Bill Maher

Bill Maher doesn't hate America. Seriously. He'll tell you that. Whether you believe him or not is for you to figure out. For any of you who have seen him or watched his popular HBO TV show "Real Time With Bill Maher" you know what I am talking about.

Maher performed his standup act at the Arlington on Saturday March 21 to an almost sold out crowd.

For those of you who are not in the know about Bill Maher he started as a standup comedian and actor in 1979. Having been in a few films and TV shows he is mainly known for his show "Politically Incorrect" which aired on the Comedy Central network and after that ABC. That show ran from 1993 - 2002. Then just after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center Maher agreed with one of his guests on his TV show who said the terrorists "were warriors". Maher added that they weren't cowards by staying in the aircraft when it hits the building. Given the sensitivity that America was experiencing after the attacks it's no surprise that Maher's comments were highly controversial. Though Maher did apologize immediately and explained that he was criticizing U.S. military policy, not American soldiers. He pointed out that whether the attacks were cowardly was irrelevant to whether they were morally right or wrong. Nevertheless ABC decided not to renew his contract and his show was canceled in June of 2002.

Ultimately these events turned out to be very fortunate for Maher because HBO picked up the show in 2003 which went from a half an hour to a full hour and continues to this day. It's now incredibly popular and called "Real Time With Bill Maher". It follows a similar format to the previous show. Politicians and celebrities are guests each week talking about current political issues. And since it's HBO there is practically no limits to what any guest can say. This kind of political comedy show fits well with cable TV for that reason.

Anyway, let's get back to the appearance he made in Santa Barbara...

He came on stage at around 15 mins late at 8:15 and started off by laying into former President Bush and President Obama, Wall Street, "Octomom", as well Sara Palin by telling us that the fence on the border is on the "wrong border." It should be on the Alaskan border where Sara Palin is.

He also talked a bit about religion and mentioned that during a debate 7 out of 10 Republican candidates believed in God and didn't believe in evolution. He went on to say how they were beat out by the fittest candidates.

Maher's humor is not for everyone and I only mentioned some of the more milder jokes. As the show went on he went on to more offensive jokes about our government and religion and why husbands cheat on their wives. "Women like to have a lot of shoes, and men like to have a variety of sex partners". By putting it in those terms he thought maybe women could finally understand why men cheat.

He also was expecting people to actually walk out during the brief time he spent making fun of religion. I could understand how it would be offensive to people who are into their religion but I didn't see anyone actually leave so he may have been teasing the audience.

The show was not for everyone. That was evident when some people didn't laugh where Maher obviously thought they were going to laugh. He accused some of the audience as actually having a stick up their rears. He did seem a bit uncomfortable at times during his show. It appeared that when he was expecting a laugh and it didn't happen he seemed a bit puzzled. Or maybe it was because he was reading from notes during most of the show. In any case whatever was going on was noticeable to me.

Whether you find Maher's humor offensive or not he does make you wonder about things such as America's current economic situation, politicians running our country, health care, religion, "Socialism", the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as other hot topics of the times. He's good at that albeit a bit abrasive for some.

The point about his humor is it often seems more serious than funny. Sometimes the audience just didn't know whether to laugh or not. This is not a bad thing. It just "is". I think he is trying to make a point about things rather than offend people but inevitably there is a lot of offensive things being said as well. Many comedians make their living finding offensive things about people and groups. I don't know whether Bill Maher is intentionally doing that or not. It seems to come naturally for him though! And like I mentioned earlier, whether you like what he says or find it offensive, it will usually make you think about things. Maher's appearance at the Arlington was an enjoyable although sometimes uncomfortable show nevertheless.