Miller Show Getting Tweaked

New York Post

DENNIS Miller is taking a two- week hiatus from his new CNBC talk show – which is being remade while he’s gone.
“The main thing we’re going to do differently is to have a studio audience,” consulting producer Steve Friedman told The Post. “We’re not doing the ‘Tonight Show’ – we want it more like a nightclub, and we’re looking at an audience of around 100 people a day.” Miller has, thus far, worked without a studio audience – relying only on laughs from his crew.

“Dennis’ comedy is terrific, and it really helps if somebody is there to respond to it,” Friedman said. “I love the crew, but that’s not enough.”

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“We’ll have little tweaks here and there,” [Friedman] said. “What we’re doing is a comedy/talk show and the key element to it all is trying to figure out how to get the proper balance.”

And, Friedman stressed, Miller’s 10-day vacation was pre-planned – in fact, he’ll take another hiatus April 19.

Now that’s a work schedule!

So far, the comedy/news combo has worked about as well as the comedy/football combo. Watching Miller trying to crack jokes with policy wonks he’s interviewing is painful.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Steven says:

    I think it has worked better than thet football gig, but would also say that some “tweaking” is a good idea, to put it mildly.

    Perhaps the thing I have liked the most have been his panelists–and I don’t mean the celebs (which, so far, has worked out better than it did on Politically Incorret), but the commentator/policy types (except Naomi Wolfe).

  2. James Joyner says:

    Yep. I TiVo the show and just fast forward through the bits and just check out the interviews and the Varsity Panel.

  3. Skillzy says:

    The first time I stumbled across the show, I was pretty creeped out by the monologue, when the eerie silence was only broken by the occasional cackling of the people in the studio. I think an audience will help that part. It may help the awkward interviews too, we’ll see.

  4. WhatAboutTheMonkeys says:

    And no one has anything to say about the monkeys (2 so far)? Jeez! What was that guy thinking of? What’s next? Shaving-cream pies battles?

  5. James Joyner says:

    Way ahead of you on the monkey.