Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Bill Maher

Bill Maher is a genius and he is hilarious.
I think he is the ultimate evolutionary step in comedy from Lenny Bruce through Redd Foxx through Richard Pryor and through George Carlin.
He is sharp, well informed and has large balls. All of the aforementioned comedians had balls.
It's the combination of brains and balls that makes these guys so good.
The ultimate test to me is their willingness to make their own audience uncomfortable. They do not suck up to anyone. They say what they want to say to get their point across, to make you think as well as laugh.
I recently watched an HBO special from 2010 with Bill Maher. Blew me away.
He criticized Americans for the amount of shit we take, asking just how much will we take before we rise up and kill bankers.
We were all victimized by the greed and corruption on Wall Street and in the banking world and yet nothing has changed. There should have been rioting in the streets and a complete overthrow of the status quo. Instead the rich continue to thrive and the rest of us continue to die.
He talked about how manufacturing has essentially died in this country but we are real good at inventing Snuggies, cheese-filled pizza crust and talking tombstones.
They actually have these things. You can get one with a self made pre-recorded message; you can even get them with video screens so people can look at you while you talk. I suppose my message would have to be "I'm still trying."
Bizarre. And oh so American.
It got real uncomfortable in the room when Maher said that people who blindly profess love of our troops is the ultimate in phony patriotism, pointing out that they are paid crap, are sometimes tricked into deployment, and get crappy medical care when they are out. He said Americans love their troops the way Michael Vick loves dogs.
It takes guts to say that and it is true in a certain per centage of cases. There was not much laughing going on.
I saw that at times with Carlin. A minimum of laughter with a maximum of discomfort and some introspection mixed in.
Saw it a lot from white folks in Red Foxx's and Richard Pryor's audiences. Lenny Bruce made his audience squirm because they were so prim and proper back then (on the surface) and he was so direct. They knew he spoke the truth.
Many times while watching Maher's current HBO show, Real Time, I have seen him hold up his hand or look at his audience in disgust when they mindlessly applaud something he himself has said during a discussion before he gets a chance to make his point. He discourages his audience from merely applauding talking points. He wants them to think.
That takes guts.
There was a guy sitting in the front row of Maher's audience wearing a sweater vest and not laughing very much. Maher got right in his face and insulted him repeatedly.
It's all about comedy with an edge, baby.
He talked about the science of freezing stem cells and extrapolated it to envision yuppies with the option of freezing their baby. "We have never been to Italy - let's throw the baby in the freezer and defrost him after the trip." Given the shallowness of Americans I can accept this as a possibility.
He equated religion and politics with mass delusion and said the republicans are pining away for the fifties, that they use fear to get people to vote against their own economic interests, and that the only freedom they want is the freedom to live under a white president.
Talked about how when president Obama speaks he fills stadiums while the only stadium republicans can fill is the Super Dome during Katrina.
Another uncomfortable audience moment.
He did criticize President Obama saying that he needs to grow the balls that Cheney and Bush had, and I have heard him criticize the President since, so he is obviously not blindly partisan.
He is a thinker.
What passes for comedy on TV is bland and predictable, which of course is why it is so popular. Americans don't want to be challenged.
I enjoy the moments when Maher makes me cringe. I'm sitting there thinking we are on the same page and suddenly I am questioning my own beliefs. Carlin did that to me a lot as well.
This type of comedy is important because it exposes people to uncomfortable truths they are trying to avoid, uncomfortable truths they might not be aware of or understand. And it makes it more palatable through humor.
Hopefully it makes people think.
Of course the message is limited in scope because the audience by definition is limited in numbers.  I don't imagine many dedicated Fox TV viewers are interested in Bill Maher's humor or could even understand it.
That's how the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, and Jeff Foxworthy get rich.
But if Maher is getting his own audience to test their own beliefs, if he can give them more information to work with and if he can make them laugh while doing it, he is transcending the role of comedian.
Others have done it in the past. Bill Maher is the best there is right now.

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