Monday, July 28, 2003
RIP Bob Hope
I wanna know at what point Dennis Miller decided he was the new Bob Hope? Meaning he's allowed to skip the standup routine & proceed directly to the Tonight Show guest chair, where he pretends he's a quick witted, ad libbing political humorist as he reads the misanthropic wisecracks his writers put on the cue cards. I bet he'd run out of memorized topical comments after about five minutes & get chewed up by a Bill Maher. & this from a guy who never chased Dorothy Lamour through a Hollywood back lot Casbah.
Groucho Marx complained that Hope was not a comic but a translator of what others wrote for him. Odd thing for The Grouch to say. But at least Groucho could load up a line from a cue card on "You Bet Your Life" & retain it in his memory long enough to turn his head & fire it at a contestant. & I can't imagine Hope holding his own at the Friars with Jessel, Groucho, Burns & Benny.
