Friday, July 12, 2002 | 3:01 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION: July 14, 2002
It has not been the best year for Dennis Miller.
The ranting comedian -- along with broadcasting booth partner Dan Fouts -- was replaced by John Madden as "Monday Night Football" color commentator.
And, as it turns out, "Dennis Miller Live," which airs at 11:30 p.m. Fridays on HBO, is not being picked up for another season after a nine-season run. Miller learned of his Emmy-winning show's demise less than 24 hours before this interview.
Nevertheless, the 48-year-old comic, who is best known for his "Weekend Update" anchor stint on "Saturday Night Live" and his anything-goes rants on his own show, was in a good mood.
Performing Saturday and July 21 at Danny Gans Theatre in The Mirage, Miller was on vacation with his wife, Ellie, and two sons at his home in Sun Valley, Idaho, when he called:
Las Vegas Sun: Talk about "Dennis Miller Live." Nine years is a long time to be on the air.
Dennis Miller: They're not giving us a new contract, I heard yesterday. The nine-year run is up. I've got, like, seven shows left.
(HBO has) been so kind to me. I think it's by far their longest-running show ever, except for probably "Inside the NFL," which I think has been on 25 years. The contract was up this year and we would have had to renew a new one. And I think HBO is into new show business and I have nothing but kind words for them. It'll be 215 shows and, like I said, I don't think they've had anything near 215 shows.
Sun: Did the cancellation come as a shock to you?
DM: No. They're very cutting edge, they're trying to break new shows. When you get up around the nine-year mark in TV you're out past the pillars of Hercules, so to speak. It's unchartered territory, especially when you're on HBO. They like to break big shows. I think they've been more than kind to me. So no, I wasn't that surprised to hear that the gig was up.
Sun: Have you thought about what you'll do now?
DM: I have an hour special to do for them next year as part of my contract. I'm going to work on that. I like the way (George) Carlin does his thing. It's accumulate ideas for a year and a half and then he puts them on TV. That seems like a good way to go for me. I might do a movie part here and there.
The football gig ... Madden took my job, so I'm going to see the world a little. I've been working my ass off for years now, especially these last two. Football would run directly into HBO, and HBO literally ran directly into football, with a week overlap on each side. I've worked the last two years straight.
Sun: Did being replaced on "Monday Night Football" bother you?
DM: Nah, it was fine. They're paying me for this year. I knew I'd been picked up again, but when Madden wants your job in that field, he gets your job. He's the Big Kahuna. I think John Madden is thought of as the best NFL color analysis guy in the history of the game. So that was more about him wanting to jump ship (from Fox). I had gotten at least the first month's schedule for this upcoming season already, so I could map out my year. And I'd been picked up contractually to get paid. It appeared to me Foutsy and I were back, save for Madden wanting the job.
Sun: Having a stand-up comic in the booth rather than just former players or coaches was considered experimental. Do you think it worked?
DM: It was fine. I'd never been to a football game, so I thought I did pretty well. I would have been picked up for a third year. That's pretty good. I don't think I reinvented the wheel, but I thought I hung in there a lot. There were a lot of people who didn't like it, but anything I do I get around half the people like it and half hate it. So, I'm kinda used to that.
Sun: You're a 50-percent guy.
DM: Well, you know, there's a career to be made in 50 percent, quite frankly. As long as the 50 percent you irritate, you genuinely irritate. If you just bore them, you're in trouble. But I think I genuinely irritate them. And somehow, I've been on TV for somewhere in the high teens of years now, that's a pretty decent run.
Sun: It's a long way from when you worked as a janitor.
DM: Yeah, I've been a janitor. I drove a flower truck. I was an ice cream scoop. I'm not denigrating any of those jobs. Indeed, some of those jobs have more stability than show business. Something about working that floor buffer at 3 a.m., trying to use one finger to operate it, was kind of exciting. So, to have my longest job in my life, be being on TV, the way I look at it, it's a provident run. Show business is no guarantee. As I sit here in Sun Valley and I was able to buy a home here, I thank God I got lucky.
Sun: You were a prominent figure during the early years of the talk-show wars, with your own talk show, "The Dennis Miller Show." The show only lasted six months. Are you happy with the way it all played out for you?
DM: Well, it was the best thing for me because if I hadn't lost that initial talk show I had, I would have never gotten HBO and never had the best nine-year run. Like they say, life is what happens while you're making other plans. At the time, I didn't quite know where it would take me, but it turned out to be the best thing for me. Jay (Leno) is obviously turned into the everyman, you know, the proletariat hero. And (David) Letterman has rightly been critically acclaimed and he wins the Emmy every year. I think everybody is happy.
Sun: What are your relationships with them now?
DM: They were strange with Jay for a long time, but now they're good because life's too short. And Dave? I know Dave about as well as anybody, which is about as well as you know him.
Sun: Is it true you were paid $300,000 to write, what amounted to, two jokes for the "Batman and Robin" movie?
DM: (Laughs) No. I've heard that story. I wish I was in the $150,000 joke business, trust me.
Sun: Then is it true you were a finalist on "Star Search," only to lose to Sinbad?
DM: Yes it is. That one is true. Believe me, I wish that one was not true and the $150,000-a-joke one was true. I'd gladly swap stories there.
Sun: Obviously, you guys have talked since then.
DM: I've seen Sinbad over the years, sure. He's a nice guy.
Sun: Do you bring it up?
DM: Yeah, we always laugh about it. We don't laugh about it like it shouldn't have happened. We just laugh about it that that's how it played out that day. I think we tied and they put it to the crowd and the crowd thumbs-downed me. Listen, my belief on show business is to keep it interesting, and the next time you're seen in public have a bit of a tan. That's my approach.
Sun: What are your thoughts on having the national nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas?
DM: I don't know anything about a physical structure of a place where you should put nuclear waste. (Laughs) I'm assuming it's a safe place.
I used to hear all this hue and cry about nuclear power way back then. And I used to hear the industry say, "Let's see what its track record is down the road." And in the year 2002, as you look back on it, is its track record not at least better than Amtrak's? Maybe the waste receptacle in Yucca Mountain is the best one and maybe we won't ever have to worry about it ever again. I'm just saying, I remember if you listen to the people who were agin' that years ago, you would have thought that these things would be mushroom clouding every few weeks. And, I don't know, doesn't that industry have a decent track record?
I'm willing to give the Yucca Mountain experts a wide berth here and say maybe it is the best place to store it. I'm not as skeptical of experts as some people are. I believe that there are a lot of nuclear physicists out there who are decent men. I don't think there is a cabal of evil-minded scientists who want to (mess) up the people of Las Vegas with a nuclear waste site. I think they're saying. "We've got a great receptacle here. This would be a good place to store it. It will be safe for the people." And I'd be willing to give it a try.
Sun: But would you be willing to move to Las Vegas?
DM: Believe me, if I move to Las Vegas, my main apprehension would not be Yucca Mountain. It would be the fact my eyebrows singe off from the heat on a daily basis. I believe I was there once when it was 123 degrees. I think on a 123-degree day there might be a nuclear incident and you wouldn't even notice it. You might just assume it's particularly hot.
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