The Rant Zone: An All-Out Blitz Against Soul-Sucking Jobs, Twisted Child Stars, Holistic Loons, and People Who Eat Their Dogs [Abridged] [Audio CD]

Dennis Miller (Author, Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 18, 2001

In this fourth installment of his acclaimed Rants series, the bestselling author, Emmy® Award-winning talk show host and wise-cracking analyst for ABC's Monday Night Football makes hamburger out of society's most sacred cows as only he can, with the kind of allusions that require high SAT scores -- or at least a smart crib sheet. In ranting against bureaucrats, for instance, Miller notes, "They may bestride the rest of us like some kind of Cubicle Colossus bellowing, 'I am Ozymandius, Clerk of Clerks! Look on my Files, ye Mighty, and despair!' All ye who enter here."

Long before he became a network football analyst, Miller was an expert commentator on another violent, full-contact sport: American pop culture.

Here, Miller takes on Bush-league politics, child stars with rap sheets, women with bigger muscles than he has, herbs you don't smoke, God, and, yes, football. Nothing is out of bounds. Don't feel guilty for laughing -- these rants are actually good for you. (They provide your daily irony supplement.) Hilarious, sometimes angry, always insightful, The Rant Zone is Miller's most provocative book to date. With Dennis Miller calling the signals, the comedy always goes deep.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"I don't care who you know, you never start out at the top, no matter what business you're in. First you're given oil wells, then you're given a baseball team, and then, and only then, are you given the White House." This Miller "rant," similar to the others that run five or six to a page in this new collection, his fourth, encapsulates all of his comic traits: biting, slashing, witty and ecumenically politically savage, targeting right, left and center. This persona honed on HBO's Dennis Miller Live and ABC's Monday Night Football is not a far throw from his kinder Saturday Night Live days, but his aggressive tone and often vicious ridicule make him this country's most notorious satirist, social agitator and malcontent. Whether he is going after George W. Bush or Gary Condit, Miller is rude and abrasive, taking on everyone and everything, from God (whose "name gets thrown around like the drunken dwarf at a biker rally") to the fat Elvis ("after the 50s, even Elvis couldn't do Elvis") although much of his anger is directed at stupidity in government and popular culture. Though funny, the pieces tend to suffer from sameness, and in the end, after he has demolished most everything in sight, readers have no idea of what Miller's politics or thoughts really are. Despite its political topics, Miller's work is really about great stand-up, not serious exploration of current events. Of course, that's just our opinion. We could be wrong. (On sale Oct. 23)

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In his new collection of, uh, commentaries, many of which have been publicly aired on HBO, Miller scores a few hits and a few misses. His usual suspects--sex, politics, and sports--are his main targets again, but the NFL, perhaps not surprisingly, gets off pretty much unscathed. As usual, Miller begins each piece by saying that he doesn't want to get into a rant. Then he rants. This amusing strategy becomes a little tedious 10 or 15 rants into the book, but then ranting is what Miller does best. Lying flat on the page as they do here, however, their quality of spinning down into a vortex of cynicism doesn't register nearly as well as when he delivers them in stand-up mode. Inflection, timing, and asides are all missing--and missed. Still, Miller remains amusing on such underappreciated aspects of modern life as sports talk radio; in fact, he's moderately entertaining throughout. This volume stacks up nicely with its three predecessors and breaks little new ground, which is probably okay with his fans. One cautionary note: the collection was put together before September 11, and in it, Miller doesn't fawn over W in the now-obligatory manner. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: HarperAudio; Abridged edition (October 18, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0694526495
• ISBN-13: 978-0694526499
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 4.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,683,609 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Put Simply--I Laughed, November 24, 2001

By 

Timothy Haugh (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Rant Zone: An All-Out Blitz Against Soul-Sucking Jobs, Twisted Child Stars, Holistic Loons, and People Who Eat Their Dogs! (Hardcover)

What can I say? Dennis Miller makes me laugh. His rambling monologues filled with pretentiousness and profanity make me laugh. He has a sharp, critical eye (which he's not afraid to turn on himself) and I often, though not always, agree with what he has to say. You take comedy with a grain of salt, realizing that its easy to take shots and less easy to come up with real solutions to the world's problems.

I sometimes hesitate to give a book like this a really high rating. Will this book change the world? No. Will it be read a year from now let alone 100 years from now? Probably not. And yet, this book made me laugh out loud more than anything I've read in recent months. It made me laugh more than I remember laughing at Miller's earlier rants. And now, in the aftermath of the tragedies lately, it's just what the doctor ordered. Enjoy it for what it is but enjoy it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rant and Rave, September 14, 2002

By 

Wallace V. French III (Boston MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Rant Zone: An All-Out Blitz Against Soul-Sucking Jobs, Twisted Child Stars, Holistic Loons, and People Who Eat Their Dogs (Audio CD)

I received this book as a gift and let it sit for awhile before pulling it off the shelf last weekend and getting through the pages in a couple hours. Funny funny stuff. Miller has an insight into topics like no one else. I've only seen his show a few times, but I know these "rants" are a collection of the rants from the show. Topics include lousy jobs, education, the Clintons, reality shows, government, football, and the media. No one is safe around Dennis Miller. Sometimes when you watch him live you can't understand half of the stuff he talks about because of his obscure references to other things. Having the book at least you've got it in writing and can double back to see what he was talking about. That makes understanding him a whole lot easier and it's even funnier once you understand what he's talking about. If you like his comedy this book is worth having. Funny stuff here.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now I don't want to get off on a rant here...., November 7, 2001

By 

Alexander R. Small (Pomona, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Rant Zone: An All-Out Blitz Against Soul-Sucking Jobs, Twisted Child Stars, Holistic Loons, and People Who Eat Their Dogs! (Hardcover)

but Dennis Miller has more common sense in his pinky finger than George W. and the entire pack of DMV-caliber public servants in the Congress. This book has it all. His rant on intolerance was probably the most astute rant he's ever done. His rants on Elvis, Child Stars, and sports are funny as always. This man should be President, Chief Justice, and Supreme Speaker of Common Sense all rolled into one.

If you want a cranial clean-out session that makes an enema seem tame this will help clear your head of all the fog put out there in the media.