# 12 minutes of happiness in your day - Jiminy glick(Martin Short) ripping Bill Maher right to his face **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 22, 2024, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-minutes-of-happiness-in-your-day-jiminy-glick-martin-short-ripping-bill-maher-right-to-his-face/1003206 "2024-06-22T17:36:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 7
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-minutes-of-happiness-in-your-day-jiminy-glick-martin-short-ripping-bill-maher-right-to-his-face/1003206/7 "2024-06-23T00:59:24Z")
This will be Maher’s sixth book. His first was a novel, _True Story_, a roman a clef about the 80s sudden boom in comedy. The characters are certainly based on or composites of his real-life contemporaries. I liked back in the day but he doesn’t talk about it now. Considering that the five white male characters were nicknamed Dick, Shit, Fat, Chink, and Buck, you can understand why. I’m totally prepared to believe they were truly representative of the times and anyone who wants a sociological deep dive into why women and minorities had - reputedly still have - such a tough time in comedy will have tons of material to work with. I love this line from the _Times_ review. > "when _True Story_ works, it works because of Mr. Maher’s energetic intelligence and his creation of characters whose prolonged sophomorism has distinct qualities Maher at least is honest about not being a nice guy. Many - most? - standup comics aren’t but try to hide it. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-minutes-of-happiness-in-your-day-jiminy-glick-martin-short-ripping-bill-maher-right-to-his-face/1003206)._