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In the season premiere of Real Time with Bill Maher, the eponymous host had a bone to pick with the “nothing is funny” people. When the time came for the comedian to present his new rules, his final one included, “Keep laughing.” -- “The nothing is funny people are trying to take over the world and we can’t let them,” Maher said as the audience began to cheer. “Which is why I originally posted this picture of me pulling an Al Franken on a sleeping Bob Saget. This is a joke, a joke about another joke.” He then told his audience that if that controversial photo is “too much” then people shouldn’t continue to watch his show.
This argument over PC comedy, and people being too sensitive to take a joke, quickly turned into Maher discussing the #MeToo movement. “I have a penis,” Maher “admitted,” fairly tongue in cheek. “And while I admit that having one does predispose a human to to being aggressive and over-sexed, I don’t concede that it makes me automatically wrong about everything, and I say that as a true supporter of the #MeToo movement. I even wore black to the Golden Globes. I was home watching TV but still––I wore black. I was also morning the ability to think rationally. I’m down with #MeToo, I’m not down with #MeCarthyism.”
Maher continued to cite many criticisms of the movement, including the fact that Al Franken had to be “roadkill on the zero tolerance highway.” He also defended Matt Damon, who was criticized for his comments weeks ago on the matter. He finished his lengthy rant by saying that there are degrees to sexual misconduct. “Mike Pence and ISIS are both homophobic,” he said. “But Mike doesn’t throw gay men off the roof, so he’s better. This isn’t that hard, people!”