The Raw Feed

Dennis Miller takes the stage with a noticeable pivot in his perspective, shifting from the detached, highbrow cynicism of his late-night hosting years to an earnest, post-9/11 neoconservatism. Filmed at the Vic Theatre in Chicago shortly before its April 2003 broadcast on HBO, the hour captures a specific inflection point in the comedian’s career. Coming off the end of his talk show, Dennis Miller Live, in 2002, he devotes much of his time to foreign policy, national security, and full-throated defense of the Bush administration’s military actions.

His trademark rapid-fire similes remain, but the targets have changed. He focuses his frustration on the United Nations, global warming advocates, and the French refusal to support the coalition forces in Iraq. The performance features his characteristic reference-heavy writing, but the tone is marked by an aggressive patriotism that alienated many of his old fans while endearing him to a conservative talk-radio audience. Critics of the era, including Salon, observed that his once-intellectual skepticism had hardened into a simpler, hawkish combativeness, particularly during his prolonged segment on the war in Iraq.