Amber Ruffin is a writer on Seth Meyer’s late night show. She is featured in skits and is really charming and funny. She is getting her own sitcom pilot, about her experiences living in Amsterdam and marrying a white Dutch guy.
So she ended up hosting the Writers Guild Awards - yeah, I wasn’t fully aware of these awards but since every freakin’ Guild has their own awards now, so be it.
During her monologue, she shares that she is the first black woman writer on a late night show. She calls out Seth Meyers as being Woke, then calls our Robin Thede, the black woman host of a new BET late night show. Then she calls out Jordan Klepper and then John Oliver. And then she says “and Bill Maher!!..”, then pauses, and then she says “go fuck yourself!” and moves on to the next joke.
Guess his reference to “House N-word” and other such provocative slips are not appreciated by Ms. Ruffin.
ETA: by the way, see the article’s title? “Amber Ruffin shades Bill Maher…”. Hmm. “Shades”? I thought that refers to a low-key, passive aggressive slam. This was not shade - this was a stab-you-in-the-front insult. Has the definition of shade broadened? I have no clue.
Dang if I understand the stuff kids say/write today, but I thought that to “call out” someone was a diss thang (“I‘m calling you out dude!). Whereas a “shout out” was a good thing. The shades of “shade” are a mystery to me.
Being loud is not a good substitute for funny. She certainly hasn’t been the first to try it. I was waiting for a joke. Maybe she is a good writer and I would appreciate her material if I heard more of it. Then again I’m not too impressed with the jokes that go on air on the show she writes for.
Maybe there’s an inside joke there somewhere, but I don’t get it. I know Maher ticks off some liberals, but without context “go fuck yourself” just kinda hangs out there like a, a, a, great big nothing burger. More often than not, I just think some people need to get over themselves.
I watch Maher’s show religiously (heh), and I saw that episode on Sunday. His argument was a lot more nuanced than that, and if you listen to the whole thing, I think it’s fair to say that “fuck you” is a ridiculous overreaction, if that is what she is getting at. But that type of discussion is better suited to a different forum, so I’ll just leave it at that.
Amber Ruffin is awesome on Seth Meyers and on Drunk History. Bill Maher is terrible and does that fake laugh at his jokes because if not, we wouldn’t know they were supposed to be funny.
Haven’t watched Bill Maher because it seems like every time I see him, he’s doing this arrogant smirk to a camera which seems to be permanently stationed to the side for just that.
That and I just don’t care for people who say controversial things just to get a reaction. Those people are called Trolls.
Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s my persistent impression of him.
Not surprising to hear. I am sure the Producers, Directors, Screen Actors, Editors, etc. have had their versions of awards for decades. It just seems like each of them has gotten dolled up and is bidding to be a “media event” in a way that they didn’t a decade or three ago.
I saw Bill Maher in concert a couple of years ago. He was fantastically funny. He was also far more nuanced when given the time to stretch the routines out than during his one-liner monologues on his show.
