Over Time with Bill Maher, November 13, 2015

Bill Maher and guests Asra Nomani, Jay Leno, Michael Steele, Dylan Ratigan and Paul Reiser answer viewer questions after the show.

President Obama on The Tonight Show starring Jay Leno

I've never been much of a Jay Leno fan, having probably seen his version of The Tonight Show maybe a dozen times in the two-plus decades it's been on the air. But this was a pretty good interview, and I think the president came off very well too.

[Excerpt]

President Obama chats with Jay Leno -- and middle America


For the past few months, Jay Leno’s decided President Barack Obama makes for a good joke.
That’s a problem for the White House — one that the president came here Tuesday trying to fix. . .

Read more: Politico

Rachel Maddow on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

Mitt Romney Manages to Argue FOR Individual Insurance Mandate

Clueless 1%-er. Image from Wonkette.

The whole idea behind the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act (known derisively as "Obamacare" because conservatives previously used "Hillarycare" and are out of tricks) is to do a little arm twisting so that people not likely to consider getting health insurance do so. Kind of like automobile insurance. Except that not everybody needs a car, but nearly everybody will eventually need health care, or they will die prematurely or live miserably. Rare is the "never sick a day in his life, never broke a bone, cut himself, sprained an ankle, or got a burn, and lived to be 100" person.

All of those cuts, breaks, burns and diseases need treatment, and if they're uninsured, they'll go to an emergency room. Which we all end up paying for anyway. So, you tell Joe-I'm-24-and-Invincible that he has to get at least a minimum level of insurance, since he just might get cancer or gonorrhea even though he doesn't think he will. By the way, ever get chemo in an emergency room? Yet another issue that health care reform can help out with.

Now, I don't know about the individual mandate's Constitutionality, though I'm pretty sure you could call the fine for not getting insurance a tax. That's what I'd do anyway. But I do know that the individual mandate was a Republican idea, and it only became unconstitutional when President Barack Obama proposed it. Telling, that.

Which is a long way to go to tell you that Mitt Romney went on The Tonight Show starring Jay Leno and basically argued for the individual mandate. Because if he's saying that a 45-year-old can't just jump into the insurance market when he gets sick, and that people need to be long-term enrolled in insurance to get more of it, and. . .well. . .do you see where I'm going?

[Excerpt]


Human Monopoly Logo Mitt Romney Explainers Jay Leno: Uninsured Poors Should Die Already (VIDEO!)

Monocled toff Mitt Romney went on the Jay Leno Ha-Ha and Teevee Newz Hour to explain some cold hard FACTS to The Chin: You cannot wait until you are ill to buy insurance, gentles, even if there is no human way to afford it on your sad loser unemployment check! It just doesn’t work that way, good fellow! And if you work in a brake shop, and are uninsurable because you work in brake dust all day, the owners of the shop have already bought you insurance so just what is your problem, kind sir! (It is cute that Mitt Romney thinks that just because you work full-time, your job gives you “benefits.”) . . .

Read more (with video) at: Wonkette

Bill Maher on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

Emmy Awards Recap

Image from Stargate-SG1-Solutions.com

I'm not going to post any winners here, since people may have recorded it to watch later, and I suppose some markets could be time-shifting it. For me, in Las Vegas, I was surprised to see The Emmy Awards broadcast live.  They may have done it before, but usually it is tape-delayed in the Pacific Time Zone, which is terrible for someone who doesn't want to be spoiled. 

Anyway, for the first time in a while, almost the entire program was really, really entertaining. I've underestimated Jimmy Fallon (and who could blame me after Taxi?).  The opening Glee! tribute was amazing and funny.  I'll post the clip when it is available. The speeches (except for Al Pacino's) were funny, entertaining, or at least endurable.  This year they tightened the show by moving some awards to last week's untelevised "Schmemmys," and hurray for that.  It looked like the people present were having a great time, and Fallon really delivered.

Here's a comedy clip they did using ABC's Modern Family cast, allegedly getting tips from the powers that be, on how to "improve" the show.  That sort of network meddling happens a lot, especially with freshman shows--it killed Mork & Mindy, and countless others--so I'm sure the cast enjoyed digging at the network execs. Plus, there's a great star cameo (which I can go ahead and spoil as George Clooney, since the preview gives the joke away).  Kudos to NBC for putting on a great show, and allowing Fallon (and others) to rip on them for the Conan O'Brien/Jay Leno fiasco.

Conan O'Brien is Back! On TBS?

Image from source, TV Squad

I didn't write very many posts on the whole NBC Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien Tonight Show battle. Mostly because, if I watch late-night TV, it is usually The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. Rarely, I'll watch Chelsea Lately, and even more rarely, The Late Show with David Letterman. But I've always liked Conan as a comedian, and never much liked Jay Leno. I think in the nearly 20 years Leno had Tonight, I may have caught a total of 30 minutes of the program.

So, I was pulling for O'Brien. I'm not sure I'd have wished TBS on him though. It seems counter-intuitive, but I suppose it could work. He's got a devoted following, so he'll probably--at least initially--draw a bigger audience to TBS than they've seen outside of a Braves game. And the struggling George Lopez talk show will likely benefit, even though it's being bumped to an hour later. So, good luck Conan! Maybe I'll even try to check out the show.

[Excerpt]

Conan Is Coming Back To TV... on TBS

The long wait is over. Right on the day that Conan O'Brien starts his cross-country tour in Oregon comes this rather large announcement: Conan is coming back to TV this November! But if you're thinking that he's going to do a late night show on FOX, you'd be mistaken. Instead, think "Very Funny. . ."

Read more at: TV Squad

Was Sarah Palin's Tonight Show Bit "Laugh Tracked?"

Image from source, Wonkette

I put up the clip of Sarah Palin's Tonight Show stand-up act last week. Radio host Randi Rhodes was offended that Caribou Barbie got to debut her comedy stylings on the show, when seasoned comics often wait years for the gig. Or never get it at all. I thought Palin's set was amusing enough, though I never for a second believed they were her own jokes. But she didn't seem to bomb. Or did she?

A laugh track is often added to comedy in order to cue the home audience to laugh. This--I assume--is to kind of put the home viewer into the experience, much like viewing a movie in a theater with a bunch of other people. The group response at a theater can definitely affect your perception of the film. For a demonstration of this effect in reverse, watch this clip from The Big Bang Theory without a laugh track.



Strange, isn't it? And I really like TBBT. So the question remains, was Palin's Tonight gig sweetened with a laugh track, to make it seem as though she didn't bomb? Perhaps so. Also.

[Excerpt]

Sarah Palin Totally Bombed On Leno Show, Which Is Why She Got a Laugh Track

Hollywood sideshow Sarah Palin got to do a comedy spot on Jay Leno’s new late-night informercial, Why You Should Dump GE Stock, but nobody laughed at her dumb bullshit, which she also didn’t write herself, because come on there are LITTLE PEOPLE to do those write-y things, she’s got shit to steal from the Red Cross Oscar Movie Charity Suite, she’s got reality shows to sell, gonna get her real-estate-mom hair all tarted up and tall again, by one of those fancy West Hollywood hairdressers who will just love her, and her beauty, until she doesn’t tip and then it’s going to be “THAT BITCH,” etc., but anyway when the weary, beaten old people who haven’t yet found the remote saw Sarah Palin do some jokes on the teevee, they heard laughter and delight! SCANDAL. . .

Read more at: Wonkette.com

What FOX "News" Really Means by "Fair & Balanced"

By way of Sarah Palin on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Good stuff.

Randi Rhodes on Sarah Palin's Tonight Show Act

I have to say, Sarah Palin's Tonight Show gig as a standup comedienne wasn't half bad. I still think she's a clueless boob, and I still think she'd make a wretched President. But doing written material, she can deliver stuff that ain't half bad. Not terrific, but certainly not a disaster. But I liked liberal radio talker Randi Rhodes' take on that. In fact, I've found Rhodes' show to be on fire of late with points I hadn't considered, and some genuine off-the-cuff humor.

For all the drama surrounding liberal talk radio, and around Rhodes' place in it, I've very glad the girl is so good at landing on her feet! Here's a post from her daily blog that I particularly enjoyed:

[Excerpt]



Am I Right?

Those wacky Republicans! Did you catch Sarah Palin’s debut as a standup comedian on the Tonight Show last night? Usually a comedian has to work for years to get a slot on the Tonight Show. Sarah Palin did it with absolutely no prior work, experience, or dues paying… kind of like the way she wanted to become Vice President. If it sounds like something of a stretch for Sarah, keep in mind that it’s not that much of a jump to start telling jokes after you’ve spent the past couple of years being a joke. Obviously these jokes weren’t written by Sarah Palin. You could tell because they didn’t go on for 15 stream-of-consciousness minutes punctuated with an occasional “perhaps so” or “you betcha.” Here’s a little advice, Sarah—you’re a lot funnier when you’re not trying to be. . .

Read more at: Randi Rhodes

Real Time with Bill Maher Returns on Friday

Image from InclusionInternational

Though I have to look forward to oral surgery on Friday, I can hold on to the fact that Bill Maher returns to HBO's Real Time Friday night. There is a preview up on The Huffington Post, but I can't post it here. The best I can do is link you to it. There's a great Sarah Palin joke in there should you click through.

[Excerpt]

Bill Maher Talks Sarah Palin's Son, John Edwards's Sex Tape, And Glenn Beck's Tea Bag

Bill Maher is back with the eighth season of "Real Time" premiering this Friday on HBO. To catch up with his fans he's recorded a rant on everything that happened during his hiatus, hitting on topics from health care to Sarah Palin's Fox deal to the Conan/Leno drama. . .

Read more (with video) at: Huffington Post

Conan O'Brien's Closing Tonight Show Speech

Letterman Lets Loose on Leno

(How's that for alliteration?)

So, before Haiti shook apart, and before the Democrats' majority shrunk to a mere 59-41 in the Senate, there was the Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien/NBC late night kerfuffle. 'Member that? Here's a witty take on it, from David Letterman.

David Letterman Opines on the Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien Fight

There's quite a kerfuffle going on between Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and NBC (not to mention Jimmy Fallon and Carson Daly). I almost never watched Jay Leno in any format (I don't like him), and avoided The Jay Leno Show like the plague. I rarely watch The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, though I do like him. I'm most often watching The Colbert Report if it's new, or Chelsea Lately. If I watch any of the broadcast late night shows, it's always The Late Show with David Letterman. Best of the bunch, in my opinion. So, here's Dave's take on the whole sordid story.

Top 10 Reasons Palin's Letterman Outrage is Ridiculous

Image from source, Alaska Report

This needs to be widely dispersed to anyone who is genuinely or faux outraged by the David Letterman/Sarah Palin kerfuffle. It's stupid, I know. Letterman--a comedian--should need no defense. His relatively mild jokes were blown into something rather ridiculous that I barely believe that anyone actually inferred. Still, there are those who are probably going to rage about Letterman being some kind of pervert for the rest of his career. It's worth keeping in mind that Letterman is far from alone in this type of joke.

Take a look at the excerpt below if you don't believe me. If you're going disparage Dave, you better be ready to put the rest of these folks on the same list. And by the way, isn't implying that Letterman is some sort of lecherous pedophile rather worse than anything he said in his act?

[Excerpt]

Top 10 Reasons Sarah Palin's Outrage is A Little Late...

10) Last September, a skit on Saturday Night Live suggested incest in the Palin family. "What about the husband?" asked a mock Times reporter. "You know he's doing those daughters. I mean, come on. It's Alaska!" No outrage. Sarah Palin appeared on the show one month later in late October. . .

Read much more at: Alaska Report

Obama Tonight Show Gaffe Blown Out of Proportion

Photo from source, AOL News

Oh, for goodness' sake, if it weren't this, I guess it would be something else. Last night on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, President Obama--while trying to make fun of himself mind you--made an unfortunate reference. He compared his bowling skills to "the Special Olympics or something." Yeah, it's an unfortunate statement, of course, but hardly the end of the world. And he did immediately apologize for it.

This too shall pass for most of us. But the FReepers will hold onto this forever. We'll be deep into the next Republican Presidency (no sooner than the 2020s, I hope), and when that President makes a gaffe, somebody will say, "yeah, well at least he wasn't making fun of retarded people." You just watch.

Otherwise, Obama's appearance was enormously refreshing. Yes, he's the President, but it was nice to see him sitting there, answering questions and bantering with Jay Leno like an ordinary person. The drawback to that sort of setting is that an unscripted quip can come back to haunt you. The upside is that his message got "outside the beltway" to people who don't pay as much attention to politics. And he came off as a pretty cool guy.

At least the notoriously conservative AOL poll is going Obama's way.

[Excerpt]

Obama Apologizes for Leno Show Gaffe

Bowling just isn't President Barack Obama's game.
Appearing on "The Tonight Show," the president told host Jay Leno he'd been practicing at the White House's bowling alley but wasn't happy with his score of 129. The he rolled a gutter ball by quipping: "It was like the Special Olympics or something. . ."

Read more at: AOL News

President Obama on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

There's been a lot of noise about President Barack Obama appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. I don't see what the big deal is. Sure, it isn't usual, but that doesn't make it somehow bad or wrong. They wouldn't make such a fuss over an appearance on Meet the Press or even FOX "News" Sunday. It's the same TV machine, folks! And hey, haven't sitting Presidents been on Saturday Night Live, for god's sake? Lighten up, people.

Jay Leno Interviews Rachel Maddow

Yes, I post about Rachel Maddow frequently. But this clip from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno may just show you why. She's wicked smart, with a dash of snark and a boatload of personality. If you aren't familiar with her yet, this is a good place to start.

And I am aware that the freeze-frame below is Bob Newhart and not Rachel Maddow. So if you're a Newhart fan (and I am), you can find the earlier clip after the Maddow one is over.

Jay Leno Gets Surprising New Prime Time Show

Photo from source, Huffington Post

It's been known for years that Jay Leno is leaving The Tonight Show in 2010. So what would be weird about Leno getting a prime time show on NBC? Well, the fact that it will be on every night at 10:00 pm.

It's an idea that hasn't been tried before as far as I know; a late-night style talk/variety show on five nights a week in prime time. And it steals a huge amount of Conan O'Brien's thunder, for his new digs at Tonight.

I get why they're doing it. By network standards, it's cheap. And Leno gets the best late-night ratings, and would probably do at least as well in prime time. But geez, this sorta feels like the death knell of network television to me. 10:00 pm is adult time, crime-time. It's when the good shows are supposed to be on. I guess Law & Order and its various spin-offs can't pull all the weight. But I never watched Leno before, and doubt I will start now. Good luck NBC.

[Excerpt]

TV SHOCKER: LENO MOVES TO PRIME TIME

NBC is expected to announce Tuesday that it has signed its late-night star Jay Leno to a new contract that will keep him at the network in a new format that will give him the 10 p.m. time period each weeknight for a show similar to the one he has done on NBC's "Tonight Show" show since 1993. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Jay Leno Interviews Rachel Maddow

I've already lavished Rachel Maddow with effusive praise in this space, so I won't go on about her now. Other than to say, watch this clip, Rachel is fantastic!