Real Time with Bill Maher #364 09/18/15 High Energy

Mark Cuban

by Catherine Giordano

There was no interview on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, episode 364, airing on Friday September 18, 2015. The guests were all so high-energy high-wattage superstars--we never missed the interview.  

It was a great show with a very lively debate among the panelists. What did they discuss-- Donald Trump, of course. Can any show that touches upon news in any way go more than 10 minutes without mentioning Trump? They discussed the Republican debate that occurred on CNN on Wednesday. They discussed the Muslim boy who was arrested because someone thought his science project electronic clock was a bomb.They discussed religion, politics, immigration, and the improving economy.

Republican Debate

Bill Maher had a few quips about the debate in his monolog. He said, “There was a clear winner at the Republican debate, and it was a woman, Hillary Clinton.”

Maher described Trump and Carson as the old couple—Trump has manic energy and Carson acts like Bill Cosby had given him a little something.

The answers the candidates gave to what woman should go on the dollar bill were absolutely crazy. Jeb Bush said Margaret Thatcher. Err, Jeb, it is supposed to be an American woman. Others wanted to put their wives/mothers/daughters on the bill. Err, excuse me, the president’s family is not royalty—they don’t get put on our currency. Bill Maher said the answer was oblivious—Nancy Reagan. (The debate was taking place in the Reagan library.)

During the debate, Jeb Bush said that his brother George Bush kept us safe. Errr, not quite. The worst terrorist attack in American history took place during his watch. Jeb went on to say what a great moment it was when GWB stood on the rubble with a fireman and a bullhorn. Bill Maher scoffed. “He was standing on rubble. That shows how safe he kept us.”

He kept us safe!? I don't think he kept the 4000+ soldiers who died in the useless mismanaged Iraq war safe. I don't think he kept the hundreds of thousands of maimed soldiers very safe. It seems like Bush is taking a lot of heat for that ridiculous comment acorss the spectrum of media commentators.  

Maher added that if 9-11 had happened on the Democrats watch the country would not have been so forgiving of its president. Republicans go on and on about Benghazi, but the tally of the dead is 3000 vs. 4.

Bill Maher said that Republicans demonstrated an amazing conspiracy of delusions: “Obama has ruined the country and the only debate is whether he did it on purpose of by accident.”

Donald Trump

The panel discussion began with a discussion of--who else?—Donald Trump. One panel member—Mark Cuban likes Donald Trump. Maher said, "you're not a birther, your' not a cist, yu're not a climate change denier, why do you like Trump?" Cuban said “I want change.” [Mark Cuban is an entrepreneur, owner of the Dallas Maverick’s basketball team, and one of the “sharks” on the TV show Shark Team. (The 7th season begins on September 25th.) He is also the author of How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It Maybe Cuban like Trump because he is a fellow billionaire.

George Pataki, former governor of New York and a candidate for the Republican nomination for president, president of The Pataki-Cahill Group and author of an autobiography (with Daniel Paisner) Pataki: An Autobiography, said that Trump was unfit to be president. “He may be changing politics, but not for the better.”

Bill Maher gave a long list of things that have changed for the better in America since Obama took office. “Do we want to go back to the old numbers?” he asked. Maher suggested that we look at facts. “I know facts aren’t in the Bible, but can we use them now?.” Here are just a few of the long list of facts he gave. 

• Unemployment down from 7.2% to 5.1%
• Gas prices down from $3.24gallon to $2.31/gallon
• The number of people without health insurance down from 15% to 7.2%
• Dow Jones from 10,365 to 16,384 [Note: It was in the 18,000s for a while, but has slipped lately.]

Pataki tried to counterpunch with a list of things that were less than perfect, saying that there are not enough jobs. Maher countered that he didn’t say Obama made America perfect, just better. Cuban added, "No one ever left America because he couldn’t find a job." 

Trump did a Town Hall with Q and A in New Hampshire last week. Maher said the questions sounded like what yu would hear at a “Klan rally.”  He followed up with this advice: “Never give the mic to a man who thinks Trump should be president.  Maher said that the xenophobic hate reminded him of a Hitler rally.

The mid-show comedy bit was titled the King Trump Bible. Maher said Trump hadn't actually read the Bible because he is not in it. Trump doesn't read the King James Bible because he has his own Bible, The King Trump Bible. It's brilliant parody capturing the style and content of Trumps speeches. Here's the video. 

Jorge Ramos and Immigration

Jorge Ramos was the mid-show interview guest. He said, “I take Donald Trump very seriously. He is dangerous.” He also added that the people Trump wants to deport are people that he (Ramos) knows.

When Bill Maher used the term “illegals,” Ramos interrupted him. “Don’t call them illegals,” He said. He pointed out that we don’t call the companies that hire the immigrants “illegals.”

Ramos complained that Obama has not worked hard enough to make good on his promises to the Latino community. Maher told him that the Latino community shares blame for that. They did not come out to vote in 2014 and that gave the Republicans control of the House of Representatives. Maher added, “Obama also promised to come on my show. Let it go.”

Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews and author of six best-selling books--his most recent book is Tip and The Gipper: When Politics Worked—told Ramos that he should blame the Republicans because they are the ones blocking the bill.

The clock bomb

Mark Cuban said that he talked to Ahmed Mohamed and that he is a great kid who is very interested in science. H said that the student had carried the clock into six classes and showed it to each of his teachers before anything happened.

Bill Maher said, “You can’t blame the school. Lots of young people are blowing things up. They have to err on the side of caution.”

Up to a point I agree. Question the boy. Take a look at the device. Even call the police. The school did those things and quickly determined that it was not a bomb. The Bomb Squad was never called. Once they knew it was not a bomb, they should have apologized and sent the boy back to his class. Instead they interrogated this very polite and soft-spoken 14 year-old boy for 90 minutes, refused to allow him to contact his parents, and arrested him for bringing a science project to school.

The Pope

The Pope will be visiting the United States from September 22 to 27. He will even be addressing a joint session of Congress. Maher pointed out that in the United States over half of the Catholics have left the church.

Maher said that Pope Francis is bringing some Catholics back to the church because he is a more humble and compassionate pope than his predecessors and because he takes a softer stance on issues like abortion, contraception, homosexuality, or divorce.

The New Rules finale was more genius. Maher compared Republicans to the victims of fortune tellers. In short, they are highly gullible--they will believe anything and continue to believe even after no of the predictions ever come true. Here's the video.

New Rules: Gypsy Hustle

The New Rules finale was more genius. Maher compared Republicans to the victims of fortune tellers. In short, they are highly gullible--they will believe anything and continue to believe even after none of the predictions ever come true.  Here's the video.

It was an hour of high-energy people debating high-energy topics. Every week Maher exposes Republican lies, but the lies just live on. It would be a waste of energy if it wasn't so funny. 


Bill Maher's Guests: September 18, 2015

There was no interview this week. The mid-show guest was Jorge Ramos, the anchor of Fusion’s America with Jorge Ramos Univision’s Noticiero Universidad. Everyone knows who Jorge is--he’s the one Donald Trump threw out of his press conference. Ramos has written several books about the immigrant experience, including A Country for All: An Immigrant Manifesto.

The Panel:

Mark Cuban: Entrepreneur, owner of the Dallas Maverick’s basketball team, one of the "sharks" on the TV show Shark Tank. (The 7th season begins on September 25th.) He is also the author of How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It.

Chris Matthews: Host of MSNBC’s  Hardball with Chris Matthews. He is the author of six best-selling books; his most recent book is Tip and The Gipper: When Politics Worked.

George Pataki: Former Governor of New York and a candidate for the Republican nomination for president. He is also the president of The Pataki-Cahill Group which works in energy, infrastructure, and clean-tech. In 1998, he wrote an autobiography (with Daniel Paisner) Pataki: An Autobiography.

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Real Time With Bill Maher #255 08/17/12

Chelsea Handler

Bill Maher is baaaack and he is as “badass” as ever.

On August 17, 2012, (episode 255) as usual, Bill had a smack-down rundown of the news in his opening monologue.  Paul Ryan got most of the abuse. Best line:  “Paul Ryan is an English-speaking version of Sarah Palin.” Pow! Double whammy!

Bill said Paul Ryan rails against government, but has worked his whole life in government and the only job Ryan ever held in the private sector was driving the Oscar Mayer Wiener Mobile while in high school.  Later on, he mentions that Chris Christie is going to be the keynote speaker at the Republican Convention. They lured Christie there by having Paul Ryan drive the Weiner Mobile. Pow! Double whammy!

There were three guests on the panel on the 8/17/12 show.  Alex Wagner who hosts the MSNBC show “Now with Alex Wagner,” a charming liberal; Mark Cuban who is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, a sensible middle-of-the roader; and Reihan Salam, who is a CNN contributor, a frothing-at-the-mouth conservative. They were later joined by Chelsea Handler, a smart and sassy comedian.

One of the problems I have with the Bill Maher show is that often the lone conservative is an obnoxious loud-mouth who dominates the show. He interrupts the others, talks over them, and generally makes civilized conversation impossible. Reihan Salam performed that role on this panel. Finally, Chelsea Handler had enough and told Mr. Salam, “You need to calm down.”  The audience cheered.  I just about jumped off my couch as I cheered at home. Chelsea, I love you!  You actually got that man to sit down and shut up and let someone else talk.

The worst shows are when Bill has two conservatives. I have to turn it off. The best shows are when he has three liberal-leaning guests. The conversation is great—intelligent and witty. I usually learn something. Are you listening, Bill?

However, I think this confrontational show is the kind of show Bill likes. On the 8/17/12 show he was talking about election politics, but his comment illuminates how he picks his panel. “The people want The Hunger Games. They want a bar fight.”  And that is what we get on his show most weeks.

“New Rules” is one of the best parts of the show. It closes the show and it is always outrageously funny.  Bill gently bends “The Rules” from jokes to serious (yet still humorous) commentary. On the 8/17/12 show he commented on the Republicans’ plan of voter suppression—suppression of the voters who are most likely to vote Democratic. He said the Republican get-out-the vote philosophy was, “You’re here to vote? Get out!”  Then he suggested we bring back literacy tests for the tea-partiers.  Question #1: What was the name of the World War that preceded World War II? He expects that that one would remove most tea-partiers from the voter rolls.

It was a good show.  I’d give it a 7 on a 10 point scale where 5 is “So-So” and 10 is “Amazing!”  Bill, Mark, and Alex were able to refute Raihan pretty well, and Chelsea delivered the knock-out punch. Chelsea is a delight; she fairly sparkles. Bring her back, Bill!

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P.S.  My focus on this blog is usually drama, comedy and dramedy shows, but maybe once in a while I can include some other types of shows, like “Real Time with Bill Maher” or a made for TV movie.