Daily Gut: Bill Maher’s Not Himself Anymore
by Greg GutfeldOne of the great things about the election of Barack Obama is how it terminated the relevance of Bill Maher. Remember Maher? He was that “edgy” guy who crowned himself the King of all things politically incorrect. At times he could be really funny – but the more he fixated on easy targets, the less “incorrect” he became. His shtick is now little more than a smirk in a suit, a walking catalogue of jokes that could have been written by the most brain dead of Huffpo commenters.
So now that the Republicans are out of power – who’s Bill going after now? In his column in the Los Angeles Times … it`s the Republicans who aren’t in power.
And this shows what happens when your recent career has been little more than one easy Bush joke after another: when the target of that joke is gone – what’s left?
Oh yeah, a teabagging joke.
As most Americans know, those jokes were already beaten into the ground a week ago by the drones at MSNBC. Someone should tell Maher. Or better, his joke writers. I believe Maher suffers from “phantom joke” pain – the target is gone, but the longing is still there to hit it.
Look, there’s no question that the Republican Party is in a stage of rebuilding, which requires a combination of looking forward and backward. Judging from Maher’s column though, he’s the one stuck in the past – chasing punch lines that – without the cushion of his moronic studio audience – land with a revealing thud.
It’s time to move on, Bill. Find someone new. Try Craigslist.
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220 Comments
"chasing punch lines that – without the cushion of his moronic studio audience – land with a revealing thud."
Nice! I wish I had thought of that clever line when I blogged my response to his diatribe today. It's a true enough statement. Even being the liberal mouth piece that he is, long ago I enjoyed his show. I could at least laugh at some of the gags — they WERE funny. Now, not so much. He hasn't been funny in quite a while, really. Nothing but vitriol.
Craiglist, I don't think so…he'd be too afraid. I use to enjoy watching Politically Incorrect, now he is just a man to be pitied.
Somebody took his sense of humor and decency. Could the person who took these, please, return them to him, they are sorely missed.
Craigslist? only if he cant find women to beat. does Greg know he will be now be a target of Maher?
Change and grow, or the world moves on. This is what's happened to Bill Maher, though his audience and HBO won't realize it for another 10 years or so.
Maybe Maher can mix in some "Jerry Ford is clumsy" jokes.
Who watches this guy and how many? 12 or 13 people total?
Sad. Very sad. Especially since Obama provides a plethora of "blunder" material Bill could mock if he had the guts.
Elvis did and thats why he shot the TV
Bill Maher, lost in a land of mediocrity and unable to defend the indefensible. His only hope is that the Republicans retake the stage so he'll have someone at whom to throw 'politically incorrect' verbal barbs.
Maher could start in on Obama if he had any balls, but unfortunately, Maher's manhood is kept in a lockbox in Obama's desk.
Bill Maher isn't anyone anymore.
Last year, my daughter was a senior in high school, and a group of her friends loved to go be a part of the audience at the taping of Maher's show. They love him! Being naturally inquisitive, I learned that the vast number of people at the tapings are around 19 years old.
Maybe it's living so close to Los Angeles, maybe parents nowadays don't care what their kids are doing on Friday nights, but here is where some kids are really getting their education.
It's very sad. Oh, and my daughter wasn't allowed to go unless I went with her. The humiliation of sitting with me while I booed Maher was too much for her.
Too topical, I'm waiting for his 30 minute rant on the evils of Calvin Coolidge next.
Maher's one of those guys who went from being edgy to mean. He probably was always mean spirited to some extent but went all the way with it once he had some audience acceptance. That's the thing with someone like Maher. He strikes me as a guy who spent so much time trying to fit in, to be liked, popular or whatever, that once he hits on a formula that works for him, he goes overboard with it. Maher, Gr-awful-O, they fit the same mold and they're too dense to know when it's time to grow up.
Bill Maher, David Letterman and Jenny Gothrowup. all have one distinct character flaw, lack of intellectual honesty.
Probably not. Only the braindead audience of Maher will.
Bill Maher was once a brand new pencil with the spiffy eraser & sharp end; however, over time, the pencil is bitten on, the eraser is worn down to a nub, & the once proud pencil is almost gone. This is Bill Maher: A pencil ready for the trash can & ready to replaced by a pen.
And that sharp end became a prick.
You are eloquent. I am not…He is ugly, short, and old.
Bill Maher has become the joke. His jokes are predictable and flabby. His show talks to the left and no longer trys to be even-handed in its point-of-view. Any middle-of-the-road or conservative figure on his show is shouted down by the dope-smokers in his "so called" audience of brain dead morons. Frankly, his time has passed, kinda like an old fart.
"…Maher suffers from “phantom joke” pain." Ha!! Brilliant, sir!
And Bill Maher…he's worse that HITLER!!
Thank you.
Well, that is the subtext of my analogy among other things…
Bill just isn't funny anymore.
Yet somehow he is still a joke!
I guess the pinnacle of his career was Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (which contains some interesting political commentary).
Bill who?
Greg,
I'll send a check to Mom Gutfeld for her cable.
You cheap bastard.
Maybe it 's time for HBO to fire Maher and rehire Dennis Miller.
I think all the women he's been nailing who aren't as smart as he is must be dulling his brain…
Talk about bitter, Maher's rant was nothing but foreshadowing of where's he'll be in a few years or less. He sees his own decline and irrelevance staring at him like the Nietzschean Abyss.
Has-been land beckons. The train to Nowheresville is leaving the station, Bill. You'll be on it by your own actions.
Was Bill ever funny? I'd rather listen to a fourth grader telling fart jokes than Bill Maher, the last of the"edgy, controversial" grade Z comedians.
yeah, both of them
From what I have seen of Politically Incorrect, Bill went after everyone. Yeah, he was a jerk, but that was kinda his calling card since he began doing stand-up in the 80s. However, since he's switched to Real Time, it's much more bitter and one-sided than before. Bush IQ joke after Bush IQ joke. He lost that desire to make funny jokes about people who share his views. Now Bill's views and the Democratic party are infalliable. Anyone who differs isn't a worthy adversary, but a moron and does not deserved to be shown a shred of respect. No one right-of-center and even some moderates have any desire to go on because they'll be shouted down. He's not politically incorrect any more because his politics are sacred to him, as opposed to nothing being sacred on PI.
He's not edgy anymore, he's a partisan bully.
From what I have seen of Politically Incorrect, Bill went after everyone. Yeah, he was a jerk, but that was kinda his calling card since he began doing stand-up in the 80s. However, since he's switched to Real Time, it's much more bitter and one-sided than before. Bush IQ joke after Bush IQ joke. He lost that desire to make funny jokes about people who share his views. Now Bill's views and the Democratic party are infalliable. Anyone who differs isn't a worthy adversary, but a moron and does not deserved to be shown a shred of respect. No one right-of-center and even some moderates have any desire to go on because they'll be shouted down. He's not politically incorrect any more because his politics are sacred to him, as opposed to nothing being sacred on PI.
He's not edgy anymore, he's a partisan bully.
Wait, when was Maher funny? All the guy is is what would happen if Al Franken learned how to shower, got of the sex offender list, and learned to speak in a voice that didn't make people want to kill themselves, him and half of Minnesota just to make it stop. OK Maher isn't as bad a Franken, they might both be smug pricks but at lest one is human, and Maher can occasionally make a logical point, false logic but it's a start.
Still when was Maher funny?
I agree with Oldfezwig, Dennis Miller has always been funny and smart, and even when he might say something you don't agree with you could still laugh and know that he had a point. It was intelligent comedy, something America is lacking right now. Plus you knew he didn't take himself that serious, unlike Maher who just comes off as smug and rude.
[...] Big Hollywood created an interesting post today on Daily Gut: Bill Maherâ Permalink Comments [0] [...]
I don't think that he is lacking in 'guts.' It's considerably lower, y se llama "cojones."
I don't think it's a lockbox… (wait for it!) it's a matchbox!
Methinks it's a pencil without any lead!
Based on your post, I'm guessing that there are a lot of single digit librul women in LaLa land.
If someone does a Maher piece, do we have to get a picture of his face? Yuck! I'm eating right now.
Maher has no career if he can't beat up Conservatives or Republicans (which is a pretty courageous thing to do since he resides in HOLLYWOOD). The fact that the LA Times allowed Maher to write anything makes me not care one bit about the death of newspapers.
Well how many people are willing to go against the Obama Cult? You wouldn't want to be shunned by the junkies in Hollywood and the people writing for Pravda, sorry the New York Times.
So, when did Maher get off the sex offender list?
Maher is like Hugh Hefner, pathetic caricatures of themselves trying to relive the good ole days.
Of course he's not the only one. Have ya caught Letterman's shtick? Obama is one slow pitch down the center of the plate and these guys are keeping the bat on their shoulder. Fear drives this brand of comedy. Lenny Bruce must be spinning in his grave.
Bush killed comedy and Obama is making sure it's dead, the last 8 years was nothing but the same "Bush is Stupid" joke and now that he's gone people are to afraid to make an Obama joke, or refuse to for political reasons.
There were good jokes you could make about Bush, very few people did, but everyone made jokes, it was just the same one, over and over again, now with Obammers nothing…
On another topic when is Red Eye going to start getting uploaded on Hulu again? Greg make that happen, I miss watching it, and I refuse to pay for cable when I only want 4 channels and since I now live in another country I can't watch it even if I had cable.
Well syphilis does have a degenerative effect on the brain, so Bill might want to go to the doctor and lay off the hookers before it's too late. Syphilis is curable until stage 3 unlike the HIV that's only curable if you're Magic Johnson.
If the pinnacle of one's success is to metaphorically beat up outnumbered foes, while looking over your shoulder for approval from a screaming, college age mob…the trip back down has got to be a bummer.
From Politically Impotent with Bill Maher, just last week
"William Taft is so fat, that when he went to Barnum's Circus, the pachyderm offered HIM some peanuts. (laugh track)
But seriously folks…"
Bill is probably afraid that joking on B.O. would anger the African American community…leading to a drastic price increase on black tranny hookers.
And he's gosh awful to look at… yeech ! Glad we don't have a TV feed anymore.
Great Gregalogue, funny and pointed!
I never liked Maher, always found him smarmy and unfunny. I appreciate that he's more intelligent and literate than most comedians, and his show can be engaging at times, but mostly he is as smug as he is shallow and wrong-headed.
I happen to have his show on right now. Maher and four liberals all agreeing with each other and patting each other on the back while smugly laughing at those terrible Republicans. Bo-ring.
The week before: "Abe Lincoln just got a new hat. They were cleaning the stove, and it broke off and landed on his head."
He has a new act. He juggles two of the Hefner cast-off or leave-off blondes (take your pick) and Meghan McCain (they're on wires).
Stop picking on him, though. I told you he has Angerzheimer's – that disease that degenerates and rots the tiny brain of all liberal "comedians" and turns them vicious. Lay off or Bill will be cuming for you, Greg.
That hasn't changed. Way back when my son was 19, he and his buddy went to see Maher when he was still on ABC. He was actually still kind of funny then. I taped the episode because there was a good shot of my son in the audience. And you're right–my son looked like he was at the upper age range of the audience.
Bill is the Anti-Christ and I have a copy of his drivers license to prove it !!!!!!
Bill (Anti-Christ) Maher
It says it right there….you gotta believe……
gotta go..men in white coats beating at the door
And he doesn't need the rubber.
And he doesn't need the rubber.
I'll bet one of 'em is the G-Beast666.
Maher was always a putz. He was never a first-rate comic, no matter how hard he laughed on his own lame jokes.
Hey Lawhawk, you may want to go defend your very existence down in Steve Mason's column. Assuming you exist of course. If not, then please disregard. LOL!
Hey Lawhawk, you may want to go defend your very existence down in Steve Mason's column. Assuming you exist of course. If not, then please disregard. LOL!
Sorry if this is a double post. Lousy gremlins.
Never mind, both have now disappeared.
[...] Musings from the Couch added an interesting post on Daily Gut: Bill Maherâ Permalink Comments [0] [...]
Back in 2006 or so, Jon Stewart was asked why he mostly went after Republicans. He said that you had to go after the party in power, because it would be unfair and unfunny to go after the minority party.
Two and half years after Democrats took Congress, and months after Bush left, Stewart, Colbert, Maher, etc, are all aiming their guns at Republicans. These people aren't doing comedy, they're not even doing social commentary. They're doing the bidding of the Democratic Party.
I wish Leno would move on too. He still jokes about McCain's age or Palin's family ….he either needs new writers or maybe should write some himself…as he was funnier when the writers were on strike.
Bill can always do standup at the homeless shelter. There's no microphone and no pay but if he promises to limit his standup to 5 minutes and to help with the dishes afterward, he has a job.
I'm really not convinced she likes men. Scratch that. I'm really not sure she likes anyone.
He's probably spending too much time trying to find women who aren't smarter than he. I mean really! Have you listened to his shtick? Its amateur night every night. His politics are talking points given to him that he can't even spin well.
Bully? He's a moron. He can't defend anything. Talking, shouting or calling someone names isn't defending your position, its hiding your own inadequacies to understand well enough what you're talking about. He's an idiot.
It is a puzzlement.
Letterman is dependent on his writers. He isn't a polished comic. He's a skinny, partisan liberal. What drives his comedy is his writers. He just reads their material. He simply needs new writers.
I don't watch leno much at all, but he was the more talented of the late night folk. I don't know his politics, I just know he works for NBC and toeing the line is mandatory. That most definitely includes not making Obama the butt of any jokes.
That show on Fox is by far the most UNFUNNY attempt at satire I have ever seen…this guy is lucky to have any kind of a job…is Andrew Breitbart Matt Drudge's closeted gay lover?
10 Years ago Maher could be edgy by showing the foibles of the left as well as the right. Then he became more interested in being a left wing activist then being a comedian. He became so partisan as to hate anyone who was conservative or a Republican. His humor was not funny anymore; it became a hate-filled, foul-mouthed mocking of those he disagreed with. It was meant to degrade human beings.
He follows George Carlin down the same path. I loved him for 25 years. Then he decided to hate. He became a miserable and disgusting old man in the years before his death. His last HBO show displayed a vile man's last gasp. It was so sad. Maher is heading the same way.
10 Years ago Maher could be edgy by showing the foibles of the left as well as the right. Then he became more interested in being a left wing activist then being a comedian. He became so partisan as to hate anyone who was conservative or a Republican. His humor was not funny anymore; it became a hate-filled, foul-mouthed mocking of those he disagreed with. It was meant to degrade human beings.
He follows George Carlin down the same path. I loved him for 25 years. Then he decided to hate. He became a miserable and disgusting old man in the years before his death. His last HBO show displayed a vile man's last gasp. It was so sad. Maher is heading the same way.
Laura, that's quite illuminating to me. Call me naive but, I really thought the audience would be somewhat more intellectually mature.
G-Beast666 is actually Wonder woman.
She's a woman but …. you wonder.
We should probably lay off Bill Maher. I remember watching him in "Cannibal Women and the Avacado Jungle of Death"
Then I crawled into a bottle and I haven't come out since.
Seriously, he should hold a viewing of that move with his feminist friends. They'd love it!
It is called Propaganda
I have noticed somehting about Breitbart's appearance on Maher's show. In the startup he explains how he just wants two people. If you look at the set it seems much more corporate boardroom and the guests seem to be dressing better and MAher wears a suit. Seems to me this is an attempt to upgrade from the Mob-like show before.
I am thinking it is becasue now that Obama is elected he does not want to seem edgy, he wants to seem a part of the new administration a player. This I think adds to the argument that it is a double standard.
Isn't that wonderful?
I have been saying this ever since 2007. That is when I finally had enough of Maher. Until then, I always appreciated the fact that he went after everyone. When the Republicans controlled the White House and Congress, I excused the fact that he only made fun of them because they were in power. Once the Democrats took back Congress in 2006, I had hoped the old Maher would return.
Alas, Maher just kept telling variations of "Bush is dumb" jokes. So, I had to let him go. Two years later, with Obama in the White House, it is sad to learn that he has still not moved on.
10 Years ago Maher could be edgy by showing the foibles of the left as well as the right. Then he became more interested in being a left wing activist then being a comedian. He became so partisan as to hate anyone who was conservative or a Republican. His humor was not funny anymore
Bill Maher has sucked for a long time. Ho hum. He's still at it.
One of my semi-recent pleasures was canceling HBO to deny a single dime of my dough to Maher and the rest of their bilge that passes for programing. Nothing is out of bounds! (Bryant Gumball, please get lost).
ouch!
Why are you lefty gay lovers always accusing right-wingers of being faggots? Reminds me of tea-bagging rednecks from Jane-Anne Garafolo.
Get real
Bill Maher is not the only one stuck in the past. During a recent stint with some die hard liberals one of them pulled out a joke about Cheney shooting his friend on a hunting trip. How original… All libs need new joke writers and need to follow their one of their own website's suggestions: MOVE ON!
Bill Maher is a self-loathing, bitter old man. Didn't one of his ex girlfriends allegedly claim he beat her? He seems like the type to take out his feelings of inadequacy out on a woman.
I've never thought Maher was particularly smart, I've never thought Maher was funny, and I've never thought Maher was even-handed. If I could actually detect any deterioration in his act, I'd be happy to alter my opinion, but unfortunately he seems exactly the same to me now as he did 8 years ago.
Bill "Queen of the Bath House" Maher was funny? When?
Gee Greg, your jealosy is showing! At least the world outside of "FOXland" knows who Bill Maher is.
Bill Maher looks into the mirror every morning and see's his own irrelevance staring at him in the face. Mirror Mirror on the wall whose the biggest loser of them all:
Thus replies the Mirror: Bill you are and if you didn't have money you'd never get into a Playboy Mansion party.
I'm just waiting on the next "tolerant" comedian to pen a "Lay off my good friend, Bill Maher!" column for Big Hollywood. I'm salivating just thinking about it.
I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
I'm just waiting on the next "tolerant" comedian to pen a "Lay off my good friend, Bill Maher!" column for Big Hollywood. I'm salivating just thinking about it.
I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
I long for the days of the old Borscht Belt comedians. Now that was comedy!
Bill Maher couldn't carry Henny Youngman's jock strap.
Bill Maher projects impotence which is why he likes communicating with the kiddies, he's trying restore his former youthful vigor but all he has is frustration.
I feel sorry for him.
I know who Bill Maher is. A cynical comedian from New Jersey who has become anything but politically incorrect.
He's a bully in that he actually thinks he's right, and people believe him. They get ultra-left wing gobbledy-gook every Friday, and watch Bill shout down any differing opinion. I honestly think he's a smart guy but he takes his comedic license way too seriously.
Hence, my opinion that he's a partisan bully.
Not only is Maher worse than Hitler,hes DUMBER than Hitler also.In his blog,this dolt actually spelled Al_Qaeda & Afghanistan wrong.Why isnt anyone but me outraded over the fact that a dufus like Maher is gonna expound on Bushes missguided foreign policy,then do the common libs stupid-ass foul-up & miss-spell key elements of Islamic doctrine.I once asked a gaggle of libs to spell Saddam Hussein & only about half could do it.If they dont know jack about a subject,(in the words of Olbermann)they must shut the ______up !
Woe to thee,scribes & Pharisees;hypocrites! For,though u r beautifull on the outside,inside u r full of dead mens corpses & corruption of every kind ……. Matthew :23-27
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