Synopses & Reviews
Like Kofi Annan, Larry Miller is one of the most irresistible comic personalities working today. Known for years as an actor, writer, comedian, and sexual pioneer, he's gained a new following as a cultural commentator and frequent guest on political shows. Now, in Spoiled Rotten America, he fixes his gaze on what's funny about our daily lives which includes, roughly speaking, everything. From middle-aged drinking ("When you're in your twenties, you can drink all night and bungee-jump off a bridge the next day. If I drank all night, I'd want to go off that bridge without the cord") to the excesses of our eating habits ("This is why the world hates us: the size of the portions we order. Thank God they've never shown us eating on Al Jazeera that would be the end of it"), Miller finds the silver lining of absurdity within every black cloud.
Ultimately, though, Spoiled Rotten America is more than just the average yukfest. It's an insightful, and surprisingly heartfelt, plea for us to notice what's best and worst about ourselves. "The American pendulum only swings to extremes," he writes. "The news is on all day, but we know less and less; there's music in every mall, but we don't hear it; everyone has a phone but nothing to say. The chubbiest of us have the strictest diets, because we can't learn to modulate and moderate. It's all or nothing. One bite of a cookie, and suddenly you&'re on a plane to Vegas with a hooker. To the Cranky Nitpickers of America a club I'd join in a second if I weren't already its president it's long been understood that the world is going to Hell in a handbasket.
What better time for a collection of seventeen comic essays? What better time indeed.
Review
"Better-than-average fare from acomic-turned-author, but not nearly as cutting and funny as his standup material." Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
From the irresistibly wry Larry Miller, a collection of sharpandndash;eyed, trenchant, and very funny essays on the outrages of everyday life.
Larry Miller is one of the most enduring and irresistible comic personalities at work today. Hundreds of standandndash;up appearances on Leno, Letterman, Conan O'Brien, and other TV shows, and his unforgettable roles in films as diverse as Pretty Woman and Best in Show have made Larry's acerbic wit and character (he calls himself "a founding member of the Cranky Nitandndash;Pickers of America") a staple of the American comic diet. And in recent years he has gained a new, more political following, penning a regular humor column in The Weekly Standard and making frequent appearances with TV hosts such as Bill Maher and Dennis Miller.
Now, in Spoiled Rotten America, he fixes his gaze on the outrages of contemporary life andndash; from "pop stars thinking deeply and sharing their thoughts" to "pillowandndash;soft Americans who stop by the Pizza Hut before collapsing into the Wideandndash;Oandndash;Lounger just in time to watch 22 pimpleandndash;faced steroidandndash;eaters slam into each other at 14 miles an hour."
Mixing the political with the personal as deftly as P. J. O'Rourke or George Carlin, Larry Miller is today's new voice of outrage for the little guy andndash; for "anyone who walks into the backyard at night, lifts a proud chin, and screams, 'I am not wrong!' before going back inside to resume getting quietly hammered while his wife sits in the next room watching figure skating."
About the Author
Larry Miller has appeared in many movies and television shows, including Pretty Woman, The Nutty Professor, and Waiting for Guffman. Hes written for the Chicago Tribune, Maxim, The Weekly Standard, and other venues. He lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife and two sons.