Whatever. I’ve seen him do stand-up and I think he’s funny, but it’s not like Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert or Conan O’Brien write/wrote all or even most of their own material.
Yeah I got the tone right away. It is something John Oliver would say. And there is some truth to it. I loved the Daniel O’Brien Cracked videos (like After Hours) and he works for John Oliver now. There’s some bits Oliver does that’s just so Daniel O’Brien.
I don’t think of Jon as all that funny. I listen to him for his honest and intelligent takes. He could be the least funny person in the world and I’d still listen to him.
I agree the show has mastered this technique. But counterpoint, empathize with an audience that isn’t liberal. As a leftist, I’m rarely learning from this show. But this method helps me laugh at, rather than get angry at, our enemy. Leftists need to have fun.
He is too busy preparing to prove how insultingly unfunny he is. He won’t be doing all the parts of the show that require writers so he is just going to be profoundly wrong and shite for 60 minutes.
I heard he pays writers better than all the other late night shows because as a writer you have to deal with working with Bill Maher.
The worst thing about Maher as a performer is that he berates his audience when they don’t like his joke. I did professional stand-up for a few years and that’s like breaking unspoken rule #1. Even if the room is a shit room, you don’t act like they’re a shit room.
Stewart Lee does a bit where he breaks this rule deliberately, but it works explicitly because part of the joke is the audience realising what he’s doing, and also because it’s planned in advance so he can make sure he’s got it right
I never noticed how insidious this was. I thought it was really funny at first. Like oh, I groaned and he’s reminding me to have fun. But he has taken it to mean his audience needs to be exposed to grifters and harmful talking points disguised as “challenging ideas”
I mean I really kept watching Bill after he dropped the N-word, I am a die hard comedy fan and it’s effectively impossible to cross the line with me. But Bill Maher is completely full of shit.
Thats just a fundraiser with extra steps. Just checked and John Olivers annual salary is $8M a year for his current HBO show. Thats about 80-150 peoples worth of funding he could do but he would prefer you guys do it.
Yea he is fundraising and giving his weight to an issue rather than donating his own wages. John does deserve to keep the money he earns after working as a writer for like twenty years.
Yes, money he would not make without a team of people behind him; however, him making money does not exclude him from supporting others. If anything, his actions could help support more than his money could. Fixing a broken system is also better than just slapping a quick fix in the form of a check.
So would paying a little piece back by showing support for those people perhaps help to tip the scale a little less? Sure, they aren’t balanced, but one shouldn’t ignore progress just because the job isn’t over yet.
And I would suggest the admiration should be earned, but I also have a hard time thinking of another entertainment platform that brings up issues and spot lights real problems that may go under reported. Using popularity to try and increase public awareness seems pretty admirable.
Go listen to Strike Force 5, the podcast with all the late night hosts! Any profits they make from it (and their sponsors, mostly Ryan Reynold’s businesses) also go to helping their staff!
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