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Bill Maher wants you to forgive Rush

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 21:05:00 +0000

This week in rich, delicious irony: A privileged, middle-aged man known for making sexist, derogatory comments would like America to forgive a privileged, middle-aged man for making sexist, derogatory comments.

After admitting that he does "Hate to defend #RushLimbaugh," Bill Maher went on to tweet Tuesday, about the radio host: "he apologized, liberals looking bad not accepting. Also hate intimidation by sponsor pullout." Wait, who looks bad here? My sides, they're splitting!

Maher, of course, is a professional provocateur, a guy who views himself as an equal opportunity fly in everyone's ointment. But he's also the man who recently gave a cool million dollars to Obama's super PAC and once suggested "don't ask, don't tell" be overturned purely "because it will make Rush Limbaugh explode like a bag full of meat dropped from a helicopter." As such, he no doubt felt uniquely qualified to appeal to the left's sense of justice. And no doubt there are plenty of talking heads – the ones who erroneously keep insisting that liberals and feminists have no problem with Maher's track record of offensive remarks – who'd go along with him.

Should liberals have buyers’ remorse over Obama?

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 22:08:00 +0000

I dodged one of my least favorite questions on "Real Time With Bill Maher" Friday night: Would Hillary Clinton have been a better choice for liberals than Barack Obama in 2008? Neil deGrasse Tyson got me off the hook by quickly answering "yes"; you can watch the segment below.

I ducked the question because I honestly have no idea -- and I have no desire to refight the bruising battles of the 2008 Democratic primary. I'm firmly on record questioning the notion that Obama was the clear progressive, compared to Clinton. There was absolutely no evidence that was true. One advantage to Clinton, I thought, was that she knew the extent to which the right wing would go to sabotage a Democratic president. On the other hand, I had sympathy with people who dreaded a sequel to the ugly Clinton Wars, and thought a different Democrat might have a better chance to avert a rerun of '90s-style partisan warfare. I didn't agree, but I thought that was a fair and reasonable hope.

The subversive legacy of comic Bill Hicks

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 22:01:00 +0000

When Bill Hicks died of pancreatic cancer in 1994, he was just 32 years old but had been a working comedian for more than half his life. He was somewhere on the outer fringes of stardom, having done an HBO special, appeared a dozen times on Letterman and been offered a weekly column in the Nation. But Hicks was also seen as a "comic's comic," someone who was too heady and acerbic for a mass audience, and unlikely ever to top-line a sitcom or host a talk show. His last Letterman appearance in late 1993 was edited out of the show entirely, a decision for which the CBS late-night host would apologize to Hicks' mother, on the air, 16 years later.

In the wake of the first Gulf War and the federal siege of the Branch Davidian complex in Waco, Texas, Hicks had become increasingly angry and political, focusing his comic radar on the United States government and everything it represented around the world, especially the mind-set derived from capitalism and consumerism. In an exquisite and apparently improvised riff seen in Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas' compelling documentary "American: The Bill Hicks Story," he wrestles with the contradictions of his role, oscillating between urging everyone in the audience who works in marketing or advertising to kill themselves and imagining those people's response: "Oh, I see what Bill is doing! He's going after the anti-marketing dollar, the righteous-indignation dollar! That's a good dollar! He's really smart!" Stopping to calm his breathing, Hicks repeats himself: No, he's really not kidding. Kill yourselves.

Bill O’Reilly cries foul over Bill Maher Quran comment

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 17:40:00 +0000

The media can sometimes be very sensitive -- and rightly so -- about news pundits who openly disparage Islam and its adherents. (Just ask Juan Williams.) But when Bill Maher said on his program Friday night that the Quran is a "hate-filled holy book," little controversy ensued.

Bill O'Reilly dedicated a portion of "The Factor" last night to dissecting the media's inarticulate response to Maher's incendiary speech. He even brought Juan Williams onto his show to cry "double standard!" To O'Reilly's credit, he qualified his own opinion on the matter by pointing out that the tragedy in Japan has overshadowed basically every other news story since Friday. (He also managed to sneak in a dig at Maher's presumably mediocre viewership.) Still, the overriding tenor of the segment seemed indignant. Said O'Reilly:

If a conservative, or even a moderate, journalist criticizes the Quran, all hell breaks loose in the media. But a left-wing comedian can pretty much skate on that.

Bill Maher: The Quran is a “hate-filled holy book”

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:13:00 +0000

Bill Maher has always been a vocal critic of Islam, even at times making impolitic statements about the religion. On last night's episode of "Real Time," however, the HBO host took those sentiments a step further.

Maher was talking with Democratic Congressman Keith Ellison, who gained widespread attention for his emotional testimony at Thursday's congressional hearings on Islamic radicalization. During the conversation, Maher called the Quran a "hate-filled holy book" that espouses a backwards ideology. He did make a point of qualifying his statements by saying that the vast majority of Muslims reject the violent aspects of the religion's ideology. However, Maher insisted throughout the discussion that Islam presents a greater threat of terrorism than other religions.

Maher mocks Gingrich for hypocritical moralizing

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 19:06:00 +0000

Newt Gingrich seems primed to run on a value-based campaign platform as he explores his White House bid in earnest this week. And Bill Maher couldn't help but point out the seeming hypocrisy in that decision. The "Real Time" host dedicated a portion of his "New Rule" segment last night to Gingrich -- on his third marriage after two acrimonious and scandal-clad divorces -- concluding "I don't think actual newts are this slimy."

Bill Maher responds to claims of hypocrisy over Bill O’Reilly comments

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 19:21:00 +0000

This week in tiresome media showdowns: Bill Maher and Bill O'Reilly have been firing shots at one another since the "Real Time" host called the "Factor" host "unpatriotic" two weeks ago. The charge stemmed from the Super Bowl interview in which O'Reilly seemingly would not let President Barack Obama finish a sentence. Maher, needless to say, found this distasteful.

The comments prompted a number of pundits -- including O'Reilly himself -- to level charges of hypocrisy against the HBO host. Critics point out that Maher himself managed to call former President George W. Bush nearly every four-letter word in the book during that presidency.

On his show on Friday night, Maher struck back.

Bill Maher’s despicable brilliance

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 15:35:00 +0000

Bill Maher -- whose live round table "Real Time" returns to HBO Friday at 10 p.m./9 Central -- was on Jay Leno’s show Tuesday, talking about the Arizona shootings and other touchy subjects. Do I even need to tell you how it went?

To put it mildly, the man does not do lovable. A lot of prickly-pear comics are hypocrites who hector and ridicule other public figures, then act surprised and hurt when a fellow performer answers a jab with a jab, or when the crowd boos a joke that it finds offensive. (I was kidding! Whatsamatter, can’t ya take a joke?) Maher, to his credit, is not one of those people. He doesn’t just mean it when he says he thrives on disagreement; he takes the provocateur role to vertigo-inducing heights. In the sheer giddiness he displays while pushing people's buttons, he's like a socially competent cousin of Andy Kaufman's "Man From Hollywood" character. I enjoy the nasty-schoolboy giggle that slips out whenever Maher has lost the audience's goodwill. There’s a glint in his eye when he turns to booers and groaners, and a charged moment where you wonder if he’s going to shrug off the negative reaction or fixate on it; Maher, being Maher, usually goes with option No. 2.