Bill Maher: Be More Cynical

The title of Bill Maher's comedy special, Be More Cynical, is addressed at the beginning, where he says that we've become too stupid and need to look at things in a more realistic, pessimistic sense. It was only two years ago I saw Bill Maher as an unfunny comedian with a clear political bias in his material. It wasn't until I began watching his weekly HBO program Real Time With Bill Maher that I realized he is a seriously insightful, entertaining personality with an honesty that few people possess. His comedy special, Bill Maher: Be More Cynical was shot in 2000, a big time in politics seeing as the presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore was going on and controversial issues such as gay marriage and abortion were being raised more prominently in the public eye. Maher, who openly dislikes both men, refers to the election as "Bore and Gush." He cements how he doesn't like Bush for his simplicity and Gore for being over-the-top with issues and a poor representative of the Democrats. As he goes on, he continues his laundry-list of rants on topics such as religion and social issues, making this special have more of a social-critique than a political-critique. Regardless, Maher never runs out of steam and the result is a pleasing, if a big redundant, special focusing on a key-point in American politics when things were about to get shaken in terms of the economic, social, and political agenda.

Starring: Bill Maher. Directed by: Kevin Truesdell.

Over the last year or so I have become a regular viewer of Real Time on HBO because I do like the discussion format whether I agree or not. I do of course tend to agree as I am liberal but the one consistent weakness with the show is Bill Maher himself as he tends to push his extreme points without ever defending them and often losing his own audience. This is his weakness and it is partly because he is a stand-up who is used to playing the extremes for laughs with an audience who are laughing and not taking him seriously enough to pause for long to question him. Knowing this I have caught a couple of his shows and generally I quite like them for what they are.

The same sort of feeling is true of Be More Cynical because it is not brilliant enough to rave about but it is still good enough to enjoy if you can take Bill Maher. Those familiar with him from Real Time will see this show as a solid mix of his jokes and his actual political beliefs and mostly it works pretty well. It is not often hilarious though because he cannot manage to shape his opinions into sharp and funny commentary; instead he manages to make the show into a consistently amusing discussion through his politics, flowing from subject to subject relatively easily. The problem is that this discussion is the same as his views – a bit half-developed and occasionally miles from the middle ground. This makes it harder to get drawn into the material in the way the best comedians do, because he is not forceful or convincing enough to win over those that do not 100% agree with him (which will be the majority).

It does rather come down to your opinion of Maher I suppose and one can gauge that from Real Time. If, unlike me, you see Maher as a brilliant presenter of that show then you will love this piece of stand-up. Personally I don't see it that way and, as he is being his usual self here, I cannot escape seeing the same weaknesses. Overall though it is an amusing show – never as funny or as sharp as one would hope it would be but still an amusing piece of liberal stand-up from the far left.

Bill Maher: Be More Cynical is not so much of a laugh fest as most comedy specials, but more of a tell it like it is about the real ways of life and society. Maher pokes fun at the usual politics, religion, health issues and other topics such as advertising and word of mouth. Maher tells us that US. Senators make to much money off of tobacco products to completely outlaw it's use, plus most health problems are due to stress, food, depression, and environment not tobacco and alcohol use the government simply uses that as a scapegoat to make money. Maher sees religion as a fairy tale and not believable, Maher compares the Adam and Eve story of eating the poisonous fruit from the tree to Snow White when she eats the rotten apple from a tree. This is a good comedy special if you like to hear the real truth about things and overlook the hype and hoopla they present please learn to be more cynical. A final word don't believe everything just because you hear it.

My header best describes this stereotypical dribble which is a poor attempt of comedy and "enlightment". I guess that if your looking for direction and feel that a downward spiral wound be the way you'd like to head. You might want to give this brainwashing commentary a try. Or you could try thinking for yourself instead of having your opinions spoon-fed to you. Go read a book instead, it'll be more entertaining and cereberal.

I never really liked Bill Maher (at all) on his nightly show Politically Incorrect, mainly because he is PC. But here, he is actually not that bad. He makes some good observations about things in politics and people, but unfortunately doesn't hit the mark completely like George Carlin usually does. Not that he is bad either. He is worth checking out (if you can't find anything else) here. Cynicism is good, but sometimes it can be overdone. This special proves that. A-