© Randy Miramontez (on Sacramento Press).
We had tickets to Bill Maher on Friday night.
Holy goodness.
It’s been one of the best comedy shows I’ve ever been to.
To my absolute delight, we found out that we had seats in the 5th row from the stage. (I wasn’t even aware that I had purchased such good seats until we got to the venue.) Comedy is much better, the closer you sit to the stage. Obviously. And we weren’t disappointed.
There was no warm up act that was followed by a lukewarm, lackadaisical 45 minute-show. Not that I expected that from someone like Bill Maher anyway, because I think he’s serious about everything he does. But from the very moment that he walked on stage, he owned the place and he had fun doing so. For over 1,5 hours he skewered the GOP candidates, the Tea Party, religious fanaticism and underlined the importance of equal rights and integrity.
I think Bill Maher is one of the most articulate, provocative political comedians of our time. Admittedly, sometimes he’s really pushing it and your eyes widen and your jar drops and you think to yourself “I can’t believe he actually said that”, but that’s his signature, that’s what he is all about. He wants to provoke, he wants to offend, because he’s not willing to let people get away with shit.
I am a big fan of his show “Real Time with Bill Maher” on HBO. He always has a slue of interesting guests – both from the political right and left, as well as actors, activists and other comedians – and is not afraid to ask uncomfortable questions. He tends to take everything with a grain of salt, but also doesn’t hesitate to call people on their BS.
I know, opinions are divided about him. It’s either you love him or you hate him. He doesn’t leave much room for indecision.
BUT: If you do like him (and I hope you do!) and if he’s doing a show anywhere near you, do yourself a favor and go see him. It’s absolutely worth it.
And if you don’t like him, I leave you with a somewhat provocative statement from one of the commentators on the Sacramento Press website, who stated correctly:
“The dismissiveness and dislike of Maher shows louder than words that he’s striking a nerve – and he is doing so because, uh, he’s right.”