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| Billy Crystal |
“I feel your crazy,” Bill Maher said in New Rules playing
off of Bill Clinton’s “I feel your pain.” And there seems plenty of crazy in
the news these days. Maher and his guests discussed some of the crazy in Real Time with Bill Maher, episode #353,
which aired on Friday may 8, 2015.
Billy Crystal
The interview is with Billy Crystal, actor and comedian. He’s the author of several books, including 700 Sundays (turned into a Broadway one-man show and an HBO special) and Still Foolin' 'Em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys?. Billy Crystal is currently starring on an FX TV series, The Comedians.
The show seemed a little topsy-turvey because the interview
is usually with a politician or scientist and the person from the world of
entertainment is usually the mid-show guest. But tonight, Maher did the
interview with Bill Crystal. I figured out why. Crystal is a very strong fan of
The Clippers football team, the team was playing a game on Friday night, so Crystal
couldn’t stay for the whole show. He had to be at the game.
The interview was Crystal telling a story about the Yankees
(he’s also a big fan f the Yankees) and George W. Bush throwing the first pitch
at a balland a few other stories about Kissinger and Reagan. It was a funny
bit, but it was a bit and not much of an interview. I really don’t know
anything about sports. I put a link to the interview at the end of this post.
Erin Brokovich
The mid-show guest was Erin
Brokovich, consumer advocate and president of Brokovich Research
Consulting. She’s the author (with Marc Eliot) of Take
It From Me : Life's a Struggle But You Can Win. I think she was supposed
to be the interview guest, but got moved to mid-show because Crystal didn’t
want to miss the Clipper’s game.
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| CLICK HERE to look inside |
Erin Brokovich talked about all the chemicals in our food
and environment—84,000 of them and only about 200 have actually been tested and
found to be safe. There are some bills in Congress now that will take away consumers
rights to sue if they are harmed by any of these chemicals.
It got funny when Maher mentioned the super blondness of her
hair and she had to admit it was bleached blonde. Maher joshed that there had to be a lot of
chemicals in hair dye. Brokovich laughed it off. Blond hair is worth whatever
damage the chemicals might cause.
Lincoln Chaffee
Lincoln Chaffee
was a panel member. He is the former senator (R,RI), former governor of Rhode
Island (as an Independent), and author of Against the Tide: How a Compliant Congress
Empowered a Reckless President (He’s talking about GWB; it was
written in 2008). He has now registered as a Democrat and will probably be a candidate
for the Democratic presidential nomination. Maher tried to get him to announce right
then, but he dodged and weaved and said he would make a decision soon.
Shouldn’t Chaffee as the former governor of Rhode Island and
potential Democratic presidential candidate have gotten the interview slot?.Afferall,
Mike Huckabee, former Republican governor of Arkansas and Republican
presidential candidate got the interview slot a couple of weeks ago. However, Chaffee
was demoted to just one of three panel members. He must really want the
exposure because it is kind of an insult. (Read about the Huckabee interview in In
a Blather.)
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| CLICK HERE to look inside |
Lincoln Chaffee said “We need to calm down on terrorism.” He
may be right, but he is not going to win the presidency saying things like
that. I am very unimpressed with him--just about everything he said was
uninspiring. If somehow, Chaffee became the Democratic candidate, one of the
clowns will be our next president. I’m glad there are a few other potential candidates
to represent Democrats if Hillary should be unable to be the candidate.
Presidential candidates
The Republican clown car is picking up speed. There could be
as many as 22 (or even more) candidates jumping on that car. It’s a great
situation for comedians, not so great for the country.
Carly Fiorina entered the race. “The Republicans need a
woman,” Maher quipped, “either her or Lindsey Graham.” (Graham is expected to
announce soon.) Fiorina is a laughing stock for her demon-sheep ad in her unsuccessful
bid for senator of California. She points to her career as CEO of Hewlett Packard
as her qualification. “Let’s see,” Maher quipped, “She reduced the sales of the
company and increased its debt. She might just be the one to run the country.”
Mike Huckabee is in. He believes we are in the biblical
end-times,” Maher said. “And Ted Cruz proves it.” (Ted Cruz has already announced.)
Ben Carson is in the race. He said Obama is a psychopath,
but it is Carson who sounds nutty. He believes the earth is only 6,000 years
old.
Maher remarked that Hillary is making sure there is no room
to her left. She has come out for campaign finance reform, prison reform, and a
path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. If elected, she will be
undoing a lot of what Bill Clinton did. The former president, her husband, is
OK with that.
New Rules: Legend of Curly’s Fold
Bill Maher is very disappointed in Rand Paul. Maher was once
Libertarian, and although he has become more liberal as he matured, Paul Rand,
because of his Libertarian bent, was the one Republican that Maher thought he
could consider.
He said Paul Rand was last seen in front of an aircraft
carrier setting fire to everything he once believed. Now Rand is telling the
crowd what they want to hear, e.g.: increase the defense budget, ban gay
marriage.
The most shocking thing he said was what he said at a prayer
breakfast—“We need another Great Awakening a tent revival.” (The Grat Awakening
was an evangelical religious movement of
the 1700’s).
Maher brought up the Jade Helm conspiracy theory. “You can’t
call out nutty people for being crazy. Crazy is not a small group. Crazy is a constituency.”
So the governor of Texas calls out the National
Guard, and Rand Paul says he is going to look into it.
Maher called out rural white people who think they are being
“messed with” “You have outlawed abortion. You are armed to the teeth. You are
the white Somalia.”
“Stop worrying about the new world order. You are barely in
the old world order. The reason we conduct military exercises in your area
because it there is no danger of damaging anything anyone cares about.”
Mid-show comedy bit
Some European countries are worried about declining birth
rates. There is a “Do it for Denmark campaign.”
Maher made up some posters for other countries to encourage more
copulation. For instance, in France, the slogan could be “Pretend your wife is
your mistress.” In Germany, it could be “Ich
be ein be in her.” In Greece: “Try it around the front.” And in VaticanCity, “Pretend
she’s an altar boy.”
Islamic Jihad
Some loon in Texas sponsored a contest inviting people to
draw caricatures of Mohammed, ala Charlie
Hebdo. The group deliberately tried to provoke an attack and they got it. Fortunately,
a police officer shot the two Muslim gunmen who showed up to avenge the insult
to the Prophet before they could hurt anyone. Stupid young men—if they had just
ignored the provocation or denounced them on TV as bigots, they would have won.
Will Cain, ESPN
Sportscaster, host of The Cain
Conversation on The Blaze and the
conservative on the panel, agreed saying that this country is built on free
speech and it should never be reined in. “If they say, if you offend me I will kill
you, then you need to offend them.”
Alex Wagner,
MSNBC host of Now with Alex Wagner, disagreed
said, “Insulting Muslims is not the same as insulting Catholics because Muslims
are more marginalized.”
Maher said, “Acting like Muslims are unable to control
themselves is bigotry. The Westboro Baptist Church always protest my shows, but
it doesn’t end in a gun battle.”
I think there is free speech and there is deliberate
provocation, and we should not confuse the two. Charlie Hebdo drew caricatures of everyone to satirize religion and
power; this group had no larger purpose than being offensive. It is crazy to do
something for the sole purpose of offending someone whether you have the right
to do it or not.
Crazy, crazy, crazy
Clown cars, weirdo conspiracy theories, offensiveness run
amok—can you feel the crazy? It’s getting more than a little scary.
The interview with Billy Crystal:
The interview with Billy Crystal:
The interview was with Billy
Crystal, actor and comedian. He’s the author of several books, including 700 Sundays
(turned into a Broadway one-man show and an HBO special) and Still Foolin'
'Em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys? He is currently starring on an FX sit-com, The Comedians.
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| CLICK HERE to look inside |
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| Billy Crystal 700 Sundays DVD |
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| CLICK HERE to look inside |
The mid-show guest was Erin Brokovich, consumer advocate and president of Brokovich Research Consulting. She’s the author (with Marc Eliot) of Take It From Me : Life's a Struggle But You Can Win
The mid-show guest was Erin Brokovich, consumer advocate and president of Brokovich Research Consulting. She’s the author (with Marc Eliot) of Take It From Me : Life's a Struggle But You Can Win
The panel included:
Lincoln Chaffee: Possible candidate
for the Democratic presidential nomination, former senator (R,RI) former governor of Rhode Island (as an
Independent), and author of Against the Tide: How a Compliant Congress
Empowered a Reckless President (He’s talking about GWB; it was
written in 2008). He has now registered as a Democrat.
Alex Wagner:
MSNBC host of Now with Alex Wagner
Will Cain: ESPN
Sportscaster, host of The Cain Conversation
on The Blaze
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