'Predictable and ranting': Professor offers brutal takedown of Bill Maher's 'smug' special

Comedian Bill Maher's new special was predictable and out of touch, a professor argued Sunday.

Georgetown University Jewish Civilization professor Jacques Berlinerblau has previously claimed that Donald Trump is creating entirely new types of antisemitism.

Over the weekend, he turned his sights to Maher's special, “Is Anyone Else Seeing This?”

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After summarizing the topics Maher covers, such as "Trump, wokeness and liberals, trans people and drag queens, freedom of speech and 'cancel culture,' religion, those with larger body sizes and kids these days," Berlinerblau calls the newest stand-up special a "rather listless set."

"That’s partly because Maher’s positions on these issues are so well known that his punchlines failed to surprise," the Georgetown professor wrote. "He also seems unwilling to put in the craftwork needed to make his stand-up material edgy or thought-provoking."

The reviewer goes on to praise something about Maher, namely his "superpower," which the professor said "is not stand-up but comedic dialogue with others."

"His stand-up monologues to the camera are fine, but where he excels is in conversation (in front of an audience). His genius is to frame questions about fraught political issues in a pithy, provocative way and then joust, often dexterously, with his typically controversial interviewees. Few other comedians possess this rare skill," he wrote. "But 'Is Anybody Else Seeing This?' is a stand-up special, and Maher isn’t about to use his monologue to question himself the way another stand-up might."

Berlinerblau continues, saying Maher's "bits seemed predictable and ranting."

"The jokes have a formulaic quality. The punchlines land on the same beat over and again," he then added. "If Maher wants to convince his audience that free speech is under assault, he’d win over more listeners — and probably arrive at considerably more nuance — by continuing to dialogue with people who disagree with him. When he’s up there on his own in 'Is Anyone Else Seeing This?' however, he merely celebrates his own positions, confusing smug certainty for a punchline and rendering his monologue monotonous."

Read the opinion piece.