TY Don..... I saw some of these shows in 82'. Early 83 I made my parents buy a VCR... (not Beta Max) and recorded all the shows. I came from Indy so that helped with my Mom. I read your BLOG.. you are priceless. Thanks You again.
Carson said the cornerstone of a performer's success is the audience's empathy towards them. If the audience likes them, they've got it made. That's what George so effortlessly accomplished; you just can't help but like the guy.
I think he had to work quite hard at being likeable. A lot of his jokes are innocent but kinda harsh. He seems deep down a very disagreeable person and that may have been why he didn't further advance his career.
@@erichaynes7502 That's an interesting perspective, Eric. I hadn't thought of it. Maybe that is why he never had great success. I, however, always enjoyed his stage persona even as, yes, it did take on a more acerbic edge as he aged. After posting my comment I learned Carson actually tired of him b/c he recycled many of his jokes b/w appearances on The Tonight Show. Maybe there was a bit of laziness in him as well.
Thanks for this. Miller is hilarious. I didn't know that Dave paid for Miller's medical expenses throughout his battle with leukemia and also paid for his funeral expenses. That was very very cool of Dave to have done that. They must have been the best of buds.
George was my daily customer at Starbucks in the early 90s. Walked to the shop, sat at the window downing a grande decaf, black, walked home again. Quiet fella, kept to himself.
Did you witness the falling out he had there? Was it the Starbucks in Santa Monica? He talks about it in the final tape, on maybe is third to last appearance.
@@Bill_Woo haha no actually! I was a huge fan of George, so I've been watching them as they were released. I hopped back to this one just to read the comments. Sometimes there are cool personal anecdotes like this coffee guy!
Breakfast in bed: “I mean, somebody wakes you out of a sound sleep in the morning and the first thing you’re supposed to do is eat eggs?” That’s pretty funny. I also remember how he used to say that he burned his tongue on one of those “piping hot” airline-flight rolls. There you go, he just said it!
Thanks for sharing that! It makes it even more odd that George makes those occasional digs at Dave: “Another one of your spell-binding guests”…”I like to say your name almost as much as you do!” Etc
The only thing wrong with these compilations -- and believe me, there is NOTHING wrong with these compilations -- is that you are able to see the repetition. IRL, we never saw it because it was months or years apart. But man, were these great. Looking forward to watching subsequent parts. Can we assume the "Hollywood Squares" sweater was some sort of in-joke between them?
Very very cool. Always heard Dave speaks very highly of George Miller and had seen clips of his stand up here on YT but had not seen the early appearances. Thanks for this gem, Don. Much appreciated. Us lifelong Letterman fans are very lucky.
So many great jokes, wow. I love this guy. I don't think I saw him a single time while he was alive, but Norm mentioned him from time to time, which is how I ended up hear.
@@fanda6122 One of the things I enjoy about Norm is when he talks about the history of comedy, and his influences. He was talking to David Letterman and they both remarked about their fondness of George Miller, and Norm even did a George Miller joke in his honor. So I decided to look him up.
@ Don Giller... ..hey, Don..! ..you've reached 96,000 subscribers..! ..Congratulations..! ..now comes the all-important question: whoever is fortunate enough to become your 100,000th subscriber, does that mean that they win (in the words of Bill Wendell), "..IT'S A BRAND NEW CAR..!!!" 😁😆😁😆😁😆
@ Don Giller... ..hey, Don ! ..it just now came to me [10/17/2020 01:30am] as to how/why you're suddenly closing in on 100,000 subscribers... ("..and, it goes something like T-H-I-S...!") 😁 ..a baby-boomer stumbles across your site and immediately messages/texts a friend of his, "..HEY ! ..r u ceeing L'man rep's [repeats] on YT, rite now..?!" "..natch..! [naturally]" "..well, hurry and g-o [get off] whatever site ur on, and ck-out [check-out] a post by somebody named 'Don Giller'..!!!" ..the texter quickly adds, "..not only can u klr [clearly] c people's faces, but their voices r in-sync, 2..!!!" "..NO KIDDING..?!?", the other baby-boomer excitedly texts back, "..got'cha..!" ..the newbie hurries and checks-out your site.. "..W-O-W..!!!", the second baby-boomer excitedly texts back, "..UR R-I-T-E..!!!" ..Baby-Boomer 1 immediately contacts 209 of his closest friends; Baby-Boomer 2 immediately contacts 209 of HIS closest friends... ..together, the first group of 420 quickly contact another group of 420; who contact yet ANOTHER group of 420....who contact yet another....and another....and another....a-n-d another... ..and, so begins, 'The Secret of My Success: The Legend of Don Giller'..!!! 😁🙄😉😎 ("..am I fairly close..!!?") 😎 🙄😉
Even as a young lad George Miller looks like he smells of that old man smell. :'D But I really like watching him stumble through his comedy, it's somehow warm and endearing. He seems like a lovely guy.
@@dongiller I’m embarrassed... I was trying to remember your name & was looking in the corner at the watermark because I was already typing the comment & couldn’t back out to double check... well, thank you _DON!_
Thanks Don for posting these high quality videos of George. Were you a friend of his while he was living? I really appreciate that we can still enjoy his humor today.
@DONZ... love this brief little essay! I'm sure it took some work to write... but any time you feel like sharing your insights in this form, please do!
Wow it’s strange that Dave and Norm talked about George on his show about 2 years or so ago, knowing that Norm also had Leukemia for close to 10 years. May they both Rest In Peace!
Just to clarify. Norm did not have leukemia at the time they talked. He had multiple myeloma. This metastasized into Myelodysplastic syndrome. Eventually this developed into acute leukemia in the last few months of his life.
. From The Above Description: "Johnny Dark's only Tonight Show appearance occurred on August 27, 1981, with Bill Cosby guest-hosting." So.....have wondered about this for a long time, but have never been able to get a knowledgeable answer on it, so I'll try here once again: On those nights when Johnny Carson was off, and he had a guest host sitting in for him, did he ever tell the producers of the show to schedule guests they felt were "worthy" of being on the show, but just, for whatever reason, were people that Johnny preferred not to have to talk to (or, vice-versa, to make sure they didn't schedule any guests on the nights he was off, whom he preferred to have on the show when he was there?) ?? .
I’m no authority on this. All I know is that after Leno had fallen out of favor with Johnny, only then would he appear on guest-host shows. Until only after he had begun guest-hosting himself, beginning in 1986.
@@dongiller . Thank you. Yeah, while I certainly wouldn't put it past Carson to dictate who should be on his show on the nights he wasn't there......after all, it WAS "his" show.....I've never been able to find out if he did in fact dictate the guest lineup, even when he wasn't going to be on..... .
I have a funny video of George saying he was screwed from a airline company and cant say the name on air but can say it was an American Airline. Eleven O'clock? no, eleven a chicken.
I'm going to feel like an idiot when somebody answers this, but what is the song they always played when George Miller was introduced, and why was that 'his' song?
The comedy Store Doc on Showtime was good ,Dave talked about George Miller on it , i can defiantly see the Inspiration that Norm MacDonald got from George
Okay.... Anyone investigating why Norm MacDonald was hot on George Miller should skip this and go to part 2. There is some excruciatingly bad moments here. Letterman saw what many didn't. Not far into part two he starts hitting the mark again and again and it only gets better. There are few and far between funny moments here. Which is too bad because he was way way better than the material here. This is to comedy what the Beatles' Anthology One was to their legacy.. Don't give up, investigate further and there are rewards.
OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS, YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HAPPY I AM. YOU MAY NOT REMEMBER BUT I HAD SENT YOU A MESSAGE OF APPRECIATION A FEW YEARS AGO FOR ALL OF YOUR WORK AND I HAD MADE THE REQUEST FOR A GEORGE MILLER COMPILATION AND YOU TOLD ME IT WAS IN YOUR PLANS EVENTUALLY. I AM FOREVER GRATEFUL DON. Okay I am done with the caps I got too excited.
I am woefully behind on watching your videos, Don. Right now I'm halfway through the first Ask Mr. Melman collection, and while I try to watch these in order, I may have to jump ahead and tackle this one first. It was always a highlight for me to see George Miller's name as a guest on Dave's show. I thought he was hilarious back in the 80s and I'm curious to see if he still holds up for me in 2020. Also, thank you for the backstory. Some really interesting information there and I'm proud to say I'm one of the viewers who actually reads the descriptions!!
(..I'm the other viewer who always takes time to read all of your descriptions... 😁 ..I know EXACTLY what it's like to have LOTS OF hard work go unnoticed...) 😉
Airplane food, “I burned my tongue on those piping hot rolls they serve”. LMFAO. Pure comedy gold! I miss George Miller. Thanks so much for posting this.
