Bill Maher, Islam, Berkeley

[Songbird]

Cal students don't want him to deliver commencement next month. Will he? Won't he? Who knows.

He continues to welcome Muslim guests to his show for conversations. Last night's guest tried taking him to task.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152489172777297&set=vb.62507427296&type=2&theater


NYT meanwhile weighs in:

Let’s hear it for the University of California, Berkeley, celebrating 50 years of the Free Speech Movement this year, and which brought to the stage on Wednesday the Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef. You may remember Youssef, the Jon Stewart of Egypt, who was on the wrong end of an arrest warrant last year for using humor to insult Islam.

Well, that would never happen here. No. But a variant of the censorship that Youssef faced is brewing in Berkeley. Some students have organized a campaign to prevent the comedian Bill Maher from giving a commencement speech in December. They’re upset because he insulted Islam. What better way to close out a year of celebrating free speech than by shutting down free speech in one of the cradles of the movement?

Maher is a clown by trade, a good one most of the time, and also an atheist. It’s not a stretch to say that some of the most cutting, brilliant and astute remarks about the daily grind come from the gifted crop of America’s best comedians, liberals all of them: Stewart, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Sarah Silverman. I’m sorry, conservatives, but your brand is humor-impaired. Beyond that, the political system neuters comics. See Al Franken, now as reliably bland as a Minnesota potluck.

Rest of the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/31/opinion/berkeley-students-shouldnt-censor-bill-maher.html

 

[Steak Snabler]

Ironic that a bastion of political discourse like Berkeley would make a move like this.

Just more bull**** millennial entitlement. Everyone's opinions count, unless they differ from ours.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

Ironic that a bastion of political discourse like Berkeley would make a move like this.

Just more bull**** millennial entitlement. Everyone's opinions count, unless they differ from ours.

Agree completely.

Hopefully no deranged hippie will break into the school president's house with a machete to protest.

 

[hondo]

Maher is consistent about one thing: the most extreme elements of religion, regardless of what denomination, are dangerous to the public good.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Bill Maher- talk about someone who peaked in the 80s.

 

[ifilus]

Bill Maher- talk about someone who peaked in the 80s.

You're confusing him with Dennis Miller.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Yeah, Maher's HBO show and his standup act are great if you like politically pointed humor (or humor-tinged politics).

Take Bill Maher and throttle back the mean-spiritedness by 20 percent and you've got Jon Stewart ... and I mean that as a compliment.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Bill Maher- talk about someone who peaked in the 80s.

You're confusing him with Dennis Miller.

What, that Monday Night Football career wasn't his peak?

 

[TigerVols]

Maher is consistent about one thing: the most extreme elements of religion, regardless of what denomination, are dangerous to the public good.

As our Muslim friends prove again today...

http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-islamic-state-executes-scores-of-fellow-sunni-muslims-20141101-story.html

 

[ColdCat]

Bill Maher- talk about someone who peaked in the 80s.

You're confusing him with Dennis Miller.

Maher's peak was definitely 90's. Politically Incorrect began its Comedy Central run in the early 90s and even the first few years on ABC were solid. Even if it declined at the end of the ABC run, that was 2000/2001 or so, putting his decline in certainly not the 80s.
Unless you think his peak was starring in the hit movie 'Pizza Man'
Miller absolutely peaked in the 80s. Once he left Weekend Update, that was it for him.

 

[User 11148]

Maher is consistent about one thing: the most extreme elements of religion, regardless of what denomination, are dangerous to the public good.

Frankly, he's always struck me as the sort who defines "extreme elements" as "actual believers" ...

 

[SpeedTchr]

Maher was never funny.

Miller was funny in the old days and still has flashes of great humor.

 

[Joe Williams]

Ironic that a bastion of political discourse like Berkeley would make a move like this.

Just more bull**** millennial entitlement. Everyone's opinions count, unless they differ from ours.

Agree completely.

Hopefully no deranged hippie will break into the school president's house with a machete to protest.

Anarchists till they get the power, then tyrants.

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

Ironic that a bastion of political discourse like Berkeley would make a move like this.

Run out of blue?

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Bill Maher- talk about someone who peaked in the 80s.

You're confusing him with Dennis Miller.

No- Miller has talent.
Maher is a scarecrow in an autumn field.
Like most in his phylum. Not self-loathing like Jon Stewart, though.

 

[TigerVols]

Bill Maher- talk about someone who peaked in the 80s.

You're confusing him with Dennis Miller.

No- Miller has talent.
Maher is a scarecrow in an autumn field.
Like most in his phylum. Not self-loathing like Jon Stewart, though.

Well, to use a metric Dennis Miller's fans will understand...Bill Maher is clearly more succesful.

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-comedians/dennis-miller-net-worth/

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-comedians/bill-maher-net-worth/

Not to mention, Bill Maher currently hosts an hour-long talk show on the top network on premium cable...while Dennis Miller's busy recording radio spots for a BMW dealership in the Valley.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Meh.
Maher is not only unfunny, he's mean-spirited and a scumbag.
He thusly panders to angry, incurious and intolerant people, all under the guise of "comedy."
And of course he's a hypocrite.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/muslims_are_no_different_or_why_bill_mahers_blood_libel_is_bigotry_20120924

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

Maher is mean-spirited. He is a scumbag.

He's also damn funny and that's from someone who disagrees with most of what he says politically.

Political humor is tough and most people who think they can pull off what Jon Stewart makes look easy, fail miserably.

 

[Songbird]

He and Rula may have gone to **** it out at the Eastside Motel.

http://instagram.com/p/u4LoFmSUL-/?modal=true

 

[Big Circus]

Bill Maher- talk about someone who peaked in the 80s.

You're confusing him with Dennis Miller.

No- Miller has talent.
Maher is a scarecrow in an autumn field.
Like most in his phylum. Not self-loathing like Jon Stewart, though.

I can't stand Maher, but Miller is equally untalented. I've tried to read some of his books, and not only is just about every single joke a pop-culture reference, and most of them don't even make sense. I can't remember any Miller work I've enjoyed.