Audience relations: Bill Maher v. Rush Limbaugh

Reading yesterday's New York Times story on Jerry Seinfeld made me aware of how much practice it takes to be a comedian, to be likable and at the same time be true to yourself — which in the case of a lot of comedians means being self-centered and angry a lot of the time.

Seinfeld and Larry David are masters at this balancing act, but I can't recall anyone who's had to pull it off on live TV at a moment's notice. That's just what happened to Bill Maher during the Friday night telecast of his HBO talk show when certain audience members rose up to sabotage his show.

Before we look at that video, however, let's enjoy a classic moment from 1990. It's late at night in the very same building "Real Time" is now taped — CBS Television City — and Rush Limbaugh is hosting "The Midnight Hour," the show that was "The Pat Sajak Show" until Pat started getting lower ratings than Arsenio Hall. As you'll see, members of the audience begin to act up (indeed, the stunt was organized by ACT UP), and unless your name is Rush Limbaugh, the rest is nothing short of great television. (If it doesn't load, try this.):

My thanks to Panopticist. Notice how Limbaugh tries, over and over, to manage the situation. He has no clue how to do it — and it takes him what seems like forever to grasp the obvious: that he’s not GOING to manage the situation, nor will the skeleton crew from CBS be of help.

"Calm down!" he says, over and over. "I don't think this is proper ... what did you say?" Now he's distracted by another audience member. The crowd smells blood, and as more protestors pop up in the audience, all Rush can do is stand there, frozen. "I just wanted to have a little fun tonight," he whines. He starts to ramble, "I have already, I have already made a name for myself...A group of people try to silence — my friends ... I have attacked personally ideologically no one in this audience. All I did was show up. There is a movement now to shut me up."

Then, he goes to a break — and then comes back, valiantly, to run into the same wall again. The audience members act up again, and then Rush does something I wouldn't expect of a broadcaster. He shuts up and stares, like a study-hall teacher who's lost control of the 7th graders.

He only breaks his silence to look up at the audience member ranting at him. "Sir," he declares officiously, "I am not responsible for your behavior." And just like that two-thirds of the audience leaps to its feet and cheers wildly. They're cheering the audience member. And that's when it finally sinks in — almost the whole room is stocked with Rush's enemies.

So to another break, and since the show must go on, the room is cleared and Rush finishes before a sea of empty chairs. "I only regret that in the course of these events," he tells the home viewers, "I didn't get the chance to (have) you get to know me." And then he plays that sad, disingenuous hush-Rush song we have heard so many times since then, going on about being "silenced" and denied his right to speak. As he  would do often from then on, Limbaugh tried to have it both ways: both as an aw-shucks "mere" comedian just trying to make America laugh, except when he wants to be taken seriously. Then, if anyone should dare heckle or harass him, or threaten his livelihood in any way — which any real comedian would tell you can be a daily occurrence — he wraps himself in the First Amendment. Speaking of 1990, what if NBC hadn't picked up "The Seinfeld Chronicles"? You think Jerry would be screaming about his right to free speech?

The only wise thing Rush says during his final soliloquy is when he tells the home audience that he hopes tonight's broadcast will "turn a lot of heads." Boy howdy, did it — Limbaugh spent years living down the embarrassment of that night.

Watching the video, you get some idea why Bill O'Reilly has a TV show and Rush doesn't — because Bill is able to control the chaos most nights, never overmatching himself, always controlling the microphone. It seems like even one hostile guest is enough to unsettle Limbaugh, whether the angry black woman who lit into him on "The Midnight Hour" or David Letterman, who would pants him three years later, again on CBS late night. When Rush had his own syndicated show, he filled the room with sycophants. The whole thing reeked of infomercial, and though it was intriguing for a while in that pre-Internet era, Rush seemed to wilt under the kleig lights and eventually retreated to the only heat he could actually handle, his own, blasting out from the radio speaker.

Any comparison of Rush's ineptitude on CBS late night with what happened Friday night on HBO, during the broadcast of "Real Time with Bill Maher," must be qualified a bit. The situation at "Real Time" was different because there were only a few plants in the audience, they were unpopular single-issue fringers (of the "Building Seven" 9/11 conspiracy kind), and the rest of the studio quickly solidified behind Bill.

But Maher did a lot to help his own cause. He has done a lot of standup, is used to dealing with hecklers, and has no fear about letting his bad boy side show. He's not afraid to be mean or look like a jerk. Somewhere inside of him, I think, he knows instinctively that this video will do his career as much good as "The Midnight Hour" did Rush harm:

• AUDIO: I discuss the Maher dustup with Paul Harris on KMOX

Comments

[Ivy]

All I could think while watching Maher's reaction, was, "God, I'd hate to be married or have kids with this guy. I'd hate to see how he acts when a child throws a tantrum . . ."

[Peter Ward]

Would Maher be such a flippant hero if he were conservative, and did what he did?

Probably not.

Not much to admire about this.

[Will]

Why would Rush every complain about something like this? Why would he ever think that people are trying to hush him and not let him speak? It was only two thirds of his audience that were plants that wouldn't let him speak. He will complain about the littlest things. Instead of asking the audience to stop like he did he should have physically threatened them.

[Aaron]

I didn't say he was a hero. I said he was much better at handling hecklers than Limbaugh.

I've been hearing from people who think I have some other reason for pulling this old Rush video out. But if you were a full-time TV critic and you just heard about a staged political protest breaking out during a live late-night TV show, you'd have to be an idiot or someone under the age of 30 not to think of Rush ...

[Travis Fox]

any chance you have the video (or link) to the Letterman and Rush bit you referenced to?

"When Rush had his own syndicated show, he filled the room with sycophants."

Unlike Maher who always makes sure that his panel as well as is audience has it's fair share of conservatives....

Gimme a break.

[Mark Jeffries]

Maher has one conservative on the panel every week. And if they're Coultergeist, Laura Ingrahm or the other hot babes he booked so often on both "PI" and "Real Time," they make themselves heard all the time. They just have at least one person who will not let them mop up the floor--and that's the guy sitting at the end of the table.

[Justin C]

Rush's reaction is heeeelarious.

How can anyone attack Maher's response last week? The audience is there to WATCH the show. Apparently Maher's security is poopy, so he had to step in. It's his show, he can run it as he sees fit. I personally would venture to guess three things...The security will be vastly improved this week, the crazies will continue to come to his show...and next season the show will be taped.

O'Reilly tapes his show in advance, and NOT in front of a studio audience. That's why we haven't seen a meltdown. Actually, during one of his Letterman visits (which always seem to meltdown), he turned to the audience and snapped that they should "Shut Up". I saw it on YouTube last week. I'd venture to guess that would happen if he hosted in front of a live studio audience.

[Quad Kings]

Aaron, you've got to be kidding. Your extreme liberal bias shows through more than ever. When you say, "And just like that two-thirds of the audience leaps to its feet and cheers wildly. They're cheering the audience member", you are out of touch. They were cheering Rush.

Granted, Rush could have handled his situation better. But Bill's unnecessary use of profanity and general negativity revealed his true character. From those two clips, without any regard for the issues or their opinions, I think most people would conclude that they'd rather know Rush rather than Bill. He simply more classy.

You also cannot compare the two shows equally. Limbaugh's show is about issues and expression. Maher's show is more about entertainment (though both need to be entertaining). Your derision of Rush for allowing the nut-bags to speak or be heard is like comparing apples to oranges.

Personally, I would have said, "if you cannot conduct yourself in an orderly manner and wait your turn to speak, then you'll have to leave." But you can't really fault Mr. Limbaugh's handling of the situation. He's grown to be a megastar with a huge following, and oodles of money (did you see he contributed more than $4 million to a fund for the United States Marines?). Your comment that Rush needed to "recover" from the events staged by Act Up is rather myopic. His decorum and gentlemanly manner, in response to those crazies HELPED his career. I wouldn't be surprised if Maher's career takes a hit because he shows his true colors and profane mannerisms (not to mention his fear of other opinions).

Mr. Barnhart, you see things through Liberal-colored glasses.

[Mark Jeffries]

Quad Kings:

You're calling a guy who subscribes to Reason magazine an "extreme liberal?"

And we're not talking about radio here--we're talking about television. Is Rush Vicodin's *TV* show still on the air? What time slots was it running in near the end of the run? What kind of *fee plugs* ("promotional consideration furnished by the following") was he getting, let alone real commercials? How successful was Vicodin on "Sunday NFL Countdown?"

And what Maher said last Friday is no different than he has said on every other episode of "Real Time" because it's on *HBO.* I'm sure he isn't getting "Sopranos" numbers but there are enough people who appreciate his work--and HBO is happy enough--that Maher's place twenty-some Friday nights a year will continue for the indefinite future. Why don't you lobby to Les Moonves to put your wacko racist idol Michael Savage on Showtime if you want "balance?"

One of the all time classic clips is Bill O'Reilly referring to M-*ONE* Six on Letterman.
Refer to this any time some one says Bill-O *isn't* illiterate...

[Aaron]

Again, for those of you who like to skip to the very last comment and ignore everything else: I'm not going there, so don't even bait me. Anybody who uses the term "extreme liberal" seems to be trying to deflect attention from his own POV, it seems to me. But again, there are entire web sites devoted to that nonsense -- go there.

[Jim]

Don't besmirch Rush in the slightest. It brings on the automatic wrath of the TVBarn Republican Guard.

[Jan Schaffer]

I love Rush. He is a big sexy man and me and Wilke love to wear our IRL gear and massage our gear boxes thinking of him.

[Mark Jeffries]

When have Colbert or Stewart whined about being silenced--ever? (Unless it's Colbert in his Repoor character, not the real Colbert.)

[Anyway, moving on .... --AB]