Bill Maher Brings Political Humor to NSU

Stefani Rubino, Managing/Opinions Editor

Issue date: 4/14/09 Section: Variety

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Political comedian Bill Maher talks about politics, the economy, poisoned American food and religion, to a crowd of hundreds on April 11, 2009 in the Don Taft University Center Arena.

On April 11, NSU hosted comedian and talk-show host Bill Maher at the Don Taft University Center Arena. The arena was packed from the floor to the upper level seats, as people waited patiently for Maher to walk onto the stage.

At around 8:30 p.m., Maher finally made his way onto center stage, wondering exactly where he was.

"Where am I? Is this some kind of gym? I've never done my act in a gym before. This should be interesting," he said laughing.

Quickly after that, he dived straight into the comedy. Like Maher's show, "Real Time with Bill Maher," most of the jokes revolved around American politics, the Obama and McCain campaigns, the ridiculousness of Republicans and religion and why the U.S. is in the situation it is currently. He started the show with a few jokes about the recession.

"I was in Orlando last night. You can really see how hard they're being hit by the recession when even Disney is laying people off. There's only like three dwarfs left and about eight of those Dalmatians. And the food court is selling something called 'Korean Barbeque' now."

The crowd was a little hasty to laugh at the "Korean Barbeque" joke, but Maher swiftly snapped back explaining that the night would only get worse from there, and that the audience should get used to it.

His act moved onto talk about how much things have changed since Obama has been in office, even going so far as to call Obama "Chocolate Thunder" because "he has achieved a lot in a short amount of time." He told the audience about how many reporters have been calling him asking him if the comedy is going to stop now that Bush is no longer the president.

He joked, "Look, Obama is not some infallible chocolate Jesus…that's Kanye West you're thinking of. Of course, the comedy isn't going to stop. Obama is human; He's bound to make mistakes."

Maher's comedy has an incredibly unique effect. While he is extremely funny, he has this ability to make a crowd laugh hysterically and then pause to process and agree with the problems he is pointing out. This was especially apparent later on in his act, when he began to talk about conservatives, healthcare, immigration, religion and the environment.

Continued...

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