Bill of rights
Bill Maher brings his politically incorrect show to Oklahoma.
Maybe we weren’t hearing that right.
Did some TV guy just announce an upcoming show called “BILL MAHER: LIVE FROM OKLAHOMA”?
Naw. Couldn’t be. “Live from Florida,” maybe. Or more likely “Live from Nevada.” Right? But one of America’s most irreverent liberal comedians doing a live television broadcast from one of the most conservative states in the country? Somebody’s kidding somebody.
But then the announcer elaborated: “Bill Maher: Live From Oklahoma, his 11th stand-up special on the network, debuts July 7 on HBO.”
“Well, I’ve never made a secret of my preference for performing in the red states,” he told The Oklahoman in a recent phone interview from Los Angeles. “Don’t get me wrong, America, I love all of ya, but I do enjoy going to places where I’m not expected to go better, and they seem to be more enthusiastic, possibly because they don’t expect someone like me to show up there, or they don’t see someone like me as much there, because they (liberals) are a minority.”
Actually, Maher will be getting his kicks with two Oklahoma shows, the first Friday at WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville. But Saturday’s show will be seen wherever HBO is available, beamed live from the Brady Theater in Tulsa.
“I feel like there’s a certain extra sort of bonding that goes on between myself and the audience when I go to a place like Oklahoma,” Maher said.
“And I think that’s fun. And also, I must tell you, I do it because liberals in the middle of the country are more my kind of liberals. They’re old-school liberals. They’re not crazy-left liberals, the kind who I think have done so much damage, because (President Donald) Trump was in many ways a reaction from a country that had been choking on political correctness.
“Don’t forget I did a show called ‘Politically Incorrect’ in the ’90s. And I’ve been on this theme for many, many years, and I don’t think I was wrong. Political correctness makes people sound silly. And it very often is silly. And we played a little game of chicken with the Trump voters in 2016, and we said, ‘Come on, you can’t be so stupid as to vote for Donald Trump. He’s crazy.’ And they said, ‘Yeah, he’s crazy, we get that. But some of the things you’re talking about are crazy, too. You know? And we’re interested in jobs and you guys are talking about pronouns and bathrooms. And we can’t trust your judgment.’
“And you know, that point of view works a lot better in Tulsa than it does in San Francisco,” Maher added.
The New York City native, raised in River Vale, New Jersey, says he seldom gets into hostile verbal exchanges with audience members, even when he utters the most inflammatory remarks about Trump or other public figures, his own negative views on organized religion or current events in general, no matter where he’s performing.
“No, I really don’t,” said Maher, now 62. “Sometimes in Las Vegas they will infiltrate into the audience, someone who wants to make trouble. Very rarely. But I do sometimes have an issue with people who are too much on my side. They’re just yelling out willy-nilly and they think they’re helping, and they’re just excited.
“But it makes it kinda hard to do the show and I have to tell them — hopefully in a nice way — that ‘I promise I’ve worked on this set more than you have. So let me do my thing and tell these really good jokes because it’s probably better than you just screaming out.’”