For starters, he's conservative.

The former "Saturday Night Live" cast member and "Monday Night Football" commentator is now a conservative radio talk-show host on about 200 stations around the country, and appears on Bill O'Reilly's and Sean Hannity's shows regularly.

The comedian will perform at Kingsbury Hall tonight, and in an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune he talked about Utah politicians, why he thinks John McCain will win in a landslide and, of course, the liberal media.

Here is Miller on:

Past Utah experiences

I wasn't in the Tabernacle, let me put it that way. It seems like a nice place to me. I like that Orrin Hatch guy.

The upcoming presidential election

I don't think it's going to be that close. I want McCain to win, I don't want Barack to win, but if he's my president I'll get behind him. I'm getting sick of this fractiousness where people stand there and re-create the same idiocies I've seen the left perform on George Bush where they tell me he's the Antichrist.

Why liberal radio hasn't been as successful as Rush Limbaugh

Liberal ideology has turned into pessimism. It's tough to listen to three hours a day. Even the most ardent liberals have trouble sidling up to the bar every day and hear about how they're living in the most screwed-up nation in the world. When you wake up every day and your feet hit the ground and flip on the liberal radio they tell you how screwed-up you and your country are and how they're patriotic for telling you that, it gets boring after a while. You go, "Hey, where's the good news, pal?"

On his "Saturday Night Live" friend Al Franken running for senator in Minnesota

I would never vote for Al, but he's a good friend. We talked a while back and he asked me if I wanted to do a [campaign] commercial. I came on and said, "Al Franken is my good friend. He's a good father, a good husband, one of my bosses at 'Saturday Night Live,' one of the funniest men I know. That being said, I would never, ever vote for him to be a United States senator." And then Al steps into the screen with a thumbs-up and says, "Hi, I'm Al Franken, and I approved this message."

On the content of his act

I think of myself as a sardonic Willy Loman. You set up the lease, open it up and show the widgets. I'm honed and I'm ready to rock. And for Salt Lake City, I'll keep it clean. I'll delete some of the more incendiary stuff. I'm the one who has to be there onstage, I don't want to be embarrassing people. It's not like I think they're children. It won't get insipid. But some of the most capricious f-bombs will be eliminated, because I know it's not their thing. I'm not a big go-against-the-grain guy.

On whether he believes he can convert people to conservatism

I could care less. I'm trying to make people laugh. If you put your head so far up your a-- as a comedian and you're trying to convert people, you've lost your mind. It's hard enough to get laughs, much less get converts. I don't think I matter, except to the extent that a laugh will unburden somebody at the end of the day.

dburger@sltrib.com