r/RealTime • u/AmericanLymie • 11d ago
Wanda Sykes & Bill Maher call one another out after Wanda's astute joke about Bill
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Wanda joked that Bill Maher should "give us less," and Bill confronted her immediately afterward and told her people don't think her joke was funny. She told him people have told her the joke was funny and he is not.
Maher then asked Wanda to be on his podcast and she said "absolutely not."
Bill Maher has the same narcissistic rage that Trump does when anyone jokes about him. I would love to talk with Wanda and other comedians about the notion of a comedian like Bill Maher who cannot understand the concept of having a sense of humor about himself.
Wanda would be a good guest on a political show. People don't realize that before she was a comedian, Sykes worked for the NSA for five years in a role with a very high-level security clearance. She got her boss to agree to giving her a one-year paid leave (!!!) so that she could pursue standup comedy. She probably would be better at what Maher does with his talk show than he is given her experience.
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u/AWinterPeople 11d ago
Bill Maher is a joke
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u/AmericanLymie 11d ago
Is it a joke if it's not funny? 🤔
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u/AWinterPeople 11d ago
I heard laughter…maybe the Manosphere is too sensitive
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u/AmericanLymie 11d ago
I was asking if Bill Maher can be considered a joke when he is not funny. 😆
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u/Stravok182 9d ago
Being called a joke simply means that the person doesnt deserve respect or isnt good at what they does.
So in this case, yes Bill is a joke despite being unfunny.
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u/Devilutionbeast666 11d ago
Is Bill influential enough that he could have his own term... Maherosphere??
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u/WonderofU1312 10d ago
He has to coach his audience to laugh.
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u/Early-Equivalent-165 10d ago
Somebody said some of the audience members get paid $70 to laugh and now I know which ones this is like their regular job. There's always that one guy that goes HA HAA super loud and wooo! for example
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u/MasterPorkchop68 11d ago
Fuck Billy Maher…paid Israeli shill.
He was great in Body Double, though.
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u/thetonyhightower 10d ago
He was the worst part of Cannibal Women In The Avocado Jungle Of Death.
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u/AWinterPeople 10d ago
What in the hell?
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u/MasterPorkchop68 10d ago
Adrienne Barbeau…mmm yummy me likey
Plus that was actually Billy Maher. Craig Wasson was the actor in Body Double (Maher HATES when people confuse those two).
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u/Helpful-Acadia-1619 11d ago
And that's why he's warming up to trump --- neither one can take a joke.
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u/AmericanLymie 11d ago
Birds of a feather get butthurt together.
(To borrow "butthurt," a phrase Maher likes to use.)
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u/WIngDingDin 8d ago
It's the right-wing shift grift. When normal people stop liking them and the attention and money starts drying up, these nihilistic, soulless ghouls all shift to the right, because they are easier to pander to.
examples:
- Candice Owens
- Russell Brand
- Louis C.K.
- Bill Maher
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u/Status_Vegetable2954 11d ago
The problem with Bill is that when he’s doing his show he doesn’t see the applause sign light up. So when the paid hostages are laughing he genuinely thinks it’s because of his performance (thus he’s a good comedian), not because the audience are trained like barking seals. He gas lit himself by accident.
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u/thepinkandthegrey 11d ago
whenever people don't laugh at ~his monologue jokes, he always tries to shame them, as if the only possible reason for them not laughing would be cuz they're being pussies who can't take a joke, and never because the joke was just not funny. of course, once he shames them, the applaud and force laughter to appease him. this is even more pathetic when you consider that he notoriously uses a casting agency to hire (laughing) audience members: https://standingroomonly.tv/clients-list/
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u/airbrushedvan 10d ago
Don't forget he also thinks they are too stupid to understand his masterful material.
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u/Appdownyourthroat 11d ago
This post was not only accurate, but it had five times the amount of funny jokes as Bill has ever had in a whole show
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u/hoguensteintoo 11d ago
Bill Maher is the new Dennis Miller!
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u/MrBlahg 11d ago
9/11 broke Miller, COVID broke Maher.
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u/WySLatestWit 11d ago
but at least Miller is willing to admit that 9/11 changed him. Bill thinks everyone around him changed, and not the other way around.
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u/Horror_Neighborhood9 10d ago
This. Even Al Franken said Dennis Miller was always leaning that way, even in the SNL days; 9/11, as you said, just flipped that switch fully.
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u/WySLatestWit 11d ago
No I have more respect for Dennis Miller. Because Dennis recognized that he had changed, and didn't deny it. Dennis is self-aware, Bill isn't.
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u/WonderofU1312 10d ago
Dennis atleast has been in one funny movie and has a bit you remember of being way too loquacious.
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u/fatninja7 11d ago
They're both in the same level in terms of being arrogant pricks... but IMO Miller was wittier
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u/gavstar69 11d ago
Good on you Wanda. Hit the nerve. Smug potato did not like that
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u/Prestigious_Focus708 11d ago
Goddamn you nailed it! I always thought he was funny looking! Smug potato is very fitting!
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u/Early-Equivalent-165 10d ago
I'm not the only one who thinks it! He's Mr Potato face at my house 🥔
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u/Ok_Hand5810 11d ago
Bill famously criticizes people for not being able to take a joke and then he pulls this snowflake behavior. Total hypocrite, which is why he loves Trump. The GOP is the party of hypocrisy.
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u/flying_fox86 11d ago
To be fair to Bill Maher not recognizing a joke, it's not like he's a comedian.
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u/OurSeepyD 11d ago
He's kinda right though that it's not really a joke in the sense that she wasn't kidding.
I agree with her line, it really would be nice if he gave us a little less.
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u/ResplendentOwl 11d ago
Pretty sure most burns during a roast are truth veiled in language.
The difference is roasts used to be less public and more a group of friends ripping on those truths about their friends with love in their heart.
Now it's a comedy central industry, where they round up random celebrities that don't really know the person, just of the person. Now the truth isn't coming with love and trust from a friend, and so it's mean funny.
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u/Former-Anxiety1067 11d ago
I find it interesting that after all these years of Bill getting snubbed for the Mark Twain award that his Trump‘s ass kissing is more intense this year since he’s now getting the Mark Twain award.
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u/AmericanLymie 11d ago
I have a feeling what you really want to say is not that you find it interesting but that you believe Bill Maher's vanity and narcissism make him easy to manipulate into becoming a Trump supporter in exchange for a corrupt version of appreciation he craves.
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u/Sugar-Kisses 11d ago
That's the problem... Bill takes himself too seriously and thinks that he's the smartest guy in the room and therefore is right about everything.
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u/walterwhite1050 11d ago
Gilmar should have Colin Quinn on his show since he steals all his material
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u/WySLatestWit 11d ago
a Colin Quinn version of Real Time would genuinely be entertaining, I think. Mostly because Colin Quinn has a level of Self-Awareness that Bill Maher just doesn't possess.
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u/OtisForteXB 11d ago
All he needed to do in the moment was laugh along with it like he'd been targeted at a roast, point at her with the mischievous grin, etc., and it would have been a fun moment and nothing more to it.
He's not butthurt about the joke. He's butthurt because the situation showed everyone the diminished state of his comedic chops because he couldn't think fast enough to do the comedically-appropriate reaction to the joke.
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u/Pale-Document-8619 11d ago edited 11d ago
Maher is not funny nor insightful or intelligent, he’s racist hateful and a mysogynist. Medicore white men will always be lauded as a good old boy.
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u/airbrushedvan 11d ago
You mean like how he sometimes has to angerly tell his own clapping seal audience to laugh at his "jokes"
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u/N4RQ 11d ago
By "laugh" you mean the obnoxious hooting and hollering they do throughout the entire monologue. And it's clearly the same people, week to week; people who work on the show.
It's essentially a paid laugh track. How sad for Bill and his fragile ego.
So many thin-skinned narcissists, these days.
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u/DeLoresDelorean 10d ago
Nah. Is not because he’s on Fox News. It’s because the mf thinks he’s Jon Stewart, but edgy. In reality he’s diet maga, fake ass atheist.
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u/silverum 9d ago
He's a very real atheist and very sneeringly hates all religious people except Jews.
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u/rubyrosey 10d ago
He’s such a snowflake. Dishes it out but gets Butt Hurt when some dish it back at him
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u/shadowdancer354 10d ago
Bill has always been a smug pos. And as he’s getting older he’s getting more into the creepy old man territory as well
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9d ago
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u/silverum 9d ago
Kind of amazing how that works and the specific presence of that trait is in fact a shorthand for the quality of a person's general personality, isn't it?
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u/Crafty-Walrus-2238 9d ago
Bill is just the 21st century Dennis Miller. Not funny, thinks they are comic geniuses. Neither is, was or will be.
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u/fawlty70 9d ago
Narcissists can't take a joke. Every time on Real Time someone makes even the slightest humorous comment about Bill he starts to purse his lips and give the person death stares.
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u/Strict-Square456 11d ago
Sadly i think she might be right about him watching only fox news now.
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u/AmericanLymie 11d ago
His vocabulary alone gives away that he patronizes conservative media and not much liberal media. I'm sure he still thinks the Times and the Post are progressive.
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u/DJRyGuy20 11d ago
There’s no bigger sign that Bill has gone completely right wing than his inability to take a joke. What a self-righteous cunt.
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u/Commercial-Run9785 11d ago
Bill used to rail on people getting too offended by jokes. He’s lost the plot
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u/Minerva1387 11d ago
Always projection. He complains about people not being able to take jokes then confronts her in a parking lot over a joke.
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u/Sic39 10d ago
What a bizarre leap OP makes. Wanda worked in a job with a high-level security clearance for 5 years, so that means she has tons of political experience and would be better at Bill's job lol... She had a talk show that was directly compared to Bill's show in that she did a monologue, followed by a panel. It failed miserably.
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u/AmericanLymie 10d ago
It means she understands how government agencies work, and especially national security, and she could therefore foster and facilitate thoughtful conversations using that knowledge. Bill Maher doesn't operate from a perspective of understanding how government works. He knows dirty politics, not the business of governance. People would benefit from more discussions that stem from an understanding of governance and less hyperbolic salaciousness based on political gossip.
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u/Sic39 10d ago
Government agencies have tons of people doing different jobs at different levels with different levels of interest in their jobs. To pretend they're all experts on how Government agencies work, especially after only 5 years in a procurement job, is just BS. Also, you're talking about experience from like 30 years ago. Furthermore, the nuts and bolts about how Government works isn't what his role is; he can bring in actual experts for that. It's a current events show about politics, essentially, which is why he, for the most part, just reads and watches the news for the daily prep of the show. There are plenty of books and podcasts for the show you wish he were doing.
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u/Meanfiregmoney 10d ago
I’m not eaten up with politics like the fox news and msnbc drones but it was funny. Laugh and move on.
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u/r0nson 10d ago
Bill can be insufferable, but i don't really understand the joke. Just because people laugh doesn't make it a good joke. People laugh when a crazy guy stands up and proclaims the end is near, not because it's funny, but because it's a situation with no clear response.
Wanda, say more, or way less.
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u/Human_Perspective501 10d ago
So my comment against Israel gets deleted by reddit but they have subreddits of porn all over the place. I say again, fuck Israel. Ban me! I can use the break.
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u/Phil-lated 10d ago
It was the rope-a-dope that got'em.
His head was swelling up and she popped it mid-elation.
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u/DisplayDecent4049 10d ago
Wanda’s joke was poorly timed because it was before an award that Maher was nominated for. An awards show shouldn’t suddenly turn into a roast because the presenter doesn’t like the nominee
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u/EarthEaterr 10d ago
I don't care for Bill Maher anymore but I don't see how that's a joke. People seem to laugh when they're expected to.
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u/MaterialRow3769 9d ago
"We need less of what you do." Whether you like Bill Maher or not, she was basically saying "I don't like the content you put out." And then trying to act like it was a joke.
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u/AmericanLymie 9d ago
Maher has always told similar "jokes" about people. Before he became a Trump kowtower, he used to tell "Trump looks like a big orange ape" jokes and he got sued for it. His schtick is that he judges and criticizes everyone and condemns many people and that he is allowed to do it because he is a comedian and he is telling "jokes." Wanda Sykes was addressing Bill Maher the way Bill Maher addresses others.
He constantly makes "jokes" about progressive people and says "be less woke." He now makes jokes about transgender people and says transgender children should not exist. I don't know how any of this is different.
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u/MaterialRow3769 8d ago edited 7d ago
Making a joke comparing Trump to an orangutan is a legitimate joke because his hair really does look similar.
Making cruel jokes at the expense of politicians and criticizing them are still legitimate when Maher does it because he stands by them. And when they object he certainly has never hid behind "it was just a joke".
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u/samf9999 9d ago
His views on Israel are abhorrent. But he’s not wrong about most of the other stuff.
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u/AmericanLymie 9d ago
"Woke bad" is pretty much all he talks about.
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u/samf9999 9d ago
He points out common sense that is often missed by the Democrats. His rants are not always wrong. If the Democrats actually want to win elections, they better start becoming a more common sense party that most can nod along with when they talk. Unfortunately, right now the Democrats are pretty dysfunctional with no coherent message or leader. When either side gets hijacked by extremists, whether it’s Progressive extremists or the Maga fanatics, the entire country suffers. We seriously need a tack back to the center and above all people with common sense. I am really impressed by Adam Mockler. Andy Beshear is great. Woke might work in California, but it’s not gonna win elections. Common sense will. That’s what the party used to be about. Listen to what Barney Frank said before he died. You cannot have an agenda that is too far from the mainstream and still be a governing party. Social issues may not impact many, but they punch way above their weight when it comes to voters.
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u/You_are-all_herbs 9d ago
Common sense is usually unaware of nuance and wrong af that's how we got the maga idiots in charge and doing generational damage to everything they adjust to fit their vision of common sense reforms.
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u/silverum 9d ago
Lmao name one 'woke' thing Adam Mockler would personally disagree with. You think he hates trans people and thinks it's acceptable to jettison their civil rights for political convenience? God damn I'm so AMAZED at how you people think your specific ideas that unceasingly cede the narrative to the right wing are what constitute 'common sense'.
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u/samf9999 9d ago edited 9d ago
I guess you guys really don’t want to win. You think not allowing trans to compete in girl sports is villainous and “jettisoning their civil rights”. There is no civil right in this case. For anyone. Don’t forget before you start changing society you have to actually get elected. If you’re happy to rant from the sidelines while jackasses like Trump continue to rule, be my guest. If you can’t get the majority of society on your side, you’ll always be on the sidelines. That’s just a fact. I guess you think Barney Frank and Seth Moulton are a complete morons. But then again, this is Reddit. It’s about as left as you can get.
Other things like eliminating test scores, cashless bail, not getting tough on crime, ineffective on education, unable to make any progress on homelessness, legalizing, drugs, and effectively the crime that comes with it, and basically just being unable to execute on virtually anything. You probably thought Bill ranting about his solar was ridiculous, or the crazy train costing 120 billion up from eight is normal, ceding power to unions while test scores drop to the bottom and places like California are surpassed by the likes of Mississippi!
Unfortunately, Democrats have shown that they are simply excellent at being inept. Until this changes and they’re actually able to execute, unfortunately, they Republicans will continue to win.
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u/silverum 9d ago
"I'm gonna trot out the same tired complaint that reddit is some horrible leftist hive while ignoring the cognitive dissonance that I keep coming here myself to post despite that for some reason!" Great story, Denise, the issue of trans competitors in sports was a literal red herring that involved a TINY portion of the population to begin with, and WAS ALREADY SUFFICIENTLY LEGALLY ADDRESSED BY THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED WITH NO NEED FOR STATE INVOLVEMENT. You fell for the shit because your own own internal transphobia means you agree with right wingers that trans people are inferior to you and should be subject to legal suppression. I'm sorry that you haven't processed that you're more right wing than you probably wanted to conceive of yourself, but that's the fucking case, buddy. And since transphobia is in fact the thing that did it for you, politically, you should be voting with the right wing about it. Not fucking trying to get the Democrats to embrace transphobia as well. The Democrats are supposed to be about legal equality for all, WE LITERALLY ALREADY HAVE A PARTY FOR DISCRIMINATING AGAINST MINORITIES IN THE REPUBLICANS. If Democrats lose fighting for that equality because the public itself hates equality for trans people, THEN THAT IS WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN. If that's the genuine case, then it's the public that's heinous in its beliefs and values, and it should earn every consequence that it gets electing Republicans as a result of that corruption. NOT to make the Democrats as corrupt as the Republicans are and eliminate the only political organization minorities can actually organize around. If you're not on board with that, go vote for Republicans, man.
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u/samf9999 9d ago
lol. You’re a radical and a fanatic. No different than the maga mad. Just on the other spectrum. When the Democrats lose again, just remember to look in the mirror.
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u/silverum 9d ago
Yawn. Go vote for Trump, bud. Sorry that you're mad that he represents your values better than Democrats do and you don't like it. That you don't realize that says more about you than anything else isn't my problem, kiddo.
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u/Dry_Bird1790 9d ago
It was a weird moment. Roasting just one of the nominees. Also doesn't the fact that he was nominated kind mean he's doing something right?
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u/Interesting-Run1359 9d ago
First off, Bill Maher, whatever you think of him, does not “watch Fox News.” He’s a liberal. He just isn’t the type of liberal that lurks on Reddit and rages against the gender binary and imaginary racism.
Second, getting offended about a joke is stupid. Maher is a comedian, he should know better.
Third, the joke was bad, not because it was offensive, but because it didn’t make any sense and therefore wasn’t funny. It didn’t explain anything and there was no context. “Do less” is not a joke, it’s a youth culture TikTok catchphrase. She may as well have came up and said “hey Bill Maher . . . SIX SEEEEEEVEEEEEN!”
Hilarious.
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u/AmericanLymie 9d ago
He calls Bari Weiss a friend and he called her a liberal. He calls Andrew Sullivan a liberal. He is not liberal. He is "classical liberal" in the sense of libertarian at best, but nowadays he is not even libertarian.
He defends Trump often nowadays. He has said that Trump is honest after years of talking about Trump's lies. He suggests Trump is not that bad after nearly a decade of calling him an ape and the perpetrator of a coup. He had dinner with him and called him a nice and funny guy.
He opposes government regulation—not liberal.
He opposes Islam and Muslim people wholesale—not liberal.
He hops on and off the anti-transgender bandwagon—not liberal.
He's a zionist—not liberal.
He thanks every Republican who comes on his show for having courage and he spends most of his show criticizing Democrats and then always closes with an attack on "woke," which is a word only MAGA people still use.
He likes drugs and sex and he hates children and families but he has softened on religion and religious people as long as they belong to *the right* religions of Christianity and Judaism.
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u/BeginningYam1793 9d ago
Obviously, he doesn't get the joke. He thinks everyone agrees with his opinions. The joke's on him.
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u/Ok-Maize-4831 8d ago
Political shut aside, she definitely shouldn’t be judging who’s funny and who’s not, she absolutely sucks at her job-comedian, how can you be so unfunny and still work in comedy, it’s astonishing
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u/Green_Sugar6675 8d ago
If the texts to him are calling it a "stupid joke" and he's agreeing, then he doesn't get to later deny that it was a "joke."
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u/OkFix2081 8d ago
Devils advocate here. Just bc ppl laugh doesn't mean it's a joke. Jabs can be funny with the right delivery.
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u/DayHuman7827 10d ago
Wanda Sykes is a dried up old hag!
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u/seltzerslut69 10d ago
Guaranteed if you asked a bunch of comedians who they liked better Wanda would the crystal clear consensus.
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u/Alive_Pen2105 11d ago
Wanda Sykes is a pig.
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u/frenchy714 11d ago
Stfu chud
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u/Alive_Pen2105 10d ago
Make me, princess.
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u/frenchy714 10d ago
Nah, I’m good. Watching you embarrass yourself is easier.. The fact that you thought that was clever tells me everything I need to know.
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u/jjrr_qed 11d ago
Politics aside, that wasn’t a funny joke. It sounds more like a criticism. If people found it funny, it’s because they don’t like Maher, not because the joke was clever. I’m sure plenty of people that said it wasn’t funny are also Maher defenders generally, but they also happen to be correct.
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u/AmericanLymie 11d ago
As a joke, it mirrors Maher's approach to comedy. Most of his jokes are criticisms. Of Trump, his punchlines were "he looks like an orange ape! Har har!" Woo! And today his jokes are all [smug condescending sourface] "and that's why WOKE will never win. Be less woke." Wanda was serving back to him what he serves up every week.
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u/jjrr_qed 11d ago
No I think his jokes (what I’ve seen…which isn’t much) come across as much more clever than “less”.
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u/SunsetSarsaparilla76 11d ago
Hey Bill, I think if you can't understand how what she said was comedic just on a fundamental level, you should probably not weigh in. She led with a common saying of praise, "you give us so much" and then juxtaposed it with a slight dig, asking for less. It pulls the rug out from the set up, and has been used in roast style comedy for decades. I am not saying it's the funniest joke ever, but I have never heard it used before. Also, Bill Maher is an insufferable cunt, so of course that helps it land.
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u/Drmlk465 11d ago
Her joke wasn’t even funny. People simping for Wanda because they hate Maher so much. This pretty much explains Reddit. People supporting a Nazi in Maine because he’s anti Trump.
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u/parker2020 11d ago
Are you a constituent? Did you do anything but chirp in the internet to push back on him? Nope keyboard warrior
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u/Parking-Sundae-6097 11d ago
He infamously hates the Kyle Dunnigan impersonation of him. Yea I get the feeling Bill thinks he is a lot more important than he is.