Bill Maher’s Liberal Contrarianism

As the veteran late-night comedy hosts have become increasingly political and increasingly partisan, only one of them has managed not to become completely predictable and boring: Bill Maher.

Not counting new entrant Greg Gutfeld, who launched his five-day-a-week show Gutfeld! two weeks ago, the late-night hosts rely heavily on repackaging Democratic Party talking points as jokes. Maher does this too, often. But the host of HBO’s Friday-night mainstay Real Time with Bill Maher is the only one of the left-of-center comics who occasionally says things that might displease his audience. Last February, he committed the triple blasphemy of mocking Bernie Sanders, defending Mike Bloomberg, and suggesting liberals are too quick to cry racism — “Bloomberg must be the front-runner because liberals are calling him a racist.” When his Los Angeles audience booed, Maher chided, “Keep booing. That’s how you lost the last election.” Maher regularly features guests that progressives would very much like ruled out of bounds, such as our colleague Kevin D. Williamson and the apostate from New York Times-ism Bari Weiss, and treats them with respect instead of ridicule.

About the Author

Kyle Smith

Kyle Smith is the film critic for the Wall Street Journal.

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As the veteran late-night comedy hosts have become increasingly political and increasingly partisan, only one of them has managed not to become completely predictable and boring: Bill Maher.

Not counting new entrant Greg Gutfeld, who launched his five-day-a-week show Gutfeld! two weeks ago, the late-night hosts rely heavily on repackaging Democratic Party talking points as jokes. Maher does this too, often. But the host of HBO’s Friday-night mainstay Real Time with Bill Maher is the only one of the left-of-center comics who occasionally says things that might displease his audience. Last February, he committed the triple blasphemy of mocking Bernie Sanders, defending Mike Bloomberg, and suggesting liberals are too quick to cry racism — “Bloomberg must be the front-runner because liberals are calling him a racist.” When his Los Angeles audience booed, Maher chided, “Keep booing. That’s how you lost the last election.” Maher regularly features guests that progressives would very much like ruled out of bounds, such as our colleague Kevin D. Williamson and the apostate from New York Times-ism Bari Weiss, and treats them with respect instead of ridicule.