Everything about Bill Maher totally explained
William Maher, Jr., (; 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 host 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,
religion,
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 and serves on the board of
PETA. He is also an outspoken critic of religion and is an advisory board member of
The Reason Project. 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. Maher was raised in his
Irish American father's
Catholic religion, and didn't find out that his mother was
Jewish until his teenage years. 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 and
History 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's 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 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"; however, some have questioned the validity of Maher's self-proclaimed
libertarianism, describing him as a
center-left liberal. and the kind of "old-fashioned" Republican he appreciated. 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.
Maher is a board member of
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals 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. He also maintains that mass consumption of
high fructose corn syrup is a contributor to the American obesity epidemic. On the
August 11,
2005, episode of
Larry King Live, Maher said he wasn't a
vegetarian, adding "...but I don't eat a lot of meat."
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's 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.
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. can't 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.
Regarding the
2008 US Presidential Election, Bill Maher has announced his support for Barack Obama.
Criticism of 9/11 conspiracy theories
Maher has been a frequent critic of
9/11 conspiracy theories, stating for instance on the September 14, 2007 edition of
Real Time, "Crazy people who still think the government brought down the Twin Towers in a controlled explosion have to stop pretending that
I'm the one who's being naïve. How big a lunatic do you've to be to watch two giant airliners packed with jet fuel slam into buildings on live TV, igniting a massive inferno that burned for two hours, and then think, 'well, if you believe
that was the cause...' "
On October 19, 2007 Maher had several conspiracy theorist hecklers ejected from his show audience when they interrupted the show numerous times by calling out from the audience. This drew significant media attention and even praise from Fox News talk show host and frequent critic
John Gibson, who stated, "I bet next week I'll be angry or annoyed at something Maher says. But this week, it's hats off to Bill for a job well done."
Views on religion
Maher is highly critical of
organized religion, which he once described as a
neurological disorder that justifies crazies and stops people from thinking. 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 doesn't 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, pointing out 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". 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 [aScientologist], 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 happens 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.
Most recently, Maher has declared himself an
apatheist instead of an agnostic on
Scarborough Country on
April 24th
2007.
On a February 5th, 2008 episode of Larry King Live, Maher issued a comment calling all people of the Mormon faith "shapeshifters".
Bill Maher is an advisory board member of author
Sam Harris's
The Reason Project.
Anti-Catholicism
Although Maher admits his aversion against all forms of organized religion, he's been particularly criticized for his controversial comments about the Catholic Church. Catholic League's 2003 Report on Anti-Catholicism claimed that, following the
2002 clergy sex abuse scandal, "no one insulted Catholics more than Bill Maher". On May 7, 2002, on Politically Incorrect, Maher himself stated "I have hated the Church way before anyone else."
In his April 11, 2008 New Rules segment, Maher made a number of anti-catholic remarks, in particular, drawing comparison lines between cults and religions
("If you've a few hundred followers, and you let some of them molest children, they call you a cult leader. If you've a billion, they call you Pope."), calling Catholic Church the
"Bear Stearns of organized pedophilia", and calling Pope Benedict XVI a Nazi (
"he used to be a Nazi and he wears funny hats!") alluding to his mandatory
adolescent involvement with
Hitler Youth.
Maher's comments have drawn numerous criticisms and protests from a wide range of Catholicism-related groups and individuals, including demands for Maher's resignation and calls of a boycott of
Real Time and Time Warner-HBO by the conservative organization
American Life League. The president of the
Catholic League,
William A. Donohue, dismissed the comical nature of Maher's editorial and accused him in "making things up" . In the following show, Maher pointed out that the remarks in question were made in a comedic context and, while not explicitly apologizing, promised not to call Pope Benedict a Nazi again. He also expressed his regret that the controversy distracted people from his main point, the role of the Pope in the
Church's sex abuse scandal, and commented that the Catholic League had nothing to rebut his remarks on that particular subject.
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Views on Health Care
Bill Maher has expressed the view that illness is generally the result of poor diet and that medicine isn't the best way of addressing illness, a view common among proponents of
Alternative Medicine, and that the "government subsides illness".
In an episode of the show about the 2008 Presidential Candidates’ health plans, Maher states that poor nutrition is the primary cause of illness, he goes on to say that “the answer isn’t another pill.”
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, in which he agreed with guest conservative
political commentator Dinesh D'Souza that the 9/11 terrorists were not cowards. He 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."
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, 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 isn't a time for remarks like that..."
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 First Amendment 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'd — I've two dogs — if I'd 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's been a contributing
blogger at
The Huffington Post.
On
January 13,
2006, Maher hosted
Larry King Live on
CNN, on which he's a frequent guest.
The show's first guests included
Dean Koontz and
The 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 produced and wrote 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.
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.
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 that Maher didn't 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 Johnsen and that "California law doesn't allow for the
palimony suit brought by Ms. Johnsen." 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 made controversial remarks about 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 as bad as it was widely deemed 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." Immediately after Maher's statement, Ferguson ended the interview.
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.
Credits
Bibliography
Filmography
Religulous (2008) .... Himself
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
(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) .... Bob
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
(2000) (HBO) .... Himself
Politically Incorrect (Comedy Central and ABC) (1994–2002) .... Host
(1997) (HBO) .... Himself
Married With Children (Fox) (1992-1993) .... season 7 episode "You can't miss" "Adam Gold" Host of You can't miss show
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)Further Information
Get more info on 'Bill Maher'.
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