Real Time with Bill Maher2003

But as for the overall approach, it's hard to nick any latenighter that actually tries to say something and doesn't have a sidekick or a bandleader. From the Twin Tower reconstruction efforts to duct tape mania to his ceremonial kick in the ass after ABC dumped him, Maher alone is ready to take on the universe, and that's a gutsier fight than most.

I always find it crazy when I log onto the HBO app on Sundays to watch 'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver' just to have this hack as the first recommendation for me to watch - then I have to dig through their horrible app just to find LWT. No HBO, I do not want to watch this guy complain about liberals and his complaints with installing his fkn solar panels on his hooker bang shed. This guy can't help but gawk down every load from every billionaire in his proximity and then try to regurgitate it to his audience. That's gonna be a hard pass. Now put John Oliver at the front of my queue FFS.

There's also more of Maher in the new show, and it's no big surprise that more Maher is less. He's a jerk of the old school, full of unexamined anxiety and arrogance, with a habit of using sexual stereotypes from half a century ago both to put down and to compliment people. [17 Mar 2003, p.152]