I bounce around the radio dial and sometimes catch part of Dennis Miller’s radio show. I’ve noticed that when a caller asks him how he’s doing, he invariably responds with some sort of high-pitched scream. This seems to be some sort of in-joke and I suspect that it’s some sort of pop-culture reference. I tried finding the answer on-line but my Google-fu seems to be failing me.
Radio hosts get asked “how are you?” about a billion times a day when they take calls. It gets REALLY annoying.
He thinks that he is so popular that everyone should know ahead of time that he doesn’t like that commonly used phrase.
We all get asked that phrase all day, but we react in a civilized manner. For the money he’s making, he should be able to put up with the phrases the rest of us put up with.
Didn’t Tony Kornheiser do the same thing when he had a call-in show? It may have been somebody else, but it was some sports radio call-in show host. If the caller said “how are you” or anything like that, he would immediately hang up.
Tom Leykis used answer “How are you?” with a very snide and condesending “Why? Do you really care?”. I heard someone respond “I heard you were having health problems because of a fungus infestation in your home…but suddenly I don’t care any more” CLICK!
Larry King used to do similar and respond with a curt, “what’s your question, caller?” I understand that he wanted to keep the show moving, but I see nothing wrong with a little verbal hand-shake. At the very least, it establishes that you can both hear each other.
I understand that Miller is responding in similar frustration. I get that, but my question is, is his scream (kind of a high-pitched “gah”) a pop-culture reference or just his own invention.
Because he’s an annoying unfunny douchebag who’s 15 minutes of fame were used up 20 years ago.
Right - because as we all know, not only do the most polite and courteous individuals have the best chance of becoming popular in the radio business, those who are rude and condescending just can’t seem to get their feet in the door.
And no - while many people do get asked that question all day, there aren’t many other jobs other than “radio host” where not only are you asked that question all day, but the people asking that question *listen *to you getting asked that question all day.
Dammit. I hate when somebody beats me to the post.
Plus, the guy totally dissed the MST3K crew. So fuck him.
Oh that’s no reason to hate him. I read that story (he didn’t think they should have riffed on Marooned!) and he was just really stressed out. He had just left SNL and started his own syndicated talk show, and this was right during the whole Leno/Letterman thing, so his show got left in the dust (he later did the exact same show on HBO and won Emmys!)
In regards to the OP, people who call into radio shows first talk to a screener who asks them what they want to ask etc. Then they’re put on hold and this info gets put onto a computer screen that the host can read and helps him pick & choose callers. Point is like everyone says, if you call in to a radio show and are lucky enough to get to talk to the host, don’t waste his & everyone else’s fucking time with fanboy blather! If you’re a listener of the show you are expected to know this.
If a caller’s first word was to ask, “Tom?” as if they weren’t sure who they were talking too(!) he would respond with, “Oh you wanted to talk to Tom?” and then he’d hang up on them!
I know this must all seem very rude but talk radio is its own world and this is one of its prime directives!
I understand this. I get that. My question still remains: What is he saying in the falsetto voice? It appears from context that it’s some sort of in-joke on his joke. Is it some pop-culture reference I’m unfamiliar with?
Rush solved this problem by asking callers to just say “ditto,” which would encapsulate all the pleasantries while wasting minimal time.
See, all this makes me do is want to call in and say that to him. Making a big deal out of something just makes people want to do it more. Heck, there’s a comedian who has recently come back who has an entire bit with a certain phrase causing that reaction, and fans do it to him all the time. It’s funny watching people make noises like that. Over-the-top frustration is funny.
Except that it really isn’t for him. Does anyone really want to hear person after person exchanging pleasantries? If you are a fan of the show you want to hear the show regardless of which one it is. I don’t mind hearing the verbal equivalent of someone being swatted on the nose with a newspaper. The point is to move the show along for the listeners. Presumably the listeners greatly outnumber the callers.
Indeed. When Kornheiser started his local radio show on WTEM back in the early 90s (before he went national) he used to have a cart that played “BANNED by the Tony Kornheiser Show”.
I was a regular caller. Got banned a couple of times, too.
This is the worst part of Comic Con panels. Every one has to waste time telling the person they are asking the question of how much they admire this person and are a huge fan. Yes we all are fans, that is why we are in this room, get a move on and ask an interesting question. Sadly they usually don’t ask good questions either.
And by sheer coincidence, this transformation occurred at EXACTLY the same time he stopped his liberal rants and moved to the right.
What the hell crawled up his ass anyway?
I prefer the non sequitur approach.
“How are you doing?”
“Yes!”