• MooseBoys@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    ”Without these people, it would be painfully obvious how unfunny I really am.” - John Oliver, probably

    • mycatiskai@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      He is too busy preparing to prove how insultingly unfunny he is. He won’t be doing all the parts of the show that require writers so he is just going to be profoundly wrong and shite for 60 minutes.

      I heard he pays writers better than all the other late night shows because as a writer you have to deal with working with Bill Maher.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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        1 year ago

        The worst thing about Maher as a performer is that he berates his audience when they don’t like his joke. I did professional stand-up for a few years and that’s like breaking unspoken rule #1. Even if the room is a shit room, you don’t act like they’re a shit room.

        • Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          1 year ago

          I never noticed how insidious this was. I thought it was really funny at first. Like oh, I groaned and he’s reminding me to have fun. But he has taken it to mean his audience needs to be exposed to grifters and harmful talking points disguised as “challenging ideas”

          I mean I really kept watching Bill after he dropped the N-word, I am a die hard comedy fan and it’s effectively impossible to cross the line with me. But Bill Maher is completely full of shit.

        • chumbalumber@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          1 year ago

          Stewart Lee does a bit where he breaks this rule deliberately, but it works explicitly because part of the joke is the audience realising what he’s doing, and also because it’s planned in advance so he can make sure he’s got it right

  • PatFusty@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Thats just a fundraiser with extra steps. Just checked and John Olivers annual salary is $8M a year for his current HBO show. Thats about 80-150 peoples worth of funding he could do but he would prefer you guys do it.

    Get on your hands and knees guys

    • Godnroc@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yes, money he would not make without a team of people behind him; however, him making money does not exclude him from supporting others. If anything, his actions could help support more than his money could. Fixing a broken system is also better than just slapping a quick fix in the form of a check.

      • unfreeradical@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        He is supporting others, but he is supporting the others who support him, with himself being the disproportionate beneficiary of the shared effort.

        Oliver’s actions may not be wrong, but the admiration he is afforded through the post exceeds the degree that it is genuinely warranted.

        • Godnroc@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          So would paying a little piece back by showing support for those people perhaps help to tip the scale a little less? Sure, they aren’t balanced, but one shouldn’t ignore progress just because the job isn’t over yet.

          And I would suggest the admiration should be earned, but I also have a hard time thinking of another entertainment platform that brings up issues and spot lights real problems that may go under reported. Using popularity to try and increase public awareness seems pretty admirable.

          • unfreeradical@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I am not objecting to your views as much as to any support for the specific views presented in the post, which I find exaggerated and misguided.

    • Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 year ago

      Yea he is fundraising and giving his weight to an issue rather than donating his own wages. John does deserve to keep the money he earns after working as a writer for like twenty years.

  • Adalast@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    He is such a great man, glad he made it somewhere where he can do the right thing and be an example that the rest of them will ignore.