Politically Incorrect – And Loving It

Bill Maher was on fire on Thursday night at the Colosseum in Caesars Palace during the Comedy Festival. The recent mid-term elections bringing back power to the democrats did nothing to cool him off, and as a result, the audience wins.

His hour long show started a half hour early or a half hour late, depending on who you ask. It was originally scheduled for 10:30pm, but moved to 9:30pm after Dave Chappelle unexpectedly cancelled his earlier show. As a result, there were quite a few empty seats, but it didn’t stop Maher from putting on a full scale performance.

The stage was empty, save for a music stand with some notes on it, but by himself, he managed to fill the room with authority. His jokes were received with the same kind of applause that a politician would get during a campaign speech, except those politicians were the target of most of his jokes, and Maher was actually telling the truth.

After attacking recently disgraced Mark Foley (something about text messages and young boys…) and Ted Haggard (prostitutes and crystal meth, perhaps?), he added, “I now know why Republicans are against gay marriage… they want more young single gay boys to have sex with.”

Of course there were plenty of jabs at President Bush, even calling him a “retarded cowboy with a learning disability.” He continued with plenty of political commentary that would please any fan of his HBO show “Real Time with Bill Maher,” but it wasn’t all political.

He also went into religion, which he flat out “hates.” It’s hard to give any examples of his religious material because the stories are just too vile to print, and the bad part is it’s all based on real, so-called religious, moral people. Good ol’ boys like Mark Foley and Ted Haggard to start anyway. One thing he specifically hates though are those people’s version of sexual education, in which condoms are 50 percent likely to break during intercourse. “Either I’m the luckiest man in the world – which I’m not – or condoms never ever break,” he yelled in frustration.

On a short, but extremely funny, tangent, he went off on technology. “An 18 year old Incubus fan can crash the internet,” he lamented, “cell phones work whenever the hell they want, but do you know what does work all the time… condoms!” He blames America though, including the audience watching the show, for being distracted by these new shiny toys such as cell phones and iPods.

Other material moved on to Michael Jackson, OJ Simpson, more on the Internet, and sex, but the majority of the show, as it should be, was about politics. I know I left the show with an even greater appreciation for Maher’s brand of comedy, and I’d imagine the rest of the crowd felt the same way. Political comedy is a big game right now with the success of others like John Stewart and Steven Colbert, but Bill Maher just may be at the head of the pack. I can’t wait to see what he has to say once the ’08 elections come around.