Bill Maher: “Being gay may be immoral, but at least they know when to pull out of a shithole.”
He got in a few jabs at the Left, but the Real Time with Bill Maher host’s late-night hour and 15 minutes at the Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel -- unlike the Mayweather/De La Hoya fight earlier in the evening -- ended in no split decisions. He didn’t deliver an uncontested knockout, but the current administration (including its actions in New Orleans, Homeland Security, school-sponsored abstinence, medical lobbyists, Iraq, the FCC, religious dogma, et al.) took a sound, methodical pummeling.
Not that Maher is a particularly physical comic, or one who relies more heavily on excessive volume, hyperbole or facial expressions than, you know, humor to make his socio-political points. And though he did punctuate bits with a finger lick and page turn of his lengthy setlist, he only glanced at the actual words once, and for only a second at that. (Thus continues the comedy community’s notes-as-shameful-crutch/notes-as-harmless-precaution debate.)
After getting the requisite “What happens in Vegas …” and airport-security bits out of the way, Maher addressed the country’s decreased value of privacy, mocking a cell-phone user’s “Lemme call you back when there’s someone to overhear me,” and warning that in America, “When a man puts something in another man, it better be a bullet.” As for the country’s next hot-button issue: “It was gay marriage, but now it’s immigration … Brown is the new pink.” Addressing critics, Maher assured that he does not in fact “hate America first.” No, he has his coffee. He burns the American flag, performs a few abortions. Then somewhere around 2:30 he finally gets around to hating America. But to clarify, “I don’t hate America… I hate Americans.” What other country, after all, would let him get away with making his living as he does?
Of course he was mostly preaching to the converted, and Maher visibly knew when to expect applause breaks (On Bush: “What a clown on the world’s stage,” “Worst president ever.”) as well as choruses of boos (At the mentions of Carl Rove and Ann Coulter). Non-initiates, however, may have been pleasantly surprised by the lack of in-your-face conjecture. He shies from taking on the role of bullying blowhard, and his references to Paul Newman and Elton John indicate that his audience tends to skew older than expected. Maher aims for the head as opposed to the jugular, making his lengthy standing ovation that much more hard-earned.
Maher returns to the Joint June 15-16.
Photos by Aaron Thompson