Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Dennis Miller brings political satire to Bass Performance Hall on August 9

By Pegasus News wire

Over the past decade, Dennis Miller has undergone an image metamorphosis. Once best known as the “Weekend Update” anchor on Saturday Night Live and as an actor in films such as The Net and Disclosure, Miller has reinvented himself as a sharp-tongued political analyst and talk-show host. He is heard five days a week on his nationally-syndicated Westwood One Radio talk show, “The Dennis Miller Show,” and is a regular contributor for the Fox News Channel. Miller scooped up five Emmys for his critically acclaimed live talk show, Dennis Miller Live, which had a nine-year run on HBO, and he was the host and executive producer of CNBC’s Dennis Miller, a topical talk show.

“The Dennis Miller Show,” which launched last year, is Miller’s first foray into the radio talk-show world. With the Presidential election right around the corner, Miller says he could not have thought of a more appropriate time to his unleash his satirical political “rants” upon radio listeners. “I always knew I would try radio and right now seems like the perfect time,” he says. “In a world where the stakes are high, the medium is a nice blend of comfortable and provocative.”

If there’s one thing Miller has been over the course of his career, it’s provocative. “Mr. Miller is exquisitely attuned to contemporary foibles,” The New York Times has said of Miller. “His material can be scathing, his delivery low-key. Mr. Miller reaches a bit farther than most comedians.” The Hollywood Reporter has described Miller as “the Lenny Bruce of the new millennium….the most cerebral, astute and clever standup ever to put mouth to microphone.”

Dennis Miller

Born in Pittsburgh, Miller was not initially set on a career in the entertainment industry. While a student at Point Park University, he majored in journalism. In the 1970s, however, he started hanging out at local comedy clubs – and soon began performing at them. Word of Miller quickly spread through the comedy-club circuit, eventually catching the ear of Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, who, after catching one of Miller’s New York performances, signed him to SNL as the “Weekend Update” anchor.

The “Weekend Update” gig combined Miller’s two loves – current events and poking fun at them – and foreshadowed his career as a conservative pundit of current events and politics. He has also made a name for himself as a writer, having penned four popular “rant” books (The Rant Zone, Ranting Again, I Rant Therefore I Am and The Rants), each of which has been a New York Times bestseller. He has also explored another one of his loves – sports – by being a commentator on ABC’s Monday Night Football and the Versus Network’s Sports Unfiltered.

Miller says it’s been easy jumping from one format to another. “It’s the same act that I’ve been doing for years,” he told Newsmax.com. “The act is my belief. I just change the format. I go from a football booth to cable to a 24-hour news network. I’ll tell you what, I’m not very much on self-backslapping, but one thing I’ll say is at least I step into different worlds and take my medicine if I have to. What the hey, it’s just a career. I’ll give it a try.”

To charge tickets by phone, call (817) 212-4280 in Fort Worth; 1-877-212-4280 (toll free) outside Fort Worth; or order online at www.basshall.com. Tickets are also available at the Bass Performance Hall ticket office at 525 Commerce Street. Ticket office hours: Tuesday through Friday 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. and Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Source: Bass Performance Hall

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