I had some fun watching the Bill Maher HBO special, "Victory Begins At Home". He and I have a pretty similar sense of humor, although he insists on trying to make politics funny. He's at his best, in my opinion, when he aims more at society in general, for instance in his criticisms of the "War on Drugs", the clash of civilizations, and the differences between men and women.

I especially enjoyed his commentary on the feminization of America, and how there is a sort of climate of moral superiority about women here. As he put it, "Men are politically incorrect". It was a funny little riff, and I'll leave the delivery to the professionals, but a point occurred to me while I was watching - he sounds like Andrew Sullivan, combined with a couple other bloggers, turned into standup comedy. I bet Maher gets at least some of his angles from the blogosphere - he certainly isn't reading about the feminization of America in Newsweek.

That's not to say he isn't original - he certainly has a comedic flair and descriptive ability that he adds to the material. His description of a potential "mutual fantasy" between a man a woman was one excellent example: running through a field, professing undying love, money shot - natch!

Maher seems to be an equal opportunity offender - I think he goes out of his way to offend everyone just so that no one in particular can complain. I certainly felt myself targeted by some of the barbs - mostly political in nature - though I wouldn't lack for a retort given the opportunity. Getting to the politics - I think it's a bit unfortunate that Bill attempts to incorporate politics throughout his act. Politics really aren't that funny, and many of the issues he attempts to criticize are too complicated for joke telling.

My least favorite part is when he attempts to criticize politicians and voters for being stupid while resorting to his own revisionist history. For the record, many of us who were angry with Bill Clinton for the Monica Lewinsky imbroglio weren't so much concerned "about a bl0w job" as about the direct lying to the American people and perjury in the Paula Jones suit. Any attempt to conflate the sex with the deceptions is a gross oversimplification.

Anyway, aside from my criticisms, the HBO special is really quite funny - check it out if you are so inclined.