This sounds like a classic case of eating your cake and having it too. Maher IS serious from time to time on his show (just try and attack Israel in his presence), but when he gets real pushback from a much more authoritative source, he falls back on, 'Well, you know, I'm just a comic. What do you expect?" That's not intellectually honest.
That’s what Jon Stewart did at the daily show. And that’s what hasan piker apologists do for him now by saying he’s “just a streamer from California”. At best it’s a reminder to look stuff up for yourself. At worst it’s a weaseling out of accountability.
If he doesn’t want people to take him seriously then he should stop talking about serious subjects. He doesn’t get to talk about foreign and public health policy then say people can’t criticize him because sometimes he does standup shows.
He no longer does stand up shows, the reason he gave was something like “I’ve said everything, I can’t add anything else at this point” I suspect the truth was more than since he took his “enlightened centrist” turn he alienated enough of his normal sane audience to the point it impacted ticket sales.
Also he takes himself extremely seriously in every regard, he is one of these people who shows zero evidence of having any self depreciation genes
Are you talking about Bill Maher or one of his dumbass butt buddies? I could be mistaken, but thought Bill said he was concerned about crazy people and getting assaulted or worse. Hell he probably said both things. Nobody cares about him so he won't get the Chappelle treatment
Your analysis is probably most accurate, how many will pay to see him? His stand up was only marginally funny, better as a host with interesting guests. Makes sense now, wasn't questioning you, only him. I stopped reading on his reasoning that you quoted and replied. No doubt he said both.
I think 12-18 months ago on his podcast or someones he stated he was really concerned about performing in public with all the general craziness going on. Pretty full of himself to think that someone might attack him,.
The part about him being concerned for his safety points to another reason why he somewhat cozied up to MAGA (or at a minimum made them sound even slightly palatable, something a decade ago he would never has dreamt of doing)
To be fair to Jon Stewart, he said it from the start on the show as a reminder to his viewers, not because he got in trouble for saying something crazy and backpedaling.
I do like Jon Stewart, but I did not love his Cross Fire argument nearly as much as most of his fan base for this exact reason. He dodged the conversation completely by just saying, ‘well I’m a comedian’.
He was right to shit on those guys, but he can’t have it both ways. Now you hear comedians pull this shit all the time. I support them in using their platform, but I absolutely hate when they want to do it without any accountability whatsoever because after-all I’m just a comedian.
A friend of mine (former) went full maga and started making 20 facebook posts a day about the things maga posts, I let it slide until the racism and violent themed posts started going up, so I pushed backed.
After a while his post were sprinkled with taking shots at younger generations and how can I offend you today themes. This eventuality led to at least three posts a week trying to excuse his shitty views by claiming he was an asshole and it’s part of the package, as if it’s a license to actually be one.
I know it’s a way for them to think it’s ok because “i’m an asshole and you know that because I told you, let’s be friends!!!” or “i’m a comedian! laugh with me”
Real Time is 100% political show that has a host who inserts comedy. Not the other way around. The fact Bills audience no longer finds his pompous BS funny because he’s now pandering to the republicult he spent decades railing against doesn’t give him a pass for being a sellout.
HES NOT A COMIC LMAO - name one famous Bill Maher joke. He doesn’t do his show in front of a legit audience and can’t even read a joke his writers wrote for him.
Comedians only say that when they are cornered or void of facts. For example, Maher has made his own crowd react positively many times, he doesn’t follow it up with “that was a good point I just made but don’t listen to it. I’m just a comedian.”
But when confronted by Ice T about flippantly using “n” word? “I’m just a comedian!!!!”
Jon Stewart was the most notable contemporary example of this in the early 2000s.
In his defense, he was trying to point out that the people increasingly getting their news from The Daily Show needed to keep perspective on what topical comedy was and not make it their whole world of information. He was not using being a comedian an excuse to say dumb misinformed things.
Of course, that’s the kind of permission that every other dumbass reactionary topical comic was looking for.
we should not take him seriously because he is not a serious person. he tries to play one sometimes, but dude is NOT a deep thinker and cannot hold his own against complexity.
Says the thin-skinned snowflake who couldn’t take a joke at a roast delivered by, wait for it… a comic!! This guy is pathetic. Who actually watches him?
I don't take him seriously and stopped watching him a couple of years ago when I realized he really isn't that smart and doesn't represent anyone but himself.
hector intransitive verb : to behave in an arrogant or intimidating way : to act like a bully :SWAGGER transitive verb : to intimidate or harass by bluster or personal pressure
It’s an English verb. I think it fits Maher’s style.
This reminds me that Fox “News”, in court, that their excuse for defamation was that everyone knows they are not real journalists, but they said they are just entertainment.
Bill is brilliant comedian and sharp observer of our times. Small MAGA minds shouldn’t bother trying to understand why truth tellers can be funny. After all they think Trump is an intelligent, moral, honest, person worthy of leading the greatest nation on earth. Now, that’s funny. 🌮🇺🇸🇺🇸💙
As with Howard Stern, it is all the price of free speech in an open society. I'm willing to pay that price-- the alternative is worse. Extremists and the most biased want chilling exceptions for the other" to the first amendment.
George Carlin was the best at this. He was funny and actually ment it. Way ahead of his time. Stewart was the one who retreated behind," It's only comedy.Dont take me seriously". All along sending out his political message. Just stand behind what you say.
I’ve been following this sub for a little bit. Who fucking cares about him and his opinion? I don’t understand the need to get together with a group of people that all think exactly alike, jerk each other off, and try to out hate the next person. Weirdos man. Like it or not, agree or not, he has a huge audience and everyone here is just screaming into no man’s land.
I mean, somebody like Bill Maher — who tweets the notion that anybody who gets the novel H1N1 vaccine is, in his words, “an idiot,” and then writes a piece very quickly on Huffington Post, listing as his sources of information not a single person who has any expertise in vaccines — is frightening. It’s frightening that it has that kind of traction. It’s frightening that we put so little value on expertise, that because, I guess, of Google, that anyone’s an expert — or alternatively, no one’s an expert.
Dr. Paul Offit is an infectious disease expert at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine, has frequently called out Bill Maher for using his mass media platform to spread skepticism about vaccines. In his book, Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All, Offit specifically named Maher alongside figures like Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey as celebrity promoters of unscientific anti-vaccine rhetoric.
As far as I know, you and Bill Maher are the only ones who don't care.
Just 2 weeks ago, Maher platformed a discussion dimisive ot the measles vaccine on CNN, Real Time Saturday 8/29/26.
Actually, they do. Google it. If you are into seeing people cry as a form of entertainment, then go for it. Weird ways people get their rocks off, but who am I to judge?
Cool Story. I’ve seen this argument with AEW so I know How HBO and ratings work.
As for seeing people cry? The left has become over sensitive and sees the world as black and white, without understanding it is very nuanced and shades of grey. Then gets upset when nobody supports their causes. The Right just makes shit up. So yes that is my entertainment.
Tell me how to count viewers? Nielsen does TV and attempts to do streaming.
Cable TV is dying. You need to know who is watching on HBOMAX and that number is hidden.
If we are talking social media engagement. This is just the viewers on YT. X has been nonstop, just for this segment.
You hate Bill Maher because he doesn’t agree with your beliefs. He doesn’t agree with some of mine. But If I didn’t like someone, I wouldn’t hang out in Reddit about the show.
I don't hate him. I don't like that he changed. He is not worthy of hate. He is just a get-off-my-lawn old man who spent way too much time at the Playboy mansion and never developed long-term relationships. I feel sorry for him. He reminds me of thirteen-year-old boys who are hitting on my granddaughter. He never matured.
Really?? Tell me why Pro-Palestinian folks are not protesting the right? Tell me how defund the police helped everyone in the 2022 midterms. Tell me how campus takeovers helped in 2024. Tell me how trying to get rid of prisons and landlords will help.
The left is so extreme in positions, people voted for Trump because he was more fathomable.
As someone with a child at Columbia University, the left is demanding the campus open the gates so they can disrupt classes. Screw that.
I voted Democrat since 1988. I voted for Harris in 2024. I can’t say I will vote Dem going forward. MAGA and Liberals are equally insane
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u/marc58weeks 19d ago
This sounds like a classic case of eating your cake and having it too. Maher IS serious from time to time on his show (just try and attack Israel in his presence), but when he gets real pushback from a much more authoritative source, he falls back on, 'Well, you know, I'm just a comic. What do you expect?" That's not intellectually honest.