writing this book; the successful combination of rational, logical arguments and the presentation of them in a humorous, scathingly witty prose. One might argue that it's been done many times before by other authors in the political humor genre; I would agree, but not on this level. Miller's literary and comic blend is so succinct in this book that, in my opinion, he joins the upper echelon of satirists like Al Franken, Michael Moore, and P.J. O'Rourke. It is definitely the balance of "The Rants" that makes it so enticing and enjoyable; the intelligent, convincing arguments coupled with his amusing, blatantly cynical approach to the issues give you the impression of an unrecognized, bitter genius. Dennis Miller decries the abomination that is narcotic prohibition through the chapter on drugs ("If the government took away all the drugs in the world, people would spin around in circles on their front lawns until they fell down and saw God"), the alarming, newfound scarcity of the liberal, and the illogic of anti-abortion laws. Remaining liberals, read this book to laugh at, agree with, and have your notions confirmed; conservatives, read it for the challenges it presents to your views. Miller has established himself as a bold new presence in the vocation of putting politics to paper.
Rating:
Summary: Rant On, Dennis!
Review: This collection of rants from Dennis Miller is generally excellent and topical social commentary. Written long before 9/11 and his coming of age as a more conservative voice, this is a fairly libertarian, rational, and practical look at life in the United States. There are a few areas that I disagree with him on, but I am not recommending that anyone think a certain way, just that people hear different concepts with an open mind and make their own decisions. In this book you can see the seeds of Miller's conservatism, although it is clear that he has been awakened and revitalized by the events of 9/11 and is thus more conservative now than when this book was written. Overall, this is a neat summary of Miller's world view as it existed in 1996. His gift of satire is preeminent in the world today, and while probably everyone will find something in this book to provoke or annoy them, at least it insists on the reader thinking for themselves. I would have given this book five stars except for the fairly frequent profanity. I know this is adapted from some of his HBO material, but the book could be used for a much younger audience to excellent effect if not for the language. Excellent job overall: highly recommended for people of any political leaning.
Rating: 
Summary: Pure Genius, Smartest man alive, simply hilarious, a god
Review: Obviously, 9/11 has had a deep impact on Miller and his comedy. The conservative pundits had already established a successful cottage industry on cable during the profitable Clinton-Lewinsky period. But after 9/11, the conservative talking head business went thru the roof, and Miller was smart enough to latch on to that rocket. When he compares the French people's smell to an "overflow dumpster at an El Segundo Jack In The Box after Menudo just visited with the entire cast of Hong Kong Phooey", you really have to wonder if he may be God. With his spastic headbobbing and non-sensical comparisons of the Clinton White House to the Banana Splits riding the bumper cars at Knotts Berry farm, or to Carrottop leading the Bolshoi ballet in a production of Josey and the Pussycats, or to Captain and Tenille running the BBQ pit at a Flatts and Scruggs concert, etc., Miller has carved himself a unique niche in the overcrowded field of right-leaning cable yakkety-yakkers. His new CNBC talk show should provide some added balance to the other 30 or 40 other right-leaning talk-shows on cable.
Rating:
Summary: Searching for the soul of Dennis Miller
Review: Since I've been alternately lambasting and lauding Dennis Miller on my new website, "An Open Letter to Dennis Miller", and since I've written a few poems about him, it's only fair I backtrack and learn more about the guy I used to admire, but hadn't fully appreciated. So I bought a couple of books, borrowed others from the library, and listened to "The Off-White Album". I'll limit this review to "The Rants", which I have both on audiocassette and hardcover. Dennis, please, please, find that person you once were! In the first rant, "Liberalism", he recognizes that liberalism is probably dead as a political party, but needs to stay alive as a spiritual force. In other rants, I find genuine chunks of wisdom mixed in with snide or too-clever comments. Sometimes I giggle or smile, and sometimes I'm out-loud guffawing. And the F-word and other obscenities aren't as frequent as I expected (though certainly frequent enough!). I find the Dennis Miller of old clever, cocky, a little annoying, sometimes embarrassing, and overall enjoyable. I find the Dennis Miller of early 2003 hateful, intellectually lazy, pandering, sucking up to the hilt--and only occasionally funny. Will the real Dennis Miller please come back?
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious
Review: Dennis Miller is an excellent comedian, but he has a knack of delivering political satire in a very humorous manner. He knows his politics and social commentary and w/ several strokes of pure genius he adds humor that makes me laugh until I cry. I also appreciate that he admits that these are his own opinions ("Though that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.") and he is not opinionated or arrogant about his views (like Michael Moore). Excellent book for laughs and social commentary. Imagine Bob Dylan meets Jay Leno.
Rating: 
Summary: Rants in the pants!
Review: I used to enjoy Dennis Miller books. I found him better in print form since I always found his TV delivery awkward and his demeanor pretentious. Now, after seeing and hearing his bigotted views on France and Iraq as well as his warped view of America the Great, I doubt I can enjoy the writings anymore. The kind of humour Mr Miller aspires to requires some depth of thought and a grasp of issues. To say that the French smell bad doesn't do it for me. It would be so much more funny if he cleverly ridiculed the French government's ( French government not French people) contradictions and idiosyncrasies than to just deliver a poop joke. I doubt he can deliver the goods. Mr Miller is really showing that he ain't all that smart after all. I also worry about his blind support for president Bush. Most everyone who backed Bush in this last Iraq war gave his White House the benefit of the doubt as to the idea that Sadam had WMDs. We must make a distinction between blind support and benefit of doubt. Other democracies were fully justified to either join or not join the coalition. They have a different perspective on the issues. It was their call. America was just more keen against Sadam than many others. Mr Miller couldn't see that and used France's unpopular (in America) stance to let his long standing bigotry out of the bag. The joke is truly on him.
Rating: 
Summary: Rants by Dennis Miller ,R J Lewis
Review: Being a newly converted Miller fan after recently hearing The Off-White Album, I was excited at the prospect of hearing even more of his brilliant ranting. So I was rather disappointed realising this was just a series of audience-free monologues straight into the studio microphone rather than another live album. Still,you get used to it after a while, and even without a live crowd it's impossible not to be awed by Miller's brilliantly articulate use of language. If you can get past the appallingly cheesy session music inbetween tracks, you do get a lot of ranting for your money.
Rating:
Summary: Dennis Miller : The Rants
Review: I might want to purchase another copy of this book just so I can read it again... heh heh. The Rants is a must read for anyone who has watched with enthusiasm Dennis Miller ranting on stage, and it is highly recommended to those who haven't. One really needn't see his performances to appreciate wholeheartedly the humor and thought-provoking nature of Miller's rants in the written word. After all, he's saying what we've all said... He just says it better.
Rating:
Summary: RANT ON MR. MILLER!
Review: Any fan of Dennis Miller will want to read this book! Any fan of high-brow intellectual comedy will want to read this book! Any fan of current political attitudes (with a touch of political incorrectness) will want to read this book! Dennis Miller is like the Rosetta Stone to high-I.Q., high references, and high laughter comedy. The Rants give him a chance to vent on topics ranging from: Parenting, Religion, Fame, Air Travel, and Civility. Unlike other comic tomes written by Jay leno, Drew Carey, and Bill Maher, you'll actually need to pay close attention as you laugh because Miller buries jokes within jokes. In fact, I had to venture over to my Webster's Dictionary just to look up a few words that were laced within a Rant...and then I found myself laughing even harder. The only minor point that stands between The Rants and a 5-star rating is the fact that for the most part Miller's Rants are simply word-for-word translations of monlogues on his HBO show (mixed with a few comedic segments from his various concerts). However, if you're not an avid viewer of either of these areas then you'll be able to read and enjoy fresh material. As for books written by comedians, I'd place The Rants alongside Jerry Seinfeld's Classic "SEIN-LANGUAGE" and George Carlin's "Brain Droppings". All are guaranteed to make you laugh...plenty!
|
