Toto Recall: Maher's 'View' to a kill; mob movie triggers AMC
Bill Maher visited “The View” this week but didn’t tell the producers he was bringing a wrecking ball with him.
The “Real Time with Bill Maher” comic votes the same way "The View” hosts do, but he’s honest enough to call out his fellow progressives when necessary.
'['Goodfellas'] includes language and/or cultural stereotypes that are inconsistent with today’s standards of inclusion and tolerance and may offend some viewers.'
And lately, that means every week on his signature show and “Club Random with Bill Maher” podcast.
“The View” divas do nothing of the sort, which is why Maher’s wrecking ball tore through the set this week like tissue paper.
You’ll have to watch the entire segment to soak in its greatness, even though he trotted out his canned line that the far right is the “bigger threat” than the far left. Here’s the kill shot that should give Whoopi, Joy, and co. nightmares ... assuming they’re capable of feeling shame.
Behar admitted she holds her fire when it comes to President Joe Biden for fear viewers might support Trump instead.
Maher’s response?
“You lose all credibility [with that approach] ... my bond with my audience has always been, ‘I don’t pull a punch,'” Maher said.
Break out the smelling salts, stat!
'Office' mate Merchant risks HR scolding
Ricky Gervais will forever be associated with British TV’s “The Office.” There is even an American version you might have heard about.
The show’s cocreator gets less attention. That’s British comedian Stephen Merchant, a funny character actor and the mind behind the Prime Video series “The Outlaws" — which slyly offers some balanced culture war gags.
Merchant admitted in a Guardian interview that today’s right is on the right side of the free speech battles. The journalist noted Merchant tiptoed very carefully on the subject before sharing his conclusions.
"It seems to me that there’s always been policing of comedy, of there being ... guardrails. I think the difference is that it used to feel like it was the right that was policing it. It feels like it’s the left that’s doing it now, and it’s allowed the right to become the arbiters of free speech.”
His next cocktail party may be far less comfortable than he expects.
Team Trump blasts biopic's fake rape
Hollywood’s latest anti-Trump project really goes there. And by “there,” we mean heading to court, potentially.
“The Apprentice,” a biopic exploring the early years of the future president, contains a scene in which the Trump character (Sebastian Stan) rapes wife Ivana Trump (Maria Bakalova)
Except the real Ivana Trump, who died in 2022, previously said it never happened. Defiantly. So much for “Believe All Woman,” right?
Now, team Trump is lawyering up, and that could keep the movie from being released before Election Day.
Are the 'Goodfellas' actually bad?
AMC isn’t just the home for “dubious” movie classics like “Men at Work” with the Estevez brothers. The cable network also adds “trigger warnings” to Oscar-winning films like “Goodfellas.”
The beloved mobster movie now comes with this warning: “This film includes language and/or cultural stereotypes that are inconsistent with today’s standards of inclusion and tolerance and may offend some viewers."
Wait till they see “The Godfather” trilogy.
Even Dame Judi Dench has had it with trigger warnings on art.
"If you're that sensitive, don't go to the theatre," the acting icon said.
Straight-shooting podcaster Adam Carolla offered the best reaction to this nonsense on his self-titled show.
He said the crush of warnings in our culture, from the sticker on your car visor to the six-feet rule signs during the pandemic, have left us ignoring them en masse.
“How many people see this warning and go, ‘Well, I’ve already popped popcorn and settled in for a night of ‘Goodfellas,’ but now that I’ve realized there’s gonna be some ugly stereotypes here, I guess we’re gonna have to watch Nick at Nite ... honey, pour the wine back in the bottle. It’s off!”
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