Bill Maher: Evolution of a Joke

Image from source, LA Times

I found this very interesting. The excerpted article below is an opinion piece from The Los Angeles Times by comedian Bill Maher, on the topic of the "birthers." Last night, on live television, Maher used this piece as fodder for his "New Rules" segment on HBO's Real Time. As funny as the opinion piece is, the video triples or quadruples the jokes, and improves upon them. The piece goes from pithy and amusing to a real knee-slapper that just might get some of his guests in trouble for laughing at the Mormon joke (the funniest part, in my opinion). Anyway, check out the article here. . .

[Excerpt]

'Birthers' must be stopped

Never underestimate the ability of a tiny fringe group of losers to ruin everything.For the last couple of weeks, we've all been laughing heartily at the wacky antics of the "birthers" -- the far-right goofballs who claim Barack Obama wasn't really born in Hawaii and therefore the job of president goes to the runner-up, former Miss California Carrie Prejean. . .

Read more at: Los Angeles Times

And compare and contrast to the video, here (birther jokes start at about the mid-point).