Bill Maher

Bill Maher
Birth name	William Maher, Jr.
Born	January 20 1956 (1956--) (age 51) New York City, New York, USA
Medium	Stand-Up, Television, Film, Books
Nationality	American
Years active	1979 – Present
Genres	Political satire, Observational comedy
Subject(s)	American politics, current events, American culture, pop culture, freedom of speech, environment, religion, human sexuality, recreational drug use, libertarianism, American liberalism
Influences	Johnny Carson, George Carlin
Notable works and roles	Host of Politically Incorrect Host of Real Time with Bill Maher
Website	BillMaher.com

William Maher, Jr., (pronounced: /mɑɹ/) (born January 20 1956) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He hosted the late-night television talk show Politically Incorrect on Comedy Central and ABC, and is currently the star of Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. On June 1, 2006, he also began hosting an Internet-exclusive talk show on Amazon.com entitled Amazon Fishbowl.

Maher is known for his political satire and sociopolitical commentary. His commentaries target a wide swath of topics, from the right-wing to the left-wing, bureaucracies of many kinds, political correctness, Hollywood, the mass media, and persons in positions of high political and social power, among many others. He supports the legalization of cannabis and gay marriage.^[1][2] Maher is number 38 on Comedy Central's 100 greatest stand-ups of all time.

Early life and career

Maher was born in New York City, the son of Julie (née Berman), a nurse, and William Maher, Sr., a network news editor and radio announcer.^[3] Maher was raised in his Irish American father's Catholic religion, and did not find out that his mother was Jewish until his teenage years.^[4] He grew up in River Vale, New Jersey and graduated from Pascack Hills High School in Montvale, New Jersey. He received his Bachelor of Arts in English from Cornell University in 1978.

Maher has a substantial career as a stand-up comedian and still occasionally tours. He was host of the New York City comedy club Catch a Rising Star in 1979. Thanks to Steve Allen, he began appearing on Johnny Carson's and David Letterman's shows in 1982. He has also appeared in several films, usually in a comic role. His feature film debut was in D.C. Cab (1983), and he has also appeared in Ratboy (1986), Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (1988), and Pizza Man (1991).

Worldview

Political views

Maher describes himself as a libertarian^[5] and a liberal and is a reliable proponent of the Minarchist school of libertarian thought, claiming, "government is really there to do the things that people absolutely can't do for themselves";^[6] however, some have questioned the validity of Maher's self-proclaimed libertarianism.^[6]

Maher favors partial privatization of social security, ending corporate welfare, and legalizing gambling, prostitution, and all drugs (he is a member on NORML's Advisory Board, an organization which supports the decriminalization of marijuana). Additionally, he describes himself as an environmentalist, and frequently alludes to the topic of global warming on his show Real Time.

He supported Bob Dole in the 1996 U.S. presidential election on the basis that Dole was a war hero^[7] and the kind of "old-fashioned" Republican he appreciated, as he stated numerous times on Politically Incorrect: "A mean, old man who will guard my money!" Although he told Libertarian Party candidate Harry Browne at the end of a Browne appearance on Politically Incorrect that Browne would have his vote, ultimately he said he instead voted for Ralph Nader in the 2000 U.S. presidential election. On a later episode of Real Time while speaking with Susan Sarandon they both distanced themselves from Nader, even though they had publicly supported him in the 2000 election.

He has expressed disdain for many of the liberal positions regarding hate crime, sexual harassment, etc. as being "things that make women nod."

Maher publicly supports PETA, an animal rights organization, and has expressed his distaste for the pharmaceutical and health care industries in general, on the grounds that they make their money out of curing people who are made sick by consuming unhealthy food that society urges upon the public. On the August 11, 2005, episode of Larry King Live, Maher said he was not a vegetarian, adding "...but I don't eat a lot of meat."^[8]

Prior to the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Maher became very forthright in his opposition to the re-election of George W. Bush, and in his support for John Kerry as the best candidate to defeat Bush, going so far as to publicly kneel on his show, with director Michael Moore, and beg Ralph Nader to drop out of the race. Maher often says that the word "liberal" has been unfairly demonized, and during the elections he criticized Kerry for being ashamed of the word. As Maher supports the death penalty, the legality of abortion and euthanasia, he often states his position humorously as "pro-death." Expanding on this statement, he revealed his belief that the size of the human population has led to damage to the earth's ecosystem, so that he is generally in favor of anything that would reduce it. Since 9/11 he also has on numerous occasions stated his endorsement of racial profiling at airports.^[9]

While discussing FEMA's failure regarding Hurricane Katrina, Maher suggested it was a failure of "federal responsibility," and faulted President Bush with negligence.

He was originally against the war in Iraq, but briefly offered less skeptical commentary in light of the Iraqi election of 2005. Maher now views the Iraq War as a failure and implied on the February 24, 2006 episode of Real Time that Iraq was better off under Saddam Hussein and that the U.S. cannot control the sectarian violence like Saddam did. He has said the invasion of Iraq has increased the threat of terrorism. He has also stated his concerns about the possibility of a future civil war in Iraq or about the possibility that Iraq is already involved in the early stages of a civil war.

Maher describes himself as a staunch supporter of Israel.^[10][11]

John Edwards Support

Bill Maher is a John Edwards supporter and is backing him currently in the primaries. He has said that "(John) is the only democrat that can win....he's getting my support." and "John's the best candidate for real change..". A possible campaign tour by Maher to Iowa is rumored.

The endorsment is suprsising because Maher was expected to back Obama. But Maher has said repetidly that Obama is "inexperienced....not the right time."

Views on religion

Maher is often critical of organized religion. He has described religion as a neurological disorder that spreads guilt and hatred among people while offering nothing in return. In two separate appearances on Real Time, atheist comedian George Carlin and Maher alleged that organized religion is a cause of many of society's problems and that the practices of organized religion are mired in hypocrisy. Maher credited Carlin's views as inspiration for him to speak out against organized religion.

Maher has said many times that religion works under the guise of morality but that its tenets generally have nothing to do with morality, that religious prohibitions are being confused with moral law. In Maher's view, just because a religion prohibits abortion or decries homosexuality, that does not mean that having an abortion or being homosexual are immoral acts. Instead, Maher argues that an immoral person is one who harms others through activities such as murder or rape.

Maher opposes religious monuments, such as The Ten Commandments, being placed in or near court houses, saying that this would violate the separation of church and state. He has countered the assertion of conservative Christians who claim that American law is based on the Ten Commandments by saying that of the ten, only two (the prohibitions on murder and theft) apply to American law. The other commandments, he argues, such as honoring no god before the Judeo-Christian God, keeping the Sabbath holy, or honoring thy mother and thy father, are not American laws at all. In answer to the suggestion that a divine moral authority is necessary, he suggests "Couldn't we just get together and agree on the few basic Commandments that are laws? Like 'I won't slaughter you, and don't take my shit.'"

Maher has stated on both Politically Incorrect and Real Time, and in several appearances on Larry King Live, viewpoints that reference a kind of deism, although Maher has never declared himself a deist. He has stated that he does indeed believe in a God, but that organized religion is nothing more than tradition and superstition. In 2002 he told the Onion AV Club, "I'm not an atheist. There's a really big difference between an atheist and someone who just doesn't believe in religion. Religion to me is a bureaucracy between man and God that I don't need. But I'm not an atheist, no. I believe there's some force. If you want to call it God... I don't believe God is a single parent who writes books".^[12] He asserts that organized religion provides answers to questions that "cannot possibly be answered." Questions such as "Where do I go when I die?" or "Is there a heaven?", he says, are impossible to answer. By claiming to have the answers, Maher argues, organized religion is dishonest and it "stops people from thinking."

During Maher's appearance on Larry King Live on August 11, 2005, he said he was an agnostic who nevertheless is still quite open to the idea that God exists. The following exchange also occurred on that program:

CALLER: "Hi. Well, my question is, the Lord spoke to me approximately three years ago, and if the Lord spoke to you [Maher], I was wondering if you'd become a believer."

MAHER: "No, I'd check into Bellevue, which is what you should do..."

Maher then explained that certainty in one's religious belief is absurd, using the example of Scientology: "You [a Scientologist], like all religious people, have a neurological disorder. And the only reason why people think it's sane is because so many other people believe the same thing. It's insanity by consensus."

On August 15, 2007, on Larry King Live, he stated that it was impossible to know what happened after death. He compared Christian promises of an afterlife with the promises made by politicians trying to get elected.

Bill Maher and director Larry Charles teamed up to make the feature film Religulous, described by trade publication Variety as a documentary "that spoofs religious extremism across the world," and expected to be released in 2008.^[13][14]

Most recently, Maher has declared himself an apatheist instead of an agnostic on Scarborough Country on April 24th 2007.^[15]

Controversies

Talk show host

Maher is most notable as the former host of Politically Incorrect, which aired on the Comedy Central television network and later ABC. He is currently the host of Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO.

ABC decided not to renew Maher's contract for Politically Incorrect in 2002 after he made a controversial on-air remark on September 17, 2001,^[16] in which he agreed with guest conservative political commentator Dinesh D'Souza that the 9/11 terrorists were not cowards, and then went on to say, "We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly."^{[17][18][19][20][21]}

In the context of the sensitive aftermath of the attacks, such a remark was deemed too controversial for some financial supporters. Although some pundits, including conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, supported Maher in pointing out the distinction between physical and moral cowardice,^[22] companies including FedEx and Sears Roebuck pulled their advertisements from the show, costing the show more than it returned. Ari Fleischer, who was the White House Press Secretary at the time, responded to a reporter's question about Maher's comments by saying: "...they're reminders to all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do. This is not a time for remarks like that..."^[23]

The show was subsequently cancelled on June 16, 2002, although the Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBG) had dropped the show from its ABC-affiliated stations months before that. On June 22, 2002, six days after the cancellation of Politically Incorrect, Maher received the President's Award (for "championing free speech") from the Los Angeles Press Club. Maher has also sat on the board of judges for the PEN/Newman's Own free expression award.

Maher's comment about the cowardice of terrorists followed another controversial comment he made on Politically Incorrect earlier that year where he compared dogs to retarded children: "But I've often said that if I had — I have two dogs — if I had two retarded children, I'd be a hero. And yet the dogs, which are pretty much the same thing. What? They're sweet. They're loving. They're kind, but they don't mentally advance at all.... Dogs are like retarded children." In 2003, Maher became the host of Real Time with Bill Maher on the HBO cable television network, a debate show somewhat similar to Politically Incorrect, but with a narrower selection of guests. Maher told Terry Gross (on NPR's Fresh Air) in 2004 that he enjoys having more serious and well-informed guests on his current program, as opposed to the random celebrities that fleshed out his roundtable discussions on Politically Incorrect. Since May 2005, he has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post.

On January 13, 2006, Maher hosted Larry King Live on CNN, on which he is a frequent guest.

On June 1, 2006, Maher began hosting amazon.com's Amazon Fishbowl, the first ever episodic program on a major internet website. The show's first guests included Dean Koontz and Dixie Chicks. The show ran a preview episode earlier in the year from the Sundance Film Festival featuring guests Stephen King and Rob Thomas. Maher also produces and writes the show, which aired through August 17, eight days before the season premiere of Real Time.

In early 2006, Real Time was released as an audio CD along with another CD entitled Bill Maher's New Rules which features clips, segments and teasers from Real Time. Starting with Episode 67 (2-23-06) Real Time became available on iTunes as a free weekly audio podcast.

On October 19, 2007 Maher had several conspiracy theorist protesters who dubbed themselves "911 Truthers" ejected from his audience when they disrupted the live show multiple times by yelling from the audience.^[24]

Accusations of anti-Catholicism

William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has noted that Maher "has consistently been listed in the Catholic League’s Annual Report on Anti-Catholicism" for acts of bigotry. Donohue says that among his offensive acts, Maher has a habit of "slandering all priests as molesters and mocking the Eucharist". In the League's 2003 report, it claimed "no one insulted Catholics more than Bill Maher".^[25]

Press coverage

In 1997, during filming of an episode of the game show Pictionary, Erik Estrada accidentally punched Maher in the face in a moment of exuberance, briefly knocking him out cold.^[26]

In November 2004 Maher was unsuccessfully sued for 9 million dollars by his ex-girlfriend, Coco Johnsen, for breach of a non-marital relationship contract. Johnson claims^[27] that Maher did not fulfill promises made to her and that he physically and verbally abused her. Maher publicly disputed her allegations on Larry King Live on November 23, 2004. His lawyer responded to the lawsuit with a claim that Maher is a "confirmed bachelor" and never promised to marry or support Johnson and that "California law doesn't allow for the palimony suit brought by Ms. Johnson." On May 2, 2005, a superior court judge dismissed the lawsuit.

On May 3, 2005, while appearing as a guest on Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show (CBS), Maher seemed to excuse Michael Jackson's alleged child molestation behavior. He spoke about the need for perspective when thinking about crimes and criminals. He implied that the alleged behavior wasn't so bad because it was only alleged that Michael Jackson "serviced" the children and not the other way around. After a response from Ferguson, Maher said that getting beaten up by schoolyard bullies was worse than "being gently masturbated by a pop star." Maher brought up the comparison without any prodding or provocation from Ferguson. Immediately after Maher's statement, Ferguson ended the interview.^[28]

In late May 2005, Alabama Congressman Spencer Bachus sent a letter to Time Warner's board of directors requesting Real Time be cancelled due to remarks Maher made about low military recruiting numbers on the May 13, 2005, episode which Bachus felt were demeaning to the military and in bad taste. Maher's comment was "More people joined the Michael Jackson fan club. We've done picked all the low-lying Lynndie England fruit, and now we need warm bodies." Maher responded by reiterating his support for the troops and asking why the Congressman criticized him instead of actually doing something about the problem.^[29]

Halloween costume

Maher received widespread criticism for wearing a crocodile hunter Halloween costume with an object protruding from the chest in October of 2006, less than two months after Steve Irwin, television's "Crocodile Hunter", was killed by a stingray barb that punctured his heart.^[30]

Credits

Bibliography

• Does Anybody Have a Problem With That? Politically Incorrect's Greatest Hits, 1996 (ISBN 0-679-45627-9)
• Does Anybody Have a Problem with That? The Best of Politically Incorrect, 1997 (ISBN 0-345-41281-8)
• , 2002 (ISBN 0-7432-4251-3)
• When You Ride Alone You Ride With Bin Laden: What the Government Should Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism, 2003 (ISBN 1-893224-90-2)
• Keep the Statue of Liberty Closed: The New Rules, 2004 (ISBN 1-932407-47-2)
• , 2005 (ISBN 1-59486-295-8)

Filmography

• Religulous (2008) .... Himself
• Ferris Wheel (2007)
• The Aristocrats (2005) .... Himself
• Tomcats (2001) (uncredited) .... Carlos
• Edtv (1998) ... Himself
• Bimbo Movie Bash (1997)
• Don't Quit Your Day Job (1996) .... Comic's Table
• Say What? (1992) .... Host
• Pizza Man (1991) .... Elmo Bunn
• Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (1989) ... (aka Jungle Heat or Piranha Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death) .... Jim
• Out of Time (1988) .... Maxwell Taylor
• House II: The Second Story (1987) .... John
• Ratboy (1986) .... Party Guest
• Club Med (1986) .... Rick
• Rags to Riches (1986) (aka Foley and the Girls From St. Mags) .... Freddie
• D.C. Cab (1983) (aka Street Fleet) .... Bill

Television

• (2007) (HBO) ... Himself
• I'm Swiss (2005) (HBO) .... Himself
• (2003) (HBO) .... Himself
• Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) (2003–Present) .... Host
• Just For Laughs (CBC, The Comedy Network) (2002) .... Himself
• Bill Maher: Be More Cynical (2000) (HBO) .... Himself
• Politically Incorrect (Comedy Central and ABC) (1994–2002) .... Host
• Charlie Hoover (1991) .... Elliot
• The Midnight Hour (1990) .... Host
• Max Headroom (1987), season 2 episode 5 Whackets .... Haskel
• Hard Knocks (1987)
• Roseanne Dirty Picture Photographer
• Murder She Wrote Guest role (Season 6)
• Sara (1985) .... Marty Lang

Special appearances

• MADtv (2005) .... himself
• The Man Show' .... himself (cameo in "Jimmy's New Wife" segment)

Director credits

• Ferris Wheel

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Bill Maher

• Bill Maher's official website
• HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" site
• Bill Maher's blog on the Huffington Post
• Bill Maher at the Internet Movie Database
• Bill Maher at the Notable Names Database
• Bill Maher's Remark About Army 'Borders on Treason,' Lawmaker Says (foxnews.com)
• Interview with The Onion A.V. Club
• Larry King Live intereview on Bill Maher's new documentary 'Religulous'

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