Whatever. I've seen him do stand-up and I think he's funny, but it's not like Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert or Conan O'Brien write/wrote all or even most of their own material.
I agree the show has mastered this technique. But counterpoint, empathize with an audience that isn't liberal. As a leftist, I'm rarely learning from this show. But this method helps me laugh at, rather than get angry at, our enemy. Leftists need to have fun.
Go listen to Strike Force 5, the podcast with all the late night hosts! Any profits they make from it (and their sponsors, mostly Ryan Reynold's businesses) also go to helping their staff!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.