Real Time with Bill Maher #341, 01/30/15 "The Big Game"

Mel Brooks

by Catherine Giordano

It was time for the big game of Real time with Bill Maher, episode 341, which aired  on 01/0/15. And when I say big game, I’m talking about the Super Ball, but not just the Super Bowl. But let’s start with the Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl

“The Big Game,” is the Super Bowl which occurs on Sunday February 1. In the monologue Maher called it “our national religion.”  He then continued by making an allusion to “deflategate”, so mysteriously under inflated footballs, that has dominated the new for the past week.  He made an allusion to Katy Perry, who will be singing at half time, and promised us that a certain part of her anatomy would definitely not be deflated.

Later Bill spoke about football with the mid-show guest, Mel Brooks, film director, screenwriter, comedian, actor, producer, composer, songwriter who  is best known as the producer of comic farces and parodies. (Nine of his best movies are included in The Mel Brooks Collection.) Bill was talking about the terrible physical toll taken on the players who suffer brain damage and a life of constant pain.  

Mel Brooks had this to say about when people should play football: “From Age 5 to 10—no football. From age 10 to 15—only touch football, no tackling. From age 15 on--no football.”
 

Mel Brooks

Maher mentioned that Brooks was 88 years old and he recently did a one-man show which will air on HBO on Saturday night (1/21/15) at 9pm (8 central), Mel Brooks Live at the Geffen. Maher also congratulated Brooks for being one of only 12 EGOT’s people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. Brooks added that he had also been a Kennedy Center honoree.

At time Mel Brooks was on his game with funny and witty comments. At times he was showing his age.  He told a long rambling story about Cary Grant. Evidently, Brooks met Grant when he was a young man newly arrived in Hollywood.  When Grant asked Brooks to join him for lunch at the studio commissary, he was over the moon. (“I paid,” Brooks said.) Grant started calling him every day and they discovered they had a lot of mutual likes and dislikes. Brooks mentioned these in great detail. The punch line was anti-climatic. Brooks hero-worship was deflated after all these calls. Brooks had gotten bored with Grant and refused to take his calls.
  

Mitt Romney is out of the game

The biggest news of the week, after deflategate, was Mitt Romney’s announcement that he was withdrawing from the game—he will not seek the Republican nomination for president. Maher joked, that Romney was getting out for health reasons: “He couldn’t handle the stress of pretending to care about poor people.”

 

Romney said he wanted to clear the field for a fresh-face. Was this a dig at Jeb Bush? Nowadays the race for president starts so early and is so fast-paced that a candidate withdraws before he even formally announces.

 

The Money Game

Maher said that the Koch brothers are going to put $889 million into the race. Maher joked, that even Romney, with four mansions and his car elevator, was too poor for this race. He was the front runner and the Koch Brothers pushed him out. Romney who had crushed his opponents with money in the 2012 primary realized “I can’t play in this game

Joaquin Castro, representative to Congress (D, TX) said, “We are moving to an oligarchy. They want to buy the country. The question is will the American people sell it to them.” He added, “It’s an arms race—raise the money or lose the election. 

Katty Kay is a journalist, lead anchor of BBC World News America, and author. Her most recent book is The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance---What Women Should Know. She said, “The Democrats would do it too, if they could. She added, “It is only going to get worse.”

 

Monica Mehta, financial writer and commentator and author of The Entrepreneurial Instinct: How Everyone Has the Innate Ability to Start a Successful Small Business  joined in on the discussion saying that maybe “the extremeness we are seeing, such big numbers and such shamelessness, will be a call to action.”  My opinion is that it doesn’t matter if the public is outraged if the game is so rigged that we can’t do anything about it.

 

The Republicans took over Congress and they know how the game is played. Maher told us the very first thing they did was vote to weaken Dodd-Frank, a bill that tightened the rules on Wall Street to prevent them from crashing the economy again. It was payback time for all the money the fat cats had invested in their campaigns. 

Kay tried to defend this and Brooks quipped, “You should be in the Olympics the way you skated around Dodd-Frank.”
 

The Spy Game

Laura Poitras is a documentary film director and producer. Her latest documentary, Citizenfour has nominated for a 2015 Oscar and is the favorite to win.  It’s about Eric Snowden and the NSA spying. Poitris is against the government classifying information as secret when it is information the public has a right to know. They both agreed that Snowden was sincere when he said that he became a whistleblower because the NSA was misusing its power to spy and was invading the privacy of citizens and hiding information these citizens had a right to know.

Barbie Doll Games

The mid-show comedy segment was about the decline in sales of Barbie dolls.

Evidently little girls are no longer fascinated with the feminine perfection this doll is supposed to represent. 

Bill suggested some new Barbie dolls.

• Student Loan Barbie is a stripper with a pole for an accessory. Evidently because that is the only job she can get that pays enough to pay off the loan.
• The Mormon Barbie comes with three sister wives.
• The Texas Barbie is pregnant because all the abortion clinics have been closed. 
• The Disney Land Barbie has measles.
• The Camille Cosby Barbie has blinders on (because she refuses to beleive the stories about her husband drugging and raping 35 women.)
  

Republicans Gaming the Public

 

In New Rules, in a segment called “Nixed Income”, Maher called out Republicans for their sudden interest in “middle class economics.”  Suddenly they are talking about income inequality and blaming it on the Democrats. Maher sarcastically said, “Those damn Democrats fighting the Republican Party’s efforts to help the middle class.”  He opined that “There is no shame in the Republican game.”

Maher jabbed, “The Republicans used to say ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’ which is easy to say when you are on a yacht.”
 

He made Sarah Palin’s recent speech in which she appeared to be babbly and sprouting random phrases—much more than she usually does.  Maher said , “If Sarah Palin had a stroke, how would we know?” 
 

Maher then got serious and talked about the middle class. He said, a society with a thriving middle class is a fluke and a middle class is not the normal by-product of capitalism.  The U.S. had a middle class after WW II because of socialism. Taxes on the rich were as high as 90%. and this money was redistributed it through social programs like the G.I. Bill, free education, low-cost mortgages, etc.

Read more about this and see the video clip here: Middle Class Economics

Games Game Games

Bill Maher is the Super Bowl of comedy/talk shows. Let the games begin. 

Bill Maher’s Guests:  #341 January 30, 2015

Katty Kay. Journalist, lead anchor of BBC World News America, author. Her most recent book is The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance---What Women Should Know 

Monica Mehta;  Financial writer and commentator, author of
The Entrepreneurial Instinct: How Everyone Has the Innate Ability to Start a Successful Small Business, ambassador for Operation Hope, a non-profit financial literacy organization. Laura Poitras: Documentary film director and producer. Her films include My Country, My Country. Her latest documentary, Citizenfour  (about Eric Snowden), is nominated for a 2015 Oscar.

Mel Brooks: Film director, screenwriter, comedian, actor, producer, composer, songwriter. He is best known as the producer of comic farces and parodies.  Nine of his best movies are included in The Mel Brooks Collection  

Joaquin Castro:  Representative in congress (D, TX)

“Real Time with Bill Maher” #302 “Drama Queens and Cocaine Dreams”

By Catherine Giordano

Maher does a great tribute to JFK.

Drama queens and cocaine dreams ruled on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” #302, the season finale

which aired on 11/22/13. In the monologue, Bill Maher talked about the change in the Senate rules so that a filibuster could not be used to block a vote on President Obama’s nominees for the courts. Majority rules—at last!. Maher said Republicans are acting like a bunch of “drama queens,” red faced with fury. 

The so-called “nuclear option” was so easily accomplished—it was done in an afternoon. Why did they wait five years? It should have been done four years ago as soon as the Republican plan to do nothing but obstruct became evident. Bill Maher joked, “Just wait until President Ted Cruz fills the D. C. Circuit Court with Ann Coulter, Bill O’Reilly, and a fetus.”

The “cocaine dreams” part of the title refers to Trey Radel, Republican congressman from Florida. He pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine and was sentenced to one year of probation and a very small fine. He’s going to “Club Rehab,” but not resigning. He said that his arrest was a wakeup call. Maher quipped, “His wakeup call used to be a ginormous line of cocaine.”  Maher added that “he is taking a page from Rob Ford [mayor of Toronto also busted for cocaine and also refusing to resign], blaming it on alcohol.”  As if abuse of alcohol makes the use of illegal drugs OK. 

It should also be pointed out that Radel voted to drug-test recipients of food stamps and also voted to cut food stamp spending. Maybe he did those votes while high on cocaine.

Later in the show there was a discussion of cocaine use. Maher says he knows several very successful people in Hollywood who use cocaine.  It doesn’t interfere with their ability to function.  Maher didn’t take it one step further and bring in the proposition that it is not the drug, but it’s illegality that causes problems. For rich people, it really is just like drinking too much sometimes.

The interview was with Dan Savage, who is gay and dramactic, but anything but a drama queen. He is the epitome of cool with a biting wit. He is the author of a sex-advice column named “Savage Love” and the author of several books.  His most recent book is AmericanSavage: Insights, Slights, and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love, and Politics. Maher called him our “unofficial ambassador to Gaytopia.”

Maher mentioned a priest who recently testified in Hawaii that the children of gay couples are more likely to commit suicide.  Dan coolly delivered the priest’s comeuppance. “He’s confusing children with gay parents with the children molested by gay priests.” Pow!

Savage also had quite a few things to say about the two daughters of Former VP Dick Cheney. Liz Cheney (who is straight) is in a primary election in Utah. She is down 50 points in the polls. She thought she could improve her standing with conservatives by condemning her sister, Mary, who is a lesbian married to another lesbian. The ploy only made things worse for Liz.  Bill said, “Liz misjudged people. The only thing ickier than gays is throwing your sister under the bus to win votes.” 

Savage used somewhat stronger language. He called Mary and her wife a couple of “rich dikes.” He reported that Liz had donated money to politicians who seek to repeal gay rights (including $2,500 to Romney) and she never spoke out about the anti-gay statements by her father when he was running for VP. Anyway, it seems that Dick Cheney has been trying to patch things up between his daughters. Savage commented on this thusly: “It’s funny that you need a dick to adjudicate a dispute between a lesbian and her straight sister.”

The panel was introduced and the discussion went straight to the filibuster. Paul Begala, who is a political consultant and co-author of several books with James Carville; the most recent is Take It Back: Our Party, Our Country, Our Future. He said, “The Constitution mentions nine things that require a super-majority; confirmation of judges is not one them. There is no filibuster in the Constitution.”

 Katty Kay, the lead anchor of BBC World news America and co-author  (with Claire Shipman) of Womenomics: Work Less, Achieve More, LiveBetter, said, “It had to be done to make the government work… Harry Reid has had 400 filibusters.”  

Former Republican governor of Maryland, Bob Erlich, said, “Be careful what you wish for. An election is coming up.” This is the “whistling-in-the-dark” moment of the week. Until Republicans change their policies concerning women, minorities, the middle class and the poor—and that doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon-- they are not going to retake the Senate. Moreover, I feel positive that if Reid had not abolished the filibuster, the Republicans would have done it the moment they regained control of the Senate. The last time they were in control, they threatened to do it, and they would have if the Democrats hadn’t caved and allowed totally unqualified nominees to be confirmed.  So this move costs the Democrats nothing, and may allow them to get enough done to win favor with the voters and thereby keep their control of the Senate.

  

The comedy segment began with Maher wishing liberals “a very merry war on Christmas.”  Then he showed us some mock books from politicos about Christmas.

Bill O’Reilly:       Killing St. Nick

Paula Dean:        Extremely White Christmas           

Chris Christie:    The 12 Days of Thanksgiving

Barack Obama:  If You Like Your Present, You Can Keep Your Present

John Boehner:    Little Drama Boy

There was also a discussion about JFK and assassination conspiracy theories and the crazy conspiracy theories about Benghazi, especially those on Glenn Beck’s website..  Maher said, “We need conspiracies  like we need God, we’can’t accept that things are just random.”  Kay said, “They have almost a pathological mistrust of government. They project their feelings onto it.” Erlich tied to protest that Benghazi was really different, but no one took him seriously.

There was also a discussion about the Republicans shedding crocodile tears about the Affordable Care Act. They focus on the 1.5% of people who may have to get insurance without qualifying for subsidies. (This group is probably well–off and can afford the insurance.) Maher asked “What about the 5 million people who are not getting the Medicare coverage that the new law provides for them because the governors of their states have refused to take the federal money that will pay for it 100% for the first three years and 90% thereafter.  Erlich gave the “where-does-it-end” argument.  He said, “It was supposed to be just for poor women with children, not for everyone." Begala showed him up by informing him that it is not just poor people who suffer. Hospitals suffer because they are stuck with the bill for uninsured people who can’t pay.

The mid-show guest was the very talented and charming actor, Wendell Pierce, who appears on the HBO drama Treme and on The Micheal J. Fox show. He spoke with heart about New Orleans. After Katrina, some people had said we should let the city go. Wendell says that if anyone dares to sa let this cit go,"we will kick their ass." 

Pierce spoke about his new venture, Sterling Foods, bringing fresh affordable food to the inner city. Each store employs about 50 to 60 people from the community it serves paying them good wages. They even have the Sterling Shuttle—customers who arrive by bus get a ride home if they spend $50 or more.  He compared his store’s policies to Costco. Costco pays good wages, provides healthcare.  “If everyone did the right thing like Costco, we wouldn’t need government regulations.”  This is the “Amen-Brother” moment of the week.

Pierce’s comments wee a perfect segue to New Rules which began with Maher saying that the Wal-Mart Smiley Face is laughing at us. Wal-Mart was conducting a food drive for its own employees asking other employees to donate. “When you sell food and your employees don’t have enough food …”  Another “Amen-Brother” moment. The family that owns Wal-Mart is the one of the richest families in America—they should be donating to their employees who are in need or better yet, paying them a living age so they can buy their own food. (See Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.)  

The final New Rules segment compared Democrats to Republicans, and JFK to Reagan. Maher said, “We have gays in the military; they have gays in the airport restroom.”  The gist of his riff was that for Republicans, Reagan is their Kennedy. Then he made a bunch of comparisons to show how cool Kennedy was (and still is) and how Reagan was already way past is prime in the 1980’s, the era of “greed is good.” One example:  “Kennedy is James Bond; Reagan is Matlock.” He ended with, “You can call someone ‘your Kennedy’ but it will never make it true because ‘our Kennedy’ is Kennedy.  Another “Amen, Brother” moment.

  

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