A Shot of Incilin

I love Bill Maher. Not because he’s the funniest comedian, or even the most intelligent. I love Bill Maher because he’s politcally incorrect in a very American way: He says the kinds of things Americans think but never say because their impolite but he can back up his ideas with practicality and responsibility, the very thing American’s lack which is why they try and make up for it by being poltically correct.[1] This is what makes him so engaging on his show: He just stepped up and said it. And after I gave it a second of thought, you realized just how right he was.[2]

I love(d) Real Time With Bill Maher because it made me think. But lately, I’ve just been thinking how terrible this season has been.[3]

The season has been bad (except for that great episode with Mos Def going all boogie man on us) for a few reasons. For one, the guests have gotten pretty dry. Bill always had the same liberal guests but after a few years having the same people make the same points over and over again grows tiresome.

But the real problem with last week’s episode was the format. The show always had a somewhat convoluted format: cold open skit, title screen, Bill does a monologue, Bill interviews somebody via satellite, Bill has a discussion with his 3 guests, some quick prop jokes, another satellite interview, more with the guests, and then New Rules. Okay, that’s a lot stopping and going, but the show naturally flowed into that rhythm somehow.

Last week all that went out the window. The episode featured two one-on-one interviews. Maher is not particularity good at one-on-one interviews unless he’s asking impossibly tough questions to poltical figures. But when he has someone like Ron Howard or Sarah Silverman–people who aren’t particuarly poltical–the interview becomes too gloaty and filled with softball questions. Bill used to call his show the lion’s den, it took guts for a politican to show up. But with guests like Howard he does the kind of interview you’d expect on the Late Show.

The episode also had no monologue and no discussion table. They put New Rules right smack dab in the middle instead of the end. Throughout the season he’s been demoted to 2 guests. At first, he joked it was because of the recession but later admitted he was tired of talking to three people.[4] If they were really looking to cut something out of the show, their better off cutting out those terrible skits and prop jokes.

I’m not totally sure why the show is been going through so many changes, but my guess is becuase Bill doesn’t have a target anymore. The last few years where his glory years becuase Bush was such an easy target: Bill could make fun of Bush for being dumb and he could challenge the moral/practical grounds of his actions. But with Obama? Not so much. Plus, Obama’s popularity is so high any joke about him usually backfires[5] Which has me thinking, maybe Sarah Palin 2012 isn’t such a bad idea. If only for the comic results.

[1] I’ve seen Bill say all types of blaspehous things and use words like fag, but I’ve yet to see him use the word “nigga” I’ve always found that particularly interesting.
[2] Personal favorite point Bill Maher often makes: The Ten Commandments are pretty bogus since only two of them are actual laws and they don’t even include rulings common laws like rape, touture, and incest.
[3] Funny thing was, I never even saw Real Time in a scope of seasons. It’s hard for me to even compare one episode to another. Their all more or less the same. Some episodes are funnier, some are more heated, some have more intriguing discussions, but I can’t remember which is which.
[4] Actually, he’s probably just tired of talking to four. For some strange reason, a season or two ago they started having a fourth guest sit at the table midway through the show. Why not just have them from the beginning?
[5] Again, the man who knows no taboo can’t make fun of black people without an audience “oooo”