My previous post was a lot more snarky about TV presenters than I really intended.
They likely know more than me on various topics. It’s just surprising sometimes when a presenter you respect is a complete noob at stuff you thought everybody knew.
This is my biggest concern with Maher, and have observed this before on his show over the years.
AFTER.
EVERY.
SINGLE.
FUCKING.
THING.
HE.
SAYS.
REGARDLESS.
OF.
HOW.
FUCKING.
LAME.
IT.
MIGHT.
BE.
(so, sure - another beef)
Awesome seeing the Jiminy Glick appearance a ways back.
That’s weird, man. He’s richer than Mitt Romney (in 2012) and Romney’s whole schtick was rich businessman. He’s rich and famous and admired by many. He’s won. Yet he’s still so miserable. I don’t know what it is.
I assume you quoted the wrong post, but, yeah, probably. Then again, I don’t know. I don’t know if he even has that much self-awareness.
If I’ve learned anything from Bill, it’s that there’s no amount of money that can make you comfortable in your own skin.
I’m left wondering what topic Bill knows about.
I saw it and it was great until he decided that he had to add his brilliant ignorance about COVID in the middle of it. It was supposed to be a funny interview and he could have handled that question differently but doubled down on it instead.
//i\\
Jiminy’s perfect observation of Bill’s unfortunate Covid bit (which thankfully was brief):
“I love getting my medical advice from a club act.”
Most people who are rich and famous are miserable. Being rich and famous doesn’t fix your problems, it just gives you different ones.
I’m not saying, poor guy, let’s all feel bad for him, I’m just saying it won’t make your life perfect.
How liberals are ruining the entire world simultaneously with cancel culture. He knows everything about that one, based on his eternal devotion to working it into every single thing he talks about. As far as he is concerned, for all the problems that exist today there used to be a simple easy solution to all of them until liberals came along and fucked it up by getting offended and cancelling the solution because wokeness or some shit.
I generally enjoy his snarky attitude but I really wish he’d get some new material.
And how every generation after his own is stupid and listless.
Cannibal women, avacados, jungles…
At risk of being shat on once again for defending Maher against the majority here, I’ll go out on a perilous limb and dare to question some of these assertions.
Maher is rich but I’ve never known him to flaunt it. He owns two cars that are nice but hardly extravagant: a Tesla Model S and a gas-powered Audi. He lives in a very upscale Beverly Hills neighbourhood but in what is otherwise an ordinary upper middle class house. Unlike, say, Taylor Swift who owns eight luxurious homes all over the country (to which she flies in her private jet).
I haven’t seen any evidence that Maher is “miserable”. He seemed pretty cheerful when he appeared in Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Seinfeld always picks up his guest in a vehicle that matches their personality. He picked up Maher in an old VW Beetle that had been used as a police car in Germany, complete with lights and siren. The incongruity was perfect! The message was that Maher was an oddball “who just doesn’t care”. Seinfeld then bantered with Maher about which of them was more smug and arrogant. I don’t know the answer, because they both are. So what? I still appreciate much of their work.
Being a bit of a devil’s advocate here but how about this:
American politics. Climate change. Religion. How to run a successful major comedy show for 22 straight years.
It’s probably easier to list the things that Bill is ignorant about but still annoyingly pontificates about. Here’s the list:
Medical science.
Bill was the only guide man enough to go into that jungle. I had a crush on the actress who played Bunny. She was also in Return of the Killer Tomatoes.
I worked at a winery in a beautiful spot in California. I was the bookkeeper for the two wineries this married couple owned. They owned a plane and were rolling in dough. But they despised each other. It spoiled what should have been a great life.
I remember her, and so did I.
…And there have been so many! I’m starting to wonder of HBO brews his tea with Tana Leaves.
Maher did not annoy me once last Friday.
The first and last thing, yes.
Climate change and religion? He believes in climate change and doesn’t believe in religion. I’ve seen no compelling evidence that he arrived at those conclusions through reason and knowledge.
That’s a bit of a non sequitur. I never accused him of flaunting his wealth. Frankly, it shocked me that he’s as rich as he is.
I don’t hate the guy. The only emotions he inspires are annoyance, irritation, pity, and, back in the day, mirth.
This will shock you but he’s a wee bit sensitive about his film career.
This will shock you but we’re a wee bit sensitive about our Democracy, so he can take his right wing talking points and racist humor and shove it so far up his pants that even his personal cannibal couldn’t eat them out.
I haven’t willingly watched Maher in ages and I feel like I already know exactly how that entire monologue would go. Smug jokes about Gen Z being entitled and lazy, condescending insults couched as “advice”, claims that in his day people worked hard and weren’t offended by everything, casual dismissal of racism and sexism as not being a big deal, at least one complaint about “cancel culture”, fifty attempts to hold for applause, closing with telling her she should be grateful for being famous and to shut up and look pretty.
You’re on-target with the pauses for applause. But not so much the rest, as (I’d say) the piece was more a criticism of Roan for championing Hamas than anything else. In other words, Maher’s topic was his distaste for religious fundamentalism (Islam in this case) rather than any generational resentment.
Roan, in Maher’s expressed view, is being naive and a useful idiot for Hamas. Roan would NOT be treated well by Hamas, nor would most college protestors wearing keffiyehs. Hamas is not what you would call friendly to the LGBTQ+ community, nor would it accord to any college kids the freedoms they take for granted.
(In my opinion his remarks were largely true.)
For fuck’s sake how many times, and how many ways, does this need to be said:
Support for palestine and/or speaking out against Israeli war crimes is not the same thing as support for Hamas
This is the king of the straw men at this point. It’s the straw man sauron.
Obviously I’m going epic with this rant because it’s not just you saying it, but much of the American media, particularly (but not only) on the right. Any criticism at all of how the IDF is conducting this war is immediately dismissed as support for terrorism. Which is odd given that many people in Israel are also critical of the campaign.