Monday, April 19, 2010

Allahpundit of HotAir deconstructs Bill Maher's role in the lefty landscape

A nice little dissertation by AllahPundit on where Bill Maher fits in the "lefty landscape". It turns into a nice wrestling style promo by the end with AllahPundit undervaluing Maher's accomplishments.
Video: And now, an important message from Bill Maher about tea partiers
...As lame as it is, I find the clip interesting as a window onto Maher’s place in the lefty media landscape. He’s not quite a comedian — the jokes here, such as they are, are simply terrible — and he’s not quite a serious pundit either, yet not only does he have his own show on premium cable, he’s in demand by cable news nets as a commentator on current affairs. Does anyone else get quite that much notoriety for filling this niche? Coulter and Dennis Miller are obvious comparisons, the former because she’s a provocateur, the latter because he’s a comedian turned pundit, but neither one has their own television show. It’s not like the left is starved for comic opinion, either. Stewart and Colbert run rings around this tool every weeknight and people like Patton Oswalt, Sarah Silverman, and David Cross are both sharply left and (at times) sharply funny. How does “Real Time with Bill Maher” exist but not, say, “Real Time with Zach Galifianakis”? Maybe that’s Maher’s secret — that, unknown to the public at large, behind the scenes he’s simply a genius of self-promotion. That would explain a lot; rarely has someone blessed with so little achieved so much.
VIDEO: Bill Maher On Tea Party: “Why Let The Truth Spoil A Perfectly Good Klan Rally”


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