Real Time with Bill Maher: Anniversary Special

... because he puts out there, for the world to see, week after week, on his show of fifteen years "Real Time" who he is, exactly. There are no punches pulled. There is something about his childhood in this special, lots about his standup career including some scenes from The Tonight Show back in the 70s, and then that moment when he became a household word when he got a late night TV show - "Politically Incorrect" in the 90s. The problem is, Bill really does not have a filter that functions well, and shortly after the Sept 11 2001 terrorist attacks he said - on the air - that the terrorists were not cowards but brave for driving planes into buildings, knowing they would die. In a time when people wanted to rename "French Fries" to "Freedom Fries" because the French spoke ill about America, this was bound to have repercussions, and it did. In 2002 Bill's show was cancelled because of the uproar.

But this is one time when a bad thing led to a good thing - don't let people tell you all things work out for the best. That is a pet peeve of mine. In 2003 Maher began a one hour weekly talk show on HBO that is still on the air, hence this anniversary special. Bill has molded it into something that really works for him - some standup comedy, then a one on one with a special guest, then the majority of the show being the panel discussion with leading political, entertainment, and news figures. Some of the highlights were shown including Bill and Michael Moore getting on bended knee and pleading with Ralph Nader not to run for president in 2004. And sometimes the odd mixture of viewpoints that is his panel get angry at one another and have words - that is shown too.

Bill seems to really have found his niche on HBO. He can curse if he wants, say outrageous things if he wants, let the live audience know he is the boss if he happens to lose his temper if he wants. People expect this on cable and they expect it from Bill.

There are a few things not mentioned, and I rather wondered why. In spite of Bill being OK with being shown in an old standup video with a mullet and those late 70s wide lapels, not a word about his short stint on the 1987 Showtime comedy "Hard Knocks. Also, no word about his very informative and innovative weekly news show "VICE", for which he is executive producer. I imagine this is because he is wisely looking to the day when he can't or doesn't want to do standup anymore, but that doesn't mean that he or HBO want to alert us to this possibility. Highly recommended if you are a fan of Maher's or are just interested in his evolution as an entertainer with a unique social and political perspective.