Brooks on Books: "Spoiled Rotten America" by Larry Miller

I'll go into more detail in a moment, but here's what you really need to know about Larry Miller's collection of comic essays: It's funny. Anyone familiar with Miller's standup comedy work knows he has an affinity for words and sharp comic observations. If you're not familiar with Miller's standup comedy work, let me tell you this: He has an affinity for words and sharp comic observations.

If you are familiar with Miller for his character acting in movies--including some pretty bad ones, actually--hopefully you realize he's often better than his material. In this book, he provides the material, and it's good stuff. Notwithstanding the title, it's not just a bunch of rants about how America has lost its way and needs to get its act together. There is some of that, sure, but Miller talks about everything from his embarrassment at buying pornography to raising children to appreciate black and white movies.

His writing is effective, and Miller gets a point across in each essay. He's not assembling jokes from old routines (though he does reprint one popular bit about drinking), but he's actually crafting coherent essays with beginnings, middles, ends, and purposes. And like I said, it's funny. He uses the right amounts of self-deprecation and outrage. His cultural references aren't solely based on old TV shows and movies (as mine probably would be) but are broad enough to include history, literature, and religion. It's no surprise that someone as articulate and clever on stage would translate so well to the page.

Not all of Miller's topics are cutting-edge. For example, his chapter on the War on Christmas must have been dated almost as soon as the book came out a few years ago. That whole issue always struck me as one inflated by right-wing pundits eager for a tussle. Miller does some interesting things with the idea, but part of me thinks, "What's next, an essay on college campuses being forced to teach HERstory?"

Miller's insights and conclusions don't always seem sophisticated or original. For example, he grapples with the issue of race, and while his effort is sincere, he doesn't come up with much more than we need to discuss the issue with honesty. You know what, though? Maybe that needs to be said. It's not revolutionary to suggest we should be more polite or that we should care about our jobs and take pride in our work, but the points are no less valid.

Don't mistake this for some kind of series of lectures, though. The book is a lot of fun to read, and Miller comes off as a great guy to sit down and have a lot of adult beverages with (drinking is a recurring theme here). Though many of the essays could be read out of order, there are so many running jokes and comments that you really should read the 17 pieces straight through. In particular, he gets a lot of mileage from one bit about a certain "Highlander" sequel, and it's good, smooth driving, too.

It's a great read with only one big drawback (two if you count discovering that Miller is a big Grateful Dead fan): Plowing through this makes you want to see some of Miller's standup, and if you don't have any on hand, you're gonna be annoyed. Thank goodness for YouTube.