I saw Maher at Constitution Hall DC before the pandemic. He was just okay. There was a good crowd, he may have sold out, but again this was before the pandemic and his open skepticism about vaccines and masks and his agnosticism on hydrochloroquine and ivermectin and the rest, is when I believe he lost many progressive fans. At one point he started hollering at an audience member for being on their phone, which was not funny and cringy.<\/p>\n
The jokes were mostly anti-Trump (this was DC) but he was reading his jokes off of blue sheets on a music stand.<\/p>\n
It was the epitome of mailing it in.<\/p>\n
I agree with your assessment of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Club Random.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Man is he a grouchy old man, broken record, Johnny One Note.<\/p>\n
Not only does he talk too much, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a horrible listener.<\/p>\n
One of his handlers should force him to rewatch these episodes and work on his interview technique.<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s embarrassing for someone who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been on air as long as he has.<\/p>\n
Brilliant guy; I could watch him be a guest any day (when he would do Larry King Live, it was gold) that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at his best.<\/p>\n
But I can understand why his traveling standup routine is not attracting audiences. The world has passed him by, which dovetails with his opinion of his politics: he hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t changed, the Democrats have. Well that applies to his comedic persona too.<\/p>\n
-Emory Damron, Alexandria VA.<\/p>\n
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I’ve been a big fan of Bill Maher since I was a teenager in the mid 90s and that has only increased over time. I\u00c2\u00a0rarely miss an episode of Real Time and I regularly enjoy the podcast as well. You can chalk part of that up to my now being a middle aged Dad who doesn’t get out much on Fridays anymore but here’s the thing: for the first time since I was much younger, I went to see him perform at a theatre in Philly about a year ago and was disappointed. He didn’t suck, he wasn’t off his game… it was just that I already knew most of the material! And this was over a year after his last HBO special\u00c2\u00a0had aired. But it wasn’t just jokes and commentary from that special – it was from everything he does.<\/p>\n
On the way home I was scratching my head… \u00c2\u00a0it’s not like he’s a rising\u00c2\u00a0star attracting\u00c2\u00a0new, curious and unfamiliar crowds…so did he owe more “new” to us true loyal fans who paid and made the effort to get there? Was this somehow my fault and had I shown up with too much prior exposure to\u00c2\u00a0the performer? The audience (it was full or close to a full house, older crowd) was clearly enjoying it but they did not get raucous even at the best moments. Maybe that’s an age thing but I suspected many were having a similar experience to me. Long live Bill and everything he does, but I’m not in a hurry to catch him live again soon – even if he meant what he said about retiring from the road.<\/p>\n
Matt Robertson<\/p>\n
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Most of the time Club Random is weird and uncomfortable. Almost no one gets high with him or even has a drink, maybe a beer. And he does make it about himself but the worst was with Cameron Crowe! Bill needed to show him how much he knew about music. His take on the Beatles was dead wrong but Cameron was a real pro and just let him talk through the entire show.<\/p>\n
Ron Maiorino<\/p>\n
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He might think he’s a comedian, but to much of the world he’s a political pundit. That’s why he can’t fill seats – he’s spent three decades alienating half the potential audience.<\/p>\n
Chris Beytes<\/p>\n
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You are correct.\u00c2\u00a0 I will watch clips of Bill Maher’s Real Time, but I’m not going out of my house to see him.<\/p>\n
I think for a lot of folks he is too politically one-sided.\u00c2\u00a0 How many pro-left or pro-right comics fill up stadiums?\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t think too many.\u00c2\u00a0 Bill may criticize the left but he lets the audience know he is still firmly with\u00c2\u00a0one team. So when folks go out to a show they usually go with someone, and even if it is your long time spouse you may not share the same political views, so who wants to be uncomfortable for a couple of hours.<\/p>\n
And he is not really that funny, so there’s that…<\/p>\n
Thanks,<\/p>\n
Edmund J. Kelly<\/p>\n
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My kids are 12 and 14 and could care less about what couch cushion has swallowed the remote. They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that stress. All they care about is when their favorite Youtube creator is about to drop a new episode. So many choices out there.<\/p>\n
-Brent\u00c2\u00a0Grunow<\/p>\n
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Bill Maher is funny and trenchant. And he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 68 maybe he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had enough of touring.<\/p>\n
Hannah Gadsby is maybe quirky but she isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t funny. Sorry.<\/p>\n
Mitch Tenzer<\/p>\n
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Bill Maher is the one TV show\u00c2\u00a0I get excited for every week. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like his podcast nearly as much. But I am a religious real time watcher. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only appointment TV\u00c2\u00a0in my life.<\/p>\n
Greg McLoughlin<\/p>\n
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Interesting thing about the Brady roast: when it went out live \u00e2\u20ac\u201d not the version now up on Netflix \u00e2\u20ac\u201d one could really see who killed and who was just ok, as opposed to the edited versions of the roasts we usually see that makes everyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s set look equally great. For my money, Nikki Glaser was by far the standout. She killed. Her standup act distilled down to that couple of minutes was fabulous and harsh and cutting and everything you want from a roast. And she destroyed the men. No one did it better. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a fan of hers generally, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bawdy, smart and sexy and transgressive, and her delivery is usually top notch. I was generally happy for her and the reaction in the room and the huge zeitgeist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122sbump she got from that command performance. It reminded me of that old definition of luck, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when preparation meets opportunity, and Ms. Glaser saw her moment and seized it. It was a beautiful thing.<\/p>\n
P.S. but then I saw her new standup special on Max and it was dreck. Just terrible. Everything about it sucked and was the opposite of the lightning in a bottle thing she created at the roast. From the fake opening shot, to the weird dress and stupidly high heels (whomever was responsible for those atrocious choices should be flogged), to the ham fisted, bush league, pull up cutaways and bullsh*t sound editing “laughter enhancement, (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to add whomever directed this steaming pile of sh*t to the flogging line up) to the unbelievably long, boring and icky gang bang \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcmetaphor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 at the end. And damn none of it was sexy. Au contraire. I still can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wrap my mind around the ying and the yang of both in one week.<\/p>\n
Steve Jones<\/p>\n
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Brady roast was AWESOME. I grew up in foxboro, ma. Brady is a hero. They all were. Was great to see them all get down and dirty. One of the funniest things in a long time on tv.<\/p>\n
Tim Lefebvre<\/p>\n
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I watch Bill Maher\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s show on HBO pretty much every week but I saw him in Vegas a few years ago and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just not that funny.<\/p>\n
He came off as arrogant but not funny at all.<\/p>\n
Robert Pisaneschi<\/p>\n
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Bill Maher can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sell out one show after three decades on TV yet Sebastian Maniscalco sold out five shows at MSG for September.\u00c2\u00a0 People will leave their homes if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re funny! -t<\/p>\n
Tony D\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Amelio<\/p>\n
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Bill Maher used to be interesting and occasionally funny. Now he is neither.<\/p>\n
Best wishes,
\nAdrian Day<\/p>\n
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“But people don’t want to leave their houses to see Bill live”.<\/p>\n
No ….more like maybe\u00c2\u00a0people\u00c2\u00a0don’t want to pay to see or listen to blowhards.<\/p>\n
Dante<\/p>\n
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Maher can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sell tickets because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s out of touch.\u00c2\u00a0 And he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s smug, too; so self-absorbed in his belief that he knows better than everyone that he is oblivious to how he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s become the kind of elitist he used to rail against.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also the worst kind of moral equivocator; everything is either\/or with him: If you support trans rights, then you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe in biology.\u00c2\u00a0 All college students are indoctrinated fools.\u00c2\u00a0 Criticizing the policies of the Israeli government automatically makes you a supporter of Hamas.\u00c2\u00a0 If you wear a mask in public, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a hysterical hypochondriac.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so tiresome, his constant both-sidesing of every issue like this, especially when both sides are obviously not the same.\u00c2\u00a0 One is complaining about pronouns.\u00c2\u00a0 The other tried to overthrow the government.\u00c2\u00a0 The two are not comparable.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But this is unsurprising, given that Maher\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mostly Boomer audience tends to see the world in black and white terms.\u00c2\u00a0 So you could say he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just pandering to his audience.\u00c2\u00a0 But I say that with friends like this, what the hell do we need the Republicans for?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Take care,<\/p>\n
Wes R. Benash<\/p>\n
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I think you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re missing something about Bill Maher\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s drop in selling tickets: \u00c2\u00a0he has become nasty and insufferable, especially since the pandemic. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no fun watching him anymore. Whereas his antipathy to Trump and his correct reading of the dangers of the Republican agenda and takeover have never been unwavering, his attacks on basically anything on the democratic side, anything progressive, diverse or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153woke\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and the especially cruel assessment of the campus protests have turned many of his fans against him. He gives a platform to many of the rightwing voices without challenging them and is dismissive of anyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s opinion that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t support his. Clearly, he was miserable during the pandemic, unable to go out and reach the crowds and adulation he clearly needs so much, but that has morphed into an unending attack on decisions that were made during the pandemic, decisions designed to protect vulnerable members of OUR society. While I am in agreement with his assessment of one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s responsibility for one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own health, especially in terms of eating choices (I am myself a vegan) his attacks on overweight people are cruel and dismissive. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not even get into his attacks on Muslims, a classic and terrible case of othering.<\/p>\n
Who hurt him?<\/p>\n
Bill Megalos
\nVenice<\/p>\n
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Bill Maher Is a complete crank and a pompous ass. Has-been.<\/p>\n
And Bill Burr put him in his place.<\/p>\n