His hair had color back in 2005!
I was rewatching this the other night, and I felt compelled to write up a thread for it. It is, by far, the best Bill Maher special I've ever seen. Bill is truly at the top of his game here, coming off his firing by ABC and subsequent hiring by HBO, he's full of smarmy righteous rage and barely restrained contempt for those who disagree with him
This was the first Bill Maher special I ever saw, and I saw it a week after my first exposure to the man on his program REAL TIME. I saw my first episode of REAL TIME the week Katrina hit, and I was in love with the show from moment one. I wasn't in love with Maher till I'M SWISS though. We had HBO at the time, and I tuned into his special by random chance. After a mere 10 minutes I was giddy with excitement. Maher was so cool! So smart! So funny! I'd never seen a comedian like him
I've been a fan ever since, and have not missed a single episode of his show since that fateful September. Maher's never been better than he was in this special though. I think, perhaps, his relationship with his audience changed. His audiences now are full of disapproving 'tut tut'ers and boos. The media managed to make Maher the enemy after his Steve Irwin costume, and his audience sadly bought into it. To watch REAL TIME now is to watch a man who actively hates his audience.
I'M SWISS is extremely clever, and also I think it's the funniest I've ever seen Maher. Maher is always an astute political observer, but at times his comedy takes a back seat to his politics. Not here. He is hilarious, start to finish. His delivery is killer, and it's clear he's having loads of fun. It's a super sized special at 1 hour and 38 minutes, and every second is riveting.
If anyone wants to understand why I'm such a fan of this guy you need only get it from NETFLIX to find your answer. Has anyone else seen it?
PS Also awesome, the bonus features. He has an extended Q+A with his audience (which was not broadcast on HBO at the time) and it's fantastic. He drinks Jack Daniels and gets surly. Also, the first question put to him is about Obama. The way he blows it off is both humorous, and in retrospect... kind of also hilarious.
