Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home (2003)


Director: John Moffitt

Starring: Bill Maher

More info: IMDb

Plot: Comedian Bill Maher's Tony Award-nominated Broadway standup show, Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home, will return to New York, July 17-19, 2003. The final performance at the Hudson Theatre (which is not technically a Broadway house though it's in the midtown theatre district) will be filmed live for HBO. In the show, Maher addresses contemporary political, social and cultural topics -- Iraq, President Bush and the so called Axis of Evil. The opinionated Maher said about Victory Begins at Home: "We've heard everything about the War on Terrorism except what we can actually do to help win it. The government used to do that for us through propaganda (the positive kind) posters, so taking my cue from the great old posters of World War I and World War II ('Loose Lips Sink Ships,' 'Buy War Bonds,' 'Plant a Victory Garden,' etc.) I commissioned artists to paint the posters our government today should be putting out to help us win this war."



My Rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Nah.

#13 on Stand-up Comedy Month, May 2012

Bill Maher is one of those comedians that you either love or hate. He's political so that automatically makes him divisive. Most people leaning to the right, politically, will disagree with most of what he has to say but they would also find some common ground on which to agree. I've always like his style. He's got a sense of wonder to him although he's gotten less "wow" and more angry as the years go on. He's a smart guy and he's got a sharp, quick wit. This particular performance is just like an extended version of what he does on his show, REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER, so even though I enjoyed it, I can always get more from the show. Making jokes about politics isn't exactly timeless. You have to know the subject in order to understand the humor. How will this play out in another twenty years? Not well for anyone under the age of 30. At that point it'll just be an interesting time capsule but a very funny one.

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