Friday, Nov. 28, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Welcome to what we at the SUN refer to, in the jargon of our profession, as the "Bill Maher preview article." It's purpose: to fill space, mostly, but, secondarily, to inform readers that the host of TV's "Politically Incorrect" is bringing his standup comedy act to the Las Vegas Hilton.
Your Bill Maher preview article is simple and easy to use and can be made from ordinary items found around the office: A few old issues of Time and Vanity Fair -- what we call "background material" -- some quotes from Maher himself and a few miscellaneous nouns and verbs. Some assembly is required.
Step 1: A quick Maherian riff on the news of the day. Since Maher ringmasters "Politically Incorrect" on ABC, a late-night show in which four disparate people trade savage quips about current events, readers will expect some humorous but topical commentary.
"I'm very much against the septuplets," Maher vents from the "P.I." set, where he's about to tape a discussion of the Iowa Seven with singer Shawn Colvin, actor Tom Arnold, director Peter Bogdanovich and conservative filmmaker Holly McClure.
Because he is, as the show's title suggests, politically incorrect, it's only natural that Maher deviates from the national goochy-gooing. He doesn't think this is cute at all! "I think it's crazy," he snorts. The "litter" of kids, as Maher characterizes them, is likely have a tricky life vexed by medical and developmental problems.
"I saw the father saying, 'God gave us these kids.' Actually, God was telling you not to have kids (the couple resorted to fertility drugs to have the children)." Funny and newsy!
Step 2: Sprinkle the story liberally with plays on his name (pronounced "mar." Such as: with a rebel yell, they cried "Maher, Maher, Maher." Or bigger, better, faster, Maher. Or the Maher, the merrier. It's fun, easy and completely safe if properly handled!
Step 3: Mention the show again. Maher began "Politically Incorrect" on Comedy Central four years ago, envisioning it as a hip salon where interesting people discussed interesting topics. Last year, it docked behind ABC's "Nightline," where it is flourishing.
Step 3a: Quote an eminent television critic: "It's a real good show, a real interesting show, but it's not as wonderful as people claim," says eminent TV critic Mike Hughes of the Lansing, Mich., State Journal (whose musings, protocol requires us to note, appear daily in the SUN). "Like any show that's on four or five days a week, it can be average. But when it's good, it's really, really good."
Step 3b: Remember to demonstrate your mastery of the subject by citing your "background material." "One could argue that rather than a cheap brain trip, 'Politically Incorrect' represents a democratic celebration of the fact that one need not live within the Beltway to have a point of view." (Rolling Stone)
"Affecting neither David Letterman's iconically apathetic cool nor Jay Leno's rote giddiness, Maher has drawn a surprisingly large audience to his witty round table ..." (Time magazine)
' "P.I.' brings together celebrity pundits to discuss current events, with no pesky emphasis put on actual knowledge." (Vanity Fair)
Step 3c: Enough about the show already!
Step 4: Ask Maher why he still bothers to do standup when the show is doing well. "That's a good question," he allows.
Step 4a: Insert self-deprecating quip here. "I ask myself that question a lot -- "why am I getting on this plane at 8 in the morning?' At times like that I answer, 'I don't know.' But when I walk out on stage, the answer is very clear."
That's when Bill Maher gets The Clap. People hear the words "Bill Maher" and cheer raucously, a feeling he sampled rarely during his years in comedy's anonymous lower orders.
"It's rewarding to get at least a little time in as a known entity, where people are actually coming to see you instead of just comedy in general." And because the audience feels it knows you, it works with you. "You can do more," he says. "You can go more places with them," although the likelihood of Maher and audience actually leaving the Hilton showroom together is small.
Step 5: Humanize him a little; illustrate a frailty or vulnerability. Maher also keeps his back to the faux-brick wall of standup comedy because he knows fear: "Because 'Politically Incorrect' came out of my act always being politically incorrect," he says, "I guess I'm afraid of abandoning the golden goose that started this thing, afraid I'll lose my bearings. So I still do it."
Step 5a: Humanize him a little harder. Maher's standup isn't always a standout. Summoned to perform for the 1995 Radio and Television Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C. -- in the audience of which sat Bill and Hillary Clinton -- Maher delivered a monologue rife with the F word and containing ethnic and gay jokes. The crowd groaned; it did not -- with a rebel or any other sort of yell -- cry "Maher, Maher, Maher." He did not get The Clap. President Clinton was reportedly unamused.
More recently, Maher's appearance on this year's CableAce awards was widely deemed tepid, unfunny. Yet, touchingly, he retains his faith in the golden goose.
Step 6: Dig behind the scenes to explain how "Politically Incorrect" works. "The format is very intimidating," Maher says. Loud guests -- a spazzing Chris Farley being a recent example -- can take over a show. Worse still are guests who clam up.
"It's much more of a problem that people don't talk," Maher says. "If they talk too much, I have no problem saying, 'Shut up,' " although his general attitude is, the Maher the merrier. Another problem: "Although we tell them hundreds of times not to, comedians try to slip in their material." Maher prefers unscripted yak, straight from the horse's mouth (in Farley's case), or the mouths of babes (in pundit Laura Ingraham's case).
The recipe for a successful show, straight from the "P.I." test kitchen: 1 funny person; 1 famous face, to season; 1 conservative; 1 wild card, to taste. Stir vigorously.
"Maher's opening monologue is great," says Hughes. "And when he gets the right guests ..."
Step 6a: Address the show's impact. Critics insist "Politically Incorrect's" bark is better than its bite, that it's all fancy talk and no substance. Sometimes, perhaps, but not always. "On a good night, ideas get exchanged," says Hughes (whose musings, remember, appear daily in the SUN!). "I can remember, for instance, Alfre Woodard really passionately debating a subject ..." He says the move to network late-night hasn't dulled Maher's edge.
Step 7: Readers love lists! Maher's favorite guests: right-wing queen bee Arianna Huffington; singer Meat Loaf; comedian Chris Rock; satirist Joe Queenan.
Guests he's wanted but hasn't landed: Mel Gibson, James Woods, Sean Penn, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Jackson, Bob Dole. "A lot of the guests who really break my heart are the ones I think might actually be politically incorrect," he says.
Step 8: Don't forget those background sources!
" 'Politically Incorrect' is one of the few spots on TV where there are true spontaneous combusts." (Vanity Fair)
Step 9: Offer readers a big picture, a larger context through which to view the subject. "Politically Incorrect" is attempting to succeed as an anomaly -- a funny show about current events. Memo to Bill Maher: People don't care about current events! Few of us were raised with an NBC News editor for a father, as Maher was.
"It's strictly a matter of references," Maher says. "People don't have enough reference points to get the jokes." Battened into their domestic cocoons, speed-thumbing the remote, they don't keep up with the outside world.
"I'm sure there's a market (for serious political humor)," Maher opines. "But you need one large enough to sustain a show, a career. I try not to dumb down, but I'm not going to lie and say I don't compromise. I do compromise. Every day I see jokes from the writers that I'd love to do but that I pass on because I know only five or six people will get it."
Step 9a: Quick, an example! The other day, Maher joked that the U.S. was sending both Stealth bombers and B-52s to Iraq -- "the Stealth to take out Iraqi installations and the B-52s in case they want to commit adultery in the rain." The joke bombed, and it wasn't a smart bomb: "To get that, you had to know that the Stealth doesn't work in the rain. Nobody knew that." And he knew nobody would know but he loved the joke and went with it.
"It's very difficult to do the best kind of political humor when you're not free to do all the jokes. They say, 'What difference does it make if I know the Stealth doesn't work in the rain?' That's what you're up against."
Step 10: You now have a fully functional Bill Maher preview article. Enjoy!
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