Bill Maher, King of the Applause Break

[Stormrider666]

Can someone please help me explain what the hell happen to Bill Maher and when did he become king of the applause break. Was it always this bad. I can't even watch Real Time anymore because of it.

[tar_baby]

he sucks..spouting theory as fact
definitely a hypocrite

[Johnny Utah]

I think he's an arrogant prick, but I don't really see where he's a hypocrite.
For example, he bitches about environmental pollution and therefore drives a steve-mobile. If you're looking for hypocritical political entertainers I'd say Rush and O'reilly have far more evidence against them.

[tar_baby]

well he bitched about these celebs going out with playboy playmates and shit but thats all he does

whoah whoah....rush and o'reilly?...they aren't hypocritical at all
and im not trying to turn this into a political thread so if u wanna argue PM me

[Arch Stanton]

I never got it with this guy Mahar.

[patthebattle]

I think the guy's awesome...has a good way of breaking things down as far as jokes go and New Rules is usually pretty good.

The applause breaks are brutal, though, but that's more on the audience which is a bunch of raving lunatics. It's so bad that he has to silence them because they won't shut up during guests.

It's still a good show most nights, though.

[tar_baby]

good way of breaking things down?..what are u a liberal?

he fuckin sucks and he spouts fiction as fact
stop watching him and u'll be smart

[Johnny Utah]

good way of breaking things down?..what are u a liberal?

he fuckin sucks and he spouts fiction as fact
stop watching him and u'll be smart

I'm not trying to rip on you pal but your your arguments are the things that suck. The only thing I'm seeing is an angry conservative that hates maher for his views and gives his fox news counterparts a free pass on the hypocrisy.
I agree, let's not make this some political argument but you need to back up your highly charged opinions a bit more here if you don't want criticism.

[tar_baby]

well give me a maher argument and ill break it down

[Ben's Bulge]

well he bitched about these celebs going out with playboy playmates and shit but thats all he does

whoah whoah....rush and o'reilly?...they aren't hypocritical at all
and im not trying to turn this into a political thread so if u wanna argue PM me

Tonights O'Reilly factor is a good sign about why he is a hypocrit. He bitches about activist judges then when a judge makes a ruling under the freedom of information act he bitches that he wasn't an activist in the case.

[GreatAmericanZero]

he seems to stop audiences from applausing when he does his show. Waves his hand at them in the "get out of here" fashion. I think he has said he doesnt want applausing cuz it takes up time of his show. But he seems to be doing the political thing now and I think in his career he is more into that than comedy. It's just where hes at in his career right now. I find worse is alot of female comics I noticed are what i call "Applaud whores" where they seem to be more interesting in getting people to clap than laugh. The worse I have ever seen is Margaret Cho. She's either doing a chinky imitation of her mother or saying some shit like "I dont need to be thin to be happy" and get a ton of applause

[patthebattle]

by "breaking things down" i meant jokes...but he's also got some good politics.

I think he's still a comedian first and a political guy second. If you listen to his openings and his new rules at the end, he probably does just as much non-political stuff as he does political stuff.

He hasn't gone the way of Al Franken yet, who is just brutal to listen to now because everything he says is so political and so devoid of humor. It's a shame, because his books are damn funny no matter if you agree with the politics or not.

[patthebattle]

well give me a maher argument and ill break it down

he's got excellent views on:

-religion
-pot
-Iraq
-political correctness
-fat people, food, and healthcare

[GreatAmericanZero]

Maher's stuff on fat people are really funny. He says he is a libertarian but he definetly leans left, but he always seems to want to have the right on his show and in his audience, its just that they all hate him. I don't really see him as a bandwagon jumper, I think he just doesn't give a fuck what people think of him. The biggest criticism I hear about him is that he's an asshole, but that never bothered me, so what if hes an asshole?


About Al Franken, everytime I've caught his show I noticed that he'll do comedy bits that are occassionally amusing but he has to do the most boring fucking interviews on the planet. He'll like interview some loser from the NY Times and talk about nothing for forty-five minutes and its unlistenable

[Tommy Ceez]

He's just not funny, I could care less about his politics

[IamAWOWgurl]

I'd like to hear what Billy Staples has to say.

[Stormrider666]

I definietely thinks he needs to get a more diverse crowd in the studio, but considering he tapes in California, that is probably not going to happen. I don't have an alleigence to either political side or ideology, there both fuck ups. But it would be nice to watch the show and hear some of the arguements without mindless zombies on the left applauding everything a liberal says and booing everything a conservative says. I will say this though something tells he is kind of bitter that Politically Incorrect got cancelled the way it did. But my question is this, you think if he had the ratings at the time, do you think the network would of stood by him.

[istink]

I haven't seen Maher since the end of P.I., but that was when he became the applause break whore. I used to enjoy his comedy, and I even read his book, True Story. But when P.I. moved to ABC, his arrogance started to manifest itself when he would stop everything to make a dramatic rant, which would be an obvious plea for an applause break. It seems to the m.o. of choice for so-called hip comics with a political edge these days. I don't care about their politics, but the tactic is cheap.

I find worse is alot of female comics I noticed are what i call "Applaud whores" where they seem to be more interesting in getting people to clap than laugh. The worse I have ever seen is Margaret Cho. She's either doing a chinky imitation of her mother or saying some shit like "I dont need to be thin to be happy" and get a ton of applause

Agree completely. She was another comic I used to enjoy, but she's been telling the same jokes for well over 10 years.

[abudabit]

He is the most hubristic mother fucker on television and I sincerely hope he gets into some accident or gets caught with child porn or something that will just RUIN him.

[patthebattle]

I definietely thinks he needs to get a more diverse crowd in the studio, but considering he tapes in California, that is probably not going to happen. I don't have an alleigence to either political side or ideology, there both fuck ups. But it would be nice to watch the show and hear some of the arguements without mindless zombies on the left applauding everything a liberal says and booing everything a conservative says. I will say this though something tells he is kind of bitter that Politically Incorrect got cancelled the way it did. But my question is this, you think if he had the ratings at the time, do you think the network would of stood by him.

It's tough to get a diverse audience because Bill Maher hates George W. Bush. People see that and think he's automatically a wild-eyed liberal.

I agree completely, though, about the applause breaks. It's definitely annoying.

I don't know what the ratings for his P.I. was when it got cancelled, but I don't think it mattered. He would have been cancelled anyway. His Al Qaeda comment was the equivalent of sex in St. Pats. I can't blame him for being a little bitter about it, though.

All in all, Real Time is a good show, but the audience is annoying.

[Hog_Juice]

if you dont "get" Maher" you hang your flag rightside up

www.infowars.com

[Nortonsmeatytit]

I've taken shit's that are funnier than Bill Maher.

When the OJ trial ended, so should've Maher's career.

[abudabit]

I wish they would move his show back a couple hours, he is taking up quality HBO time.

[tar_baby]

he is the definition of a hypocrite

[Hog_Juice]

WHY is he a hypocrite???
the man speaks the truth

[Mayo Packets]

if you dont "get" Maher" you hang your flag rightside up

www.infowars.com
You're not seriously linking to infowars.com are you? Or was that a joke? :icon_conf

Maher's decently entertaining ... most people's problems with him on here are that they don't agree with his politics, so that automatically makes him unfunny. The applause breaks are bad, and he's definitely arrogant as hell, but he's no worse than most big political commentators.

My only problem with him is that he adds a conservative to the show to make it look balanced ... but he always has a three person panel, and every time I've seen it, it's been two liberals and one conservative, so the conservative just gets ***** the entire show.

[Hog_Juice]

yes it was,
he's great cause he keeps his show for the most part balanced, as for applaud breaks, I see him all the time telling the crowd to stop , and if they boo, i think he makes some very good points, god,pot,americans as a whole, and being honest