couple tips, Bill:

1. get some new material
2. don't laugh at your own jokes

Bill: ...It's Americans I can't stand!

Americans: Ha ha ha ha ha!!

I guess I am on his side, I really like Kucinich and all but I hate to be on his side because I HATE BILL MAHER... I hate that arrogant smile and his look-at-me-I-am-super-radical rants. He is the lefty Bill Orreily. Be prepared Bill, very soon Bush will be kicked out of office and your career will be over.

Bill: ...It's Americans I can't stand!

Americans: Ha ha ha ha ha!!

it's a joke, phrasing is important, and you know what he means, don't act coy.

Is this a better joke? "I love america, it's the evangelical, anti-science, anti-intellectual, middle of the road, pro-globalization, pro-SUV, wal-mart shopper, mouth breather, American Idol, 'what's Habeus Corpus', Intelligent design believing people who make up most of america that I can't stand!"

Real funny. I bet it would get a HUGE laugh.

"it's a joke, phrasing is important, and you know what he means, don't act coy."

No, it's a tiresome 'cool badge' that he thrusts forward to ingratiate himself to a bunch of other smug, self-important people.

A joke would require a setup and a punchline. Just saying "I hate Americans!" is only a joke when you're speaking to rich, white liberals or members of Al Qaeda.

Americans who laugh at someone saying "I hate Americans!" remind me of that Chris Rock joke about women singing along to misogynistic rap lyrics: "He ain't talkin' 'bout me!" Actually, if you're an American, yes he is.

Why don't you ask Bill to tell his great joke about pop stars masturbating children. What a balanced individual he is.

Is this a better joke? "I love america, it's the evangelical, anti-science, anti-intellectual, middle of the road, pro-globalization, pro-SUV, wal-mart shopper, mouth breather, American Idol, 'what's Habeus Corpus', Intelligent design believing people who make up most of america that I can't stand!"

i actually had a moment there when i realized i wouldn't be able to stop chuckling until i was done. :) pretty right on, willey.

a side note: take my word for it, though: there are countries- or at least areas- of the world where even and american such as you decribed would be a welcome breath of fresh air. relative to who else is around, y'know.

there. there's my patriotic statement for today.

A joke would require a setup and a punchline. Just saying "I hate Americans!" is only a joke when you're speaking to rich, white liberals or members of Al Qaeda.

Well, i'll leave you to your Larry the Cable guy jokes then. He seems more down your alley. The only difference is Mahr doesn't pretend he's a stupid hick to be "one of you". The jokes are the same thing (boy, those rednecks are stupid), but Larry is in the protected sphere of not being called a liberal since he acts the part.

It's just Classism!

As an alternative, might I suggest, Romanicis.... no,....

Impressionism.

Leave the devils to their details!

"protected sphere," a monastery, maybe?

Mr. Tea, shame, shaman prescribes....Jimson Weed.

Named for famed Jamestown.... colony-not-in-colorado. Go West young man:

Untergang des Abendlands.

Ill-easian Fields. O.K. enough implied.

Why does every one have a pass to tell jokes about their own kind? Well, let me tell ya, I'm just a little ol' self-loathing anti-semite...

Anyone know any antisemite jokes (I mean jokes where antisemites make fun of themselves, although, logically, it's ambiguous, no?)? As if Borat Seinfeld worshipped the God"el" those Wieners roughed up so good he came to, of all places... am I Rica? Puerta? Colonial imps!

Karl Rove comes close. It does diffuse things, a little. I did want to kill him, before he danced.

Let the jokers be jokers, on all sides. Let Karl Rove be a dancing Star. The bigoted, anti-socialist Mr. N. would have approved.

And let Maher Mach/mock/spin the fixed stars, not ourselves, faultless.

I am rich in irony. I am America. We are U.S.

But let's close the Puerta. Dispuerta, Deport, invest in robotics. Let robots be our slaves. Just this once.

It's a take off on an old tourist joke once very popular with Americans.

Paris, a beautiful wonderful place, or it would be if not for the Parisians.

"Well, i'll leave you to your Larry the Cable guy jokes then."

Oh, I get it - because I don't think it's funny or particularly insightful to just say hateful things about your fellow countrymen, I'm stupid. Gotcha. Way to prove me wrong there, Chet.

I've actually never seen a Larry the Cable Guy performance, but I've seen him "in character" during promos. It's an interestingly apt analogy - both are assuming a character (Larry is the Everyredneck, Bill is the Everyliberal), and both are yelling out a catch phrase ("Get 'er done!" versus "I hate Americans!").

The point is, it's not a joke. It's one of those audience-hook catch phrases, like when comics say "Ladies, back me up on this!" or "I think women are smarter than men!". It's a call-and-response, an attempt to connect to the audience with some stereotypical, pandering statement that they applaud like the trained seals they are.

I have no problem with people making fun of Americans - we're human, we have our failings. George Carlin bases his entire act on that premise and, although his bitterness has generally usurped his funniness, he still hits the mark occasionally. Same for Bill Hicks, or Dennis Miller before the pod took his place. But just saying something hateful isn't the same thing.

But hey - you keep right on hating your country and all the people who live there (except you of course). Tell me how that works out for you. I'm going to the beach this weekend. Get 'er done!

I like bill maher. I might not always agree with him politically, though alot of the time I do especially on religion, he is funny.

Not to go off on a tangent but my favorite standup comedian right now is Russell Peters.

You can get the full "The Decider" from youtube if you look up Bill Maher Decider.

I like Bill Maher. I don't get the feeling that he is arrogant. I'm not sure he could be compared to Bill O. He's not really a sensationalist and he doesn't yell at his guests and asks them to shut up and asks for their mics to be cut off, even when they disagree with him or give him a hard time. (at least not to my knowledge, but please correct me if I am wrong.)

I disagree with some of Bill Maher's views, however. I don't understand how he reached this conclusion about the Iraqi army and how they don't care about Iraq and all they care about is Sunni and Shia'te. If no one cared about the state of Iraq, there would not be a civil conflict today. Everyone cares because everyone's worried that they aren't getting a fair share (whatever fair share may mean to different parties) of the wealth/oil/land. Every involved party in the sectarian violence today is trying to make Iraq their own state and deprive the others from it. There is such thing as an Iraqi national identity. It's always been there. Just because it was founded early in twentieth century, it doesn't mean it's any less authentic or any less important to its people. I mean, Israel was formed in 1948, it would be preposterous to argue it doesn't mean anything to its people or its army. I think Bill Maher sometimes tends to take so many things for granted, which I guess I understand because ultimately he's not a historian, he's a comedian.

Apparently somebody needs to lighten up. Geez.

It's a comedy routine Tea, cheer up.

I don't hate Americans, just sanctimonious and loopy mopes like Teabag.

It’s hilarious to me the folks conservatives hold up as the enemy, people like Bill Maher (a comedian), Cindy Sheehan (a grieving mother), Rosie O’Donnel (a bad comedian), and Michael Moore (a low-budget film director). This is while they praise—or at least forgive—some of the biggest villains in our nation’s history simply because these people say they love America. I’ll bet every scumbag corporate officer at Tyco, Enron and Halliburton, and whoever it was that green-lighted torture in the war on terrorism has a flag on their lapel and a Support our Troops bumper sticker. The difference is that all of these folks hold/held real power in this country.

You must think very little of this country if you think it can be harmed by the words of a stand-up comic on a pay TV channel, or a single mother who lost her son, or a guy who cranks out a single, modestly successful film every two years. A defense contractor directly tied to the vice president that over-charged this nation tens of millions of dollars for fuel during a war, or huge companies run into the ground by greed causing untold misery for people losing their jobs and retirement benefits, and stone cold criminals working as lobbyists seem like bigger fish to fry. I don’t think these people hate America; I think they hold it and its values in utter contempt.

I’m not going to defend Maher’s humor. You either think something is funny or you don’t; humor is cruel that way. I will say that I don’t think the Mahers, Sheehans, and Moores hate this country. I think that they, as do I, despise some of the forces working to stamp out everything that is decent and worthwhile in America.