So Stephanie Miller showed up in Ashvegas today to rile up the right wingers and give the lefties something to cheer about. The liberal talk radio show host from L.A. apparently sold out the Orange Peel this morning for her live broadcast, then hung around for a meet-and-greet at the Laughing Seed this evening.
I listened to most of Miller’s show – at least until about 11:10 a.m., when the feed went dead. (It sounded like somebody just yanked the plug on the show.) Miller, and voice guy Jim, did their usual schtick, poking fun at Bush and O’Reilly and DeLay and the rest.
Miller did a good job of handling the usual Ashvegas nut jobs that filled the joint this morning. Almost everyone who got up to speak, including one dude who grabbed the mic like three times, was ready to rant. Miller got a taste, egged ’em on a little, and adroitly cut ’em off.
Even Charlie Taylor, the U.S. House rep from Brevard, took a beating. Grant Millin, a self-appointed, one-man Taylor wrecking ball (believe me, Millin is big enough to be a wrecking ball) stood up to lambaste Taylor as usual, and Miller joined right in.
“So what’s your own little Tom DeLay – what’s your own little unethical Republican – been up to?” Miller egged as Millin talked. She also got in a reference to the Chuckie character in the Child’s Play series of horror movies by calling Taylor “an evil Chuckie.”
Miller’s an expert with the audience, in no small measure due to her training in comedy clubs doing stand-up. That’s basically what Miller’s show is – stand-up comedy for the radio. It’s classic ripped-from-the-headlines comedy, except that Republicans are the punchlines. There is no substance.
Thank goodness for Jim, her loyal sidekick. He’s really funny, and great with the voices and music.
That’s why three hours a day, every day, of Stephanie Miller can only go so far. It’s like listening to your favorite Eddie Murphy comedy album; the first two hundred times you spun it, it was some funny shit. Then you memorizedn it. Then you moved on.
Anyway, Ashvegas apparently kicks ass in the ratings enough to bring Steph and sidekick (and her big black limo parked on Wall Street, with slick agent-on-cell-phone) all the way from L.A.