Jon Stewart, Admiral Michael Mullen on The Daily Show in 2009Image via WikipediaI think the best is The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. There is something about him: he has good manners and doesn't poke people with a stick because he can but because he realizes that humor allows him to bring things to the fore with more impact than "real" news. 
Stephen Colbert (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)For example, in budget debate this past year a member of Congress said that Planned Parenthood was mostly an abortion service giving a figure that was about 94% off. I only saw this mentioned at all on The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and Bill Maher.The Colbert Report and Real Time with Bill Maher are not as incisive due to the demeanor of their hosts. Colbert plays to a younger demographic with less relevant and more juvenile, even bathroom humor. But in his pomposity Colbert is playing a role. While I enjoy Maher's insight he often seems an ass; he believes his own press. He is not playing the role of a comedian acting as a journalist as Stewart and Colbert do. Maher actually sees himself as a left leaning but fair journalist. I sometimes find his demeanor and delivery self aggrandizing but the show is funny and he gets very interesting people to debate issues in real time without Robert's Rules of Order. I have often expected them to come to blows.
HBO's exclusive series
REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER will wrap up its ninth season FRIDAY, NOV. 11
(10:00-11:00 p.m. live ET/tape-delayed PT) with an
instant replay at 11:00 p.m. following the live presentation. Maher's soapbox for his unique perspective on today's political/social and economic issues, the show
includes an opening monologue, roundtable discussions with panelists,
and interviews with in-studio and satellite guests.
The roundtable guests this week are Minn. Rep. Keith Ellison, news
anchor Chris Matthews and commentator Andrew Sullivan; Mass. Rep. Barney
Frank is an interview guest.
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| Bill Maher 2099, photo David Shankman |
REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER returns for its tenth season in
Jan. 2012.
Jan. 2012.
Since his first special on the network in
1989, Maher has starred in nine solo specials on HBO and remains a favorite with subscribers.
Maher has a new book out this month, The New New Rules: A Funny Look at How Everybody but Me
Has Their Head Up Their Ass. If Maher believed in Christmas as a religious holiday he probably wouldn't recommend the book as a gift because of he is no fan of religion. Maher produced and starred in the 2008 feature film Religulous, which examined the irrationality of religious beliefs that are not even found in the tenets of those religions.
