Love him or hate him, you have to admire his freakishly sponge-like brain. Dennis Miller has an amazing gift of recall, creating references so obscure that ABC Sports actually offered an on-line translator on the Tuesday mornings following his stint in the booth for Monday Night Football.
His rants are mostly easy to follow during this one-hour stand up performance, however. In fact, he even pokes fun at his own gift for the obscure early in the show, essentially acknowledging that he may have been too hig…-brow in the past, and he’s going to make it a little more mainstream this time around. There are a few truly big laughs here, but the majority of his material leans more toward mildly humorous and incredibly insightful. His conservative views come across as common sense when presented in his signature witty style. While the material is quite topical (and may be completely irrelevant in just a few years), it is dead on for its time. This is a great opportunity to witness free speech in action, carried out by a man that is completely unconcerned with whom he offends. Miller has strong beliefs, and he is not afraid to share them, a trait far too many of us have forgotten somewhere along the way.
Audio
The Dolby Stereo 2.0 track does just what it is supposed to do on this disc. There is no need for anything more, as it is spoken word only. As would be expected, dialog comes squarely from the center speaker, and is clear and intelligible. Laughs are easily heard, but not overpowering, as they are on many TV programs that make their way to DVD.
Video
Video quality is outstanding on this release. I would have liked to have seen this in widescreen format, but there honestly is no need. There is just one subject captured by the camera, so the viewer is not missing anything by the full screen presentation. Blacks are deep, colors look fabulous, and there are no blemishes of any kind to be seen. This is a great, amazingly clear transfer.
Special Features
Sadly, there are no special features included on this disc; it’s a feature-only release. I would have loved to have seen some bits from Dennis Miller Live (also a property of HBO Home Video) added in as extras. It would have been fairly easy to add a few bits in, or possibly some backstage footage from the night of the show. Sadly, none of those little extras are included.
Closing Thoughts
This is a disc that is one solid hour of Miller’s stand up routine, and that is all. No extras, no frills, just one man emptying his head in front of an audience. It’s a bare bones release, but the feature presentation is strong and insightful.
