Bill Maher - classic!

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even his 'boldest' statement (terrorists = not cowardly) he was just repeating dinesh d'souza, the fount of all bold transgressive anti-pc cryptolapdog jive (cf. vice magazine, talk radio).

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 13:08 (twenty-one years ago)

i kno its early in the morning for me, but wtf is with andy k?

― g--ff (gcannon), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 13:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I've never seen him take an actually tough stand on anything. (Deriding/hating/criticizing GWB does not actually count as a tough stand, sorry.)

I think that's probably why he seems so smug and off-putting to me. That and the skeeviness.

― Leon Czolgosz (Nicole), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 13:22 (twenty-one years ago)

anyway, i try not to over- or misuse "fascist," and i do mean it, not as a synonym for "right wing jerk" (which is NOT really a synonym). apart from the aggressive normality & blount & tracer's otm details, he = "me, i'm outside politics, it's all a big joke, am i right? democrats are crazy, republicans are crazy. why oh why isn't there a politics for NORMAL ASSHOLES like u & me?" BEWARE PPL WHO SAY THIS KIND OF THING.

― g--ff (gcannon), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 13:24 (twenty-one years ago)

i kno its early in the morning for me, but wtf is with andy k?

Impending fatherhood is starting to play havoc with his MIND!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 13:40 (twenty-one years ago)

It looks like he put that into a text translator, translated it into some random language, and then back into English.

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 13:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I've never heard him claim to be a NORMAL ASSHOLE.

― Maria D. (Maria D.), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

What would qualify as a tough stand in your book, Tracer Hand?

― Maria D. (Maria D.), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 15:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Anything that interferes with Bill Maher's ability to live exactly as he pleases.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 15:18 (twenty-one years ago)

even the "terrorists are courageous" line is something that cannot be said except in a posture of patting yourself on the back for saying it--everything he says is basically in this posture i think.

― ryan (ryan), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 15:26 (twenty-one years ago)

He was good in "Amazon Women in the Avocado Jungle of Doom" ... quite good.

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 15:31 (twenty-one years ago)

He's on Frresssh Aair right now.

― Maria D. (Maria D.), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 16:25 (twenty-one years ago)

thanks for the tip, will avoid.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Bill Maher should totally marry Terri Gross, they can run off to an island somewhere and have obnoxious babies.

― Leon Czolgosz (Nicole), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)

So a tough stand is something self-defeating? How should he live his life differently, rather than exactly as he pleases? I don't get what you mean.

― Maria D. (Maria D.), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 16:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Nice line Maria D. I think you win. Anyway, everyone's complaint seems to center on his smugness (attitude), which no one can really make an argument for or against, because it's subjective whether or not your warm to it.

democrats are crazy, republicans are crazy. why oh why isn't there a politics for NORMAL ASSHOLES like u & me?" BEWARE PPL WHO SAY THIS KIND OF THING.

like Nader? heh.

― Richard K (Richard K), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 17:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I think his show is much better now than it used to be. he seems much more comfortable with himself, which, while it makes him more of an asshole, makes him more likeable too. I often don't agree with him but at least he's not predictably knee-jerk in a liberal or conservative direction.

Kim Campbell, whom I believe was a Conservative PM, made a very parliamentocentric argument to Nader who quite obviously understood none of it. It was funny to see Maher and Moore on a stage together and the most narcissistic person there was still Nader.

I think it's unfair to refer to David Dreier as a crypto-fascist. He's just an old fashioned conservative asshat. Watching Moore and Dreier argue made me realise how screwed we are in this country. Both had valid points surrounded by irrational and illogical nuttiness. Moore is just an amalgam of (mostly)incoherent resentments against the Bush regime and Dreier just a relatively incoherent Bush loyalist. Twenty years from now, when the emotion has been switched to other subjects, historians will look back at all this and wince at both sides'self importance and inability to appeal to anything except their uncritical bases.

― Michael White (Hereward), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 18:27 (twenty-one years ago)

But he IS knee-jerk, in a direction that I suppose you could call libertarian - he's literally self-serving, down to his philosophical core: a tough stand FOR HIM would be to say, make an argument for universal health-care. Or for a congestion charge for driving a car inside city limits. Of course the response is "what, you want him to go against his beliefs?" Well yeah because I think at least half of what forms the libertarian credo are CRUDDY beliefs, at least as they shake out for most people.. the great trick of libertarianism is to never have to give anything up, to never have to sacrifice.. a tough stand against the status quo might be.. um, the above. Sorry, but libertarianism is the 13-year-old version of mainstream American political philosophy. I'm still pissed that they co-opted red meat and beer for their fucking frat boy agenda.. but put Maher in the Lord of the Flies and see how quick he starts calling for a bicameral legislature.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Maher is an animal-rights supporter, and appears in PETA literature. I suppose that's a pretty surprising stance. He also defended affirmative action, which isn't very libertarian. He seems pretty passionate. Abrasive and annoying, but I appreciate his earnestness, and I think his show is a lot better now that it's on HBO.

― Kerry (dymaxia), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:03 (twenty-one years ago)

cf.

Of course, 'libertarian' had a meaning long before the 'Libertarian Party' came along, so who knows what he means.

― Kerry (dymaxia), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:07 (twenty-one years ago)

he was pretty good on fresh air. he apologized for politically correct. he said he hated doing it after awhile cuz of the celebrities. he also thinks that it helped lead to the reality thing in some ways. he wasn't that smug either.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:16 (twenty-one years ago)

he was still talking about how awful the networks were during the convention and how they should show all of it on t.v. i agree with him there. the c-span/pbs argument isn't good enough. he said that he was relieved when he was fired for his terrorist comment, but that he was proud of the shows that he did after 9/11.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:21 (twenty-one years ago)

On one show, Maher criticized the media's derisive treatment of Al Sharpton's presidential candidacy; quoting dismissive newspaper articles in which journalists seem annoyed that crowds respond favorably to Sharpton.

You don't really hear this kind of stance on televison. Thinking back on this moment, and the way the news cut away from Sharpton's convention speech, because he went away from the script, political comedians like Maher seem sadly neccesary.

― herbert hebert (herbert hebert), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:25 (twenty-one years ago)

i think that Jon Stewart went after the folks dumping on Al Sharpton, but i didn't see all of that episode.

― Lt. Kingfish Del Pickles (Kingfish), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:31 (twenty-one years ago)

john stewart did it too. he played a clip of brian williams from nbc interviewing sharpton after his speech and williams sez something like: "you didn't look at the prompter for over half an hour there. you just started riffing on whatever you were riffing on!" comepletely dismissing what he had just said in his speech. Then Stewart went off on that.

but back to fresh air, after Maher, she had colin quinn on and he just sounded like the biggest fucking idiot you have ever heard in your life.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:33 (twenty-one years ago)

x-post

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Does anyone actually like Colin Quinn?

― St. Nicholas (Nick A.), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Classic for putting Jarvis Cocker on 'Politically Incorrect', pretty annoying in most other respects.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:35 (twenty-one years ago)

the fun thing is that half of the guys on Colin's show are bigger idiots than he, a point he realizes(see his Onion AVClub interview).

xp some of his shows can be worthwhile.

still, better, more substantive debate is had on ep of Crossballs...

― Lt. Kingfish Del Pickles (Kingfish), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:36 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah like nader!

― g--ff (gcannon), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't mind Quinn but his show's just boring. Too short and the format cuts in with commercials all the time.

― Michael White (Hereward), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

i hate colin quinn, but then i hate maher too and this thread is making me grudgingly appreciate him.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

People kept telling me to watch Quinn's "Tough Crowd" but I could never sit through it. Colin's generic stand up buddies making the most obvious jokes about the news. It was like dumbed down "Politically Incorrect," if you can imagine such a thing.

― herbert hebert (herbert hebert), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:39 (twenty-one years ago)

also the whole "i'm just a reg'lar guy see look i flub every one of my fucking lines" thing gets old in about 15 seconds flat.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I wouldn't mind if they just called each other offensive racial epithets and laughed but Tough Crowd is all too short for them to develop any real dialogue.

― Michael White (Hereward), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Colin Quinn sounding like Big Fucking Idiot non-shockah

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:48 (twenty-one years ago)

They should just change it to the 'Tough Guy (they wish) Crowd'.

― Kerry (dymaxia), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:52 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah he says things i agree with sometimes but again.. calling out negative media reaction to sharpton = "sky is blue" -- also i think affirmative action is totally libertarian insofar as institutional racism is er, institutional, a mechanism of power and control to be chafed against, and it's good he's in that corner but in a way it's not, because when he chafes against something he chafes petulantly. dude i don't kow if his HBO show still includes his little "moment of shit" where he turns to the camera and does some kind of tony danza meets dennis miller monologue and practises his smirks from difference angles. i wonder if this is a different issue than his fair-weather politics or not? i don't know what libertarianism Actually Is, but is suspect that matters much less than what people think it is. i keep thinking Colin Quinn's show would be fall-down funny hysterical if he did everything exactly the same, except dressed up like his own grandmother.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:59 (twenty-one years ago)

That last idea is good, it would be kind of like 'Mamma's Family'.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 21:00 (twenty-one years ago)

haha who knew they had this many opinions about bill maher and colin quinn? IT'S THE MAGIC OF THE INTERNET.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 21:01 (twenty-one years ago)

well, you know, when Maher said what he said about the terrorists, wasn't that like the first time on t.v. after 9/11 that someone had gone against the standard line on t.v.? and he got fired for it. (for expressing his un-p.c. opinion. har har.) and he may say that he was relieved NOW, but still, it must have given him a lot of grief. It could have killed his entire career. I'm mentioning this cuzza what someone said about his views=no discomfort for himself personally.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 21:08 (twenty-one years ago)

but everyone OTM about the whole smug, sleazy, playboy mansion thing he has going on. I'm just really used to nerds who move to hollywood and become rich swingers so it doesn't bother me too much.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 21:13 (twenty-one years ago)

x post
"dude i don't kow if his HBO show still includes his little "moment of shit" where he turns to the camera and does some kind of tony danza meets dennis miller monologue"

I haven't seen the recent shows but I agree that segment is totally annoying.

Calling out negative media reaction to Sharpton would only be too obvious if the media made an issue of it themselves. More than calling it out, Maher/Stewart are being critical and asking questions about it. People aren't skeptical enough toward the news media's dangerous bias for this to be a cliche.

― herbert hebert (herbert hebert), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 21:13 (twenty-one years ago)

even the "terrorists are courageous" line is something that cannot be said except in a posture of patting yourself on the back for saying it--everything he says is basically in this posture i think.
-- ryan (augustuscaesar2...), August 3rd, 2004.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 21:15 (twenty-one years ago)

OTM, I mean.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 21:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Ew I don't like seeing Jon Stewart's name enslashed with Bill Maher's like that.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 21:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Why shouldn't Maher pat himself on the back for deviating from the party line?

x-post

― Michael White (Hereward), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

He had a problem with the terrorists being called cowards, right? and then he said that it was more cowardly to lob bombs at a country a 1000 miles away. Yeah, that's a posture you hear all the time on network t.v.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 21:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw the PI clip in which Maher made the controversial statement about terrorists. It wasn't regarded as that outlandish in context. He was actually agreeing with another panelist in refuting the administration's dumbass talking point device of referring to terrorists as "cowards." It's kind of scary that it became controversial in the first place.

― herbert hebert (herbert hebert), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 21:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it was really just when he said it. But even now, you don't hear those kind of things on the networks.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 21:28 (twenty-one years ago)

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