Dennis Miller as Game Show Host

With the recent game show renaissance, which really reached its zenith during the writers' strike, numerous down-on-their luck stand-up comedians and professional glad-handers have been given new life. Howie Mandel, Bob Saget, Wayne Brady, Dan Cortese (Dan Cortese!), Penn Gillette, Jeff Foxworthy, Drew Carey, etc, have all seen their careers rejuvenated by the weird and somewhat wonderful prime time gaming explosion.

Let me first say that I'm a fan of the game show trend. They're prime time shows that I can safely watch with my daughter, record and delete from my DVR without remorse, and they don't require so much attention that I can't iron my pants or check my fantasy baseball stats during them. Add that to the fact that I enjoy predicting the answers to my daughter and having her say "You're right, Dad! You're right, Dad! The green team is a disaster!" My daughter, for obvious reasons, is a huge fan of "My Dad is Better Than Your Dad!", Dan Cortese's baby, and she has all but convinced herself that we will be competing on it when she is 8. I have not dissuaded her from this dream, as I'm pretty sure I would rock the Tree Climb Crow Grab and I have yet to miss a question on the sad trivia portion of the show.

And while my favorite was Penn Gillette's "Identity", I've recently watched a couple of episodes of "Amnesia" featuring Dennis Miller. It's the one where they ask contestants detailed questions from their own lives (Which member of N'Sync did you impersonate in a high school talent show?) and make them identify momentos from their past (Which wedding dress of these five did your wife wear?). It's a fairly entertaining premise mostly because you get to find out all these weird little details from these people's lives, and Miller does a nice job of prodding them for more dirt.

Which brings me to Dennis. Admittedly I have always been a fan of Dennis Miller - I thought he did a great Weekend Update, his own talk show had its moments, and his laughing at his own material always struck me as more sincere than others with the same habit. While his time on Monday Night Football was pretty egregious in its inanity, I can remember going to see "Bordello of Blood" just for him (and a little Angie Everhart) and kind of enjoying it.

That being said, game show host is a pretty perfect role for him right now. He is a quality ad lib comedian, his references don't seem as forced as they did on MNF, and he seems to genuinely enjoy finding out the weird little facts about these strangers' lives. He also throws in an occasional challenging or edgy bit seemingly to test how his game show audience will react. (Mostly they laugh and applaud on cue or toss off a nervous twitter.) In one episode, he had a nice riff with the cue card guy that I really enjoyed. Most importantly, he comes off as pretty likable again, which seemed to be a rather large mountain for him to climb a couple of years ago. In the man's own words, maybe he just wanted to "get right up to the precipice, pivot and jeté back to Coolsville." I wouldn't say that "Amnesia" is exactly Coolsville, but it's better than a cameo in "Joe Dirt".

BaeRating: A-