Time Magazine
10 questions for Dennis Miller
By DENNIS MILLER AND REBECCA WINTERS
Monday, December 15, 2003 Posted: 12:47 PM EST (1747 GMT)
He has unleashed his rants on Saturday Night Live, Monday Night Football
and
his own HBO series.
On Jan. 26, Dennis Miller will launch a one-hour daily talk show on CNBC
in
prime time. TIME's Rebecca Winters finds out why the Emmy Award-winning
comedian has changed his political stripes, whom he likes on SNL and
what's got
him all riled up now.
Why do we need another talk show? Maybe we don't. This one, just when you
think
it's gonna be a topical news show, it'll be a humor show. And just when
you
think it's gonna be a humor show, it'll be a news show. We're not trying
to
blur the line; we're trying to obliterate it.
Your politics have drifted right in recent years. How come? I'm left on a
lot
of things. If two gay guys want to get married, I could care less. If a
nut
case from overseas wants to blow up their wedding, that's when I'm right.
(Sept. 11) was a big thing for me. I was saying to liberal America, "Well,
what
are you offering?" And they said, "Well, we're not going to protect you,
and we
want some more money." That didn't interest me.
Who in politics inspires you? George Bush. He's been dealt an amazingly
heavy
hand of cards here, and I think he's doing his best ... Bush had the balls
to
start something that's not gonna be finished in his lifetime. The
liquidation
of terrorism is not gonna happen for a long time. But to take the first
step?
Ballsy.
Explain how the war in Iraq makes sense to you as a response to 9/11. Like
there's no chance that the secular state of Iraq and Islamic
fundamentalists
cohabitate? They both think we're Satan. How about that as a nice point of
departure for them car-pooling? I wish there was a country called
al-Qaedia
that we could have invaded, but there wasn't. (Saddam was) the only one
who had
a home address.
A lot of California Republicans want you to run for Senate. Will you? At
some
point that involves moving to Washington, D.C., sitting in a room all day
with
a moron like Barbara Boxer. I'm just not interested. I like open minds,
and I
think in Washington right now, we might as well start painting those
people red
and blue.
Should we be worried that the country seems increasingly polarized
politically?
I'm not worried. Most Americans will let liberals and conservatives play
their
games because most Americans don't pay attention. They're out there
earning a
living, trying to bounce their kids on their laps and watch Trista and
Ryan's
wedding.
What were your parents' politics? I didn't know my Dad—he moved out
early.
And my mom's politics were kind of hardscrabble. She didn't think about
Democrats or Republicans. She thought about who made sense. I've been both
in
my life. Somebody can say they don't understand why somebody drifts. But
I've
always found people who drift interesting, 'cause it shows me the game's
not
stagnant in their own head. They're thinking.
Do you like Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon's take on your old Saturday Night
Live
gig? Tina Fey might be the best "Weekend Update" anchor who ever did it.
She
writes the funniest jokes. Jimmy Fallon's forte is the sketches. He's got
the
pre-emptively disheveled haircut. There's too much artifice happening
there.
What's more fun, pretending to be a journalist or pretending to be a
sportscaster? I had fun pretending to be a sportscaster. People always
think
that was a down thing for me. I had the best job in sports broadcasting
for two
years. And I had never been to a football game. I felt like the guy in
Catch Me
If You Can.
Do you rant at home? No. I talk to my wife and kids about politics, but I
try
to make it less professorial. I will say this, I feel more politically
engaged
than I've ever felt in my life because I do think we live in dangerous
times,
and anybody who looks at the world and says this is the time to be a
wuss—I
can't buy that anymore.
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