Many performers have used radio as a springboard to a career in television. Dennis Miller did things in reverse.
After more than 25 years of entertaining audiences on the tube as a comedian and pun-loving political pundit, Miller finds that radio seems to be his favorite medium for communicating with a mass audience.
Nineteen months ago, The Dennis Miller Show, his nationally syndicated, three-hour daily chat fest, started out on 60 stations. Today, the show is heard in more than 200 markets.
Best of all, the commute to work is a breeze. All he has to do is walk down the hallway of his Santa Barbara, Calif., home.
"I've got a studio in my house, I walk down the hall, hit one button, start talking in my undies, and they send me a check," Miller says during a recent phone call from his home. "I talk for three hours, stop and then go about my day."
That people even listen to his show remains a source of both amusement and amazement to the politically conservative comic.
"After doing what I do for 25 years, I don't have a broad range of talents, so I'm pretty much a one-trick monkey," he adds. "That anybody still gives a [damn] about what I have to say fascinates me, so I'm very thankful."
Although he's had some very high-profile TV gigs during his career -- from his breakout, six-year run on Saturday Night Live to his infamous stint as a too-hip-for-the-room color commentator on Monday Night Football to his own Emmy-winning cable shows -- Miller says he enjoys radio more than television. And not simply because he can work in his underwear.
"When I would look at myself on TV, I'd hear this nervous laughter and I'd see that I was too quick on the draw trying to get the next joke out before the last one finished," he offers. "And I didn't chide myself about that. I just thought that was the natural effect of being a smart-ass on TV for 30 years."
He likens himself to actor James Arness' character on the old television western Gunsmoke, who began to flinch after being in one too many gunfights.
"I just thought that I was starting to flinch a little," he says, "so radio serves me well. I feel safe again, like I'm in the womb."
Miller, 54, hasn't forsaken his stand-up career for radio, though. He still does plenty of weekend comedy dates, and he'll be performing Saturday night (Nov. 8) at Borgata.
Expect his act to be loaded with fresh political observations after the recent presidential election, during which he supported and campaigned for Sen. John McCain.
Of the four candidates on the two major-party tickets, Miller was most amused by Democratic vice presidential pick Sen. Joe Biden.
"Biden quite frankly could get his own stand-up show right now, he is an absolute genius," Miller observes. "He is a gaffe a minute. I haven't seen this many malaprops since [comedian] Norm Crosby reigned at the [Ed] Sullivan Show.' I'm just glad he's chosen politics and not stand-up, because it would be less work for the rest of us."
Miller on O'Reilly: “He’s anti-death penalty and stuff like that, and he’s more in [President Obama’s] corner than I am. He’s willing to give him a wider berth than I am.”
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