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diversions
Maher plays with
controversial humor
By Phil Witte
On-line Forty-Niner
In a departure
from its usual fare, the Carpenter Performing Arts Center
presented a night of comedy with "Politically Incorrect"
host Bill Maher Saturday night.
The sometimes-controversial comedian mixed his usual bawdiness
with topical humor, most of which he admitted to having to
rewrite in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Maher mixed both when, explaining his hoarse voice, said he
had the "walking around kind" of anthrax. He didn't
get it through the mail, but from "[sleeping with] a
sheep."
"People forget you can get it that way," Maher said.
After the audience groaned about a joke critical of bin Laden,
Maher complained, "Oh, I criticize our side, you get
mad; I criticize their side, you get mad. You're sending mixed
signals."
After finishing his "new" material, Maher segued
into his familiar material. Picking a familiar topic, he moved
to President Bush.
"You've got to admit, he's worked a lot harder than he
thought he'd have to," he said. "But seriously,
once your approval ratings hit 90, your I.Q. doesn't jump
100 points."
After doing the obvious Clinton/Bush comparisons, Maher moved
to his favorite topic, sex. Some of the material was rehashed
from his HBO specials. Though they were familiar, the jokes
were funny enough to keep the audience in stitches.
To make the evening worth its $35 ticket price, Canadian comedian
Tracy Smith warmed up the crowd with a short set before Maher
took the stage.
Smith opened her monologue with vagina jokes in an attempt
to gauge the audience, and the gasps she got from the front
rows indicated this was not a college crowd, but a CPAC season-ticket
holding crowd.
"All you young ladies out there, one day you'll regret
dumping all those guys for no reason," Smith said. "He's
too tall, he can't dance, he's too nice. You'll be wanting
that too nice guy in a few years."
Both comedians established a comfortable rapport with the
audience and hopefully the CPAC will continue to pursue comedy
at the venue.
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