Bill Maher blows hot and cold with me…and if you or I were Bill Maher, we'd turn that into an oral sex joke. Fortunately for us, we're classier than that. Well, you are, at least.
My few brief encounters with the man have not been pleasant and I don't think his attitude about women is as different from Rush Limbaugh's as he thinks it is. He's just better at not mentioning it, perhaps because he doesn't have to fill as many hours of airtime as Limbaugh does. Also, he has to function in show business and get movie stars to do his show.
I should also say that when I like him, it's usually not when he does stand-up. Like a lot of comics of his generation, he picked up many traits from Johnny Carson but somewhere else, he picked up that annoying little fake laugh. He giggles at his own written, performed-before lines like he just thought of them and they crack him up so…and speaking unopposed, he gets arrogant and didactic. When I like him, it's when he's debating with others, even on their shows. In fact, I admire his willingness to go on any show, even in front of hostile audiences, and defend his positions. There are many ways in which he differs from Rush and Hannity, and one is how those guys usually avoid discussions where they are not in charge and therefore do not enjoy an enormous advantage.
And I really like Maher's New Rules, which I think is often one of the smartest sources of political comedy these days. I don't always agree with his points and I sometimes wince at a dose of nastiness…but most of it is very funny and very bold. A lot of it causes me to say, "Hey, no one else had the guts to say that but he's right." Or sometimes, "…he may be right."
If you enjoy New Rules, you may enjoy this. Each week after his show, Maher does a few extra "rules" for the Internet. It's sometimes difficult and time-consuming to find them so I haven't been making the effort. I recently discovered, however, an easy way to view them.
You go to the most recent one on YouTube and engage Autoplay. This is not easy to locate over there so I made this link which I think will do it for you. It should take you to the latest web-only New Rule and then play them all in reverse order. First Warning: They run 30-45 seconds each and there are 108 of them so you could be there a while. Secondary Warning: Some, of course, are lame including a couple of the first ones you'll see…but the overall batting average is pretty good. Tertiary Warning: It's Bill Maher.
If my link doesn't work for you and you want to view this anyway, this link will take you to the page for YouTube user "RealTime," which is the show's account. Locate the link to watch New Rules videos and select "Play All." But remember that First Warning. I thought I'd just watch a few and then quit but I got hooked and wound up viewing all 108.