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Post by Jazz on Mar 30, 2010 21:44:58 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2010 17:33:18 GMT
Really interesting, but with the perpetual problem of "outsiders" never knowing what is really true and what is a joke. And of course, things change all the time. In the election two weeks ago, only 51% of the population voted.
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Post by Jazz on Nov 4, 2011 16:09:32 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2011 18:12:55 GMT
Those are both excellent.
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Post by bjd on Nov 4, 2011 19:10:42 GMT
I find annoying that he pauses after every line, while he smirks, waiting for the laughter.
Who is this guy? A talk show host?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2011 19:16:57 GMT
(Frankly, I know nothing about him or his show either, but I took it at face value considering the way each and every comedy show in the United States is done -- The Daily Show, David Letterman, etc. etc. -- they all smirk and wait for the laughter. It's one of the conventions of the genre. Luckily, they are all recorded, so if the laughter does not come, that bit is cut out of the program. It's the American way.)
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Post by Jazz on Nov 4, 2011 22:33:52 GMT
Bill Maher is one of a small group of American comedians who try to inject a note of realism into the current US political scene. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are 2 others, all have their own television shows, all on cable television.
In 2001, Maher had a mainstream half hour show called Politically Incorrect on one of the mainstream networks. Restrained, since it was mainstream. A few days after 9/11 happened, he unfortunately commented (roughly) ‘that although this was a shocking tragedy, you had to admit that the pilots of the planes had guts to drive into the buildings.’
A huge furor ensued and his show was immediately cancelled. A few years later he was given his own hour long show on HBO which is doing well.
Given the current state of American television coverage of current politics, I totally enjoyed this. The coverage appears to be deteriorating with each day as the election nears. ( is this possible?) Polarized, repetitive sound bytes. When asked to comment on Obama’s suggestion to raise taxes on the wealthy 1%, 99.9 of Republicans who grace the airwaves include in the first few sentences of their boring, uncreative and unproductive mantra, ’What!!!...tax the job creators !!!’ They usually ignore all other relevent aspects of the discussion. Actually, there doesn’t appear to be any reasonable, intelligent discussion.
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Post by fumobici on Nov 4, 2011 23:03:19 GMT
I've pretty much given up on television but for political/social commentary the only sane voices I've heard on the idiot box are Maher/Colbert/Stewart- all comedians. That says something I'm sure about American society, but I'm honestly not sure what precisely. We are a nation of idiots but are hilarious as objects of mocking scorn I guess.
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Post by rikita on Nov 5, 2011 19:42:22 GMT
i watch the daily show and the colbert report quite often, haven't watch bill maher much so far, but might start watching that more often too... (the result of watching that is though that i sometimes know more about american politics, or at least the view of those shows on them, than about german politics... then again, there is a growing number of people here that seems to use a similar retoric than some republicans, so a lot of the jokes work here too...)
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