Comedian Bill Maher surely has a hate/love relationship with the Bush administration, the Republican Party and the religious right. The hate stems from The Decider's utter incompetence at home and abroad, the equally mind-boggling actions of his fellow elephants, and the hypocrisy continuously spewed from the zealots. But, it's those same things that Maher has to begrudgingly love, because they all provide genius comedic material on a daily basis. In other words, they make his job much easier.As you would expect from the host of HBO's 'Real Time with Bill Maher,' Maher's performance at The Comedy Festival focused on all the above-mentioned subjects, with no punches pulled. I only wish he would have chastised the audience, who started complaining and yelling at the empty stage when he was 15 minutes late starting. Fifteen minutes!! If you're that impatient, you probably shouldn't leave the house.
Once onstage, Maher made up for his damn-near-unforgivable lateness, with a solid set of insightful, ranting-style political humor. Then I realized that I have my own love/hate thing with Maher. I love the laughs he provides me while pointing out the absurdities in our country, but when the laughter dies, I hate how angry I become thinking about those very absurdities. But,, that's why I went to see Maher in the first place. If I wanted to go to a comedy show where I could check my brain at the door, I would have gone to see Carrot Top. (Who's very funny by the way.)
