Bill Maher Addresses Humor, Cartoons, ‘Family Guy’

Bill Maher, political comedian and host of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, recently did an interview with Syracuse.com that touched on a number of topics ahead of his appearance at the Landmark Theater in Syracuse, NY on Saturday, September 6th.

One question in particular asked if it’s more acceptable for comedians to make potentially offensive statements because of the industry they’re in.

“I think sometimes — and this goes back to Mark Twain and before him — sometimes the best way to get at the truth is though humor,” Maher said. “Sometimes it’s the only way. It lets you get away with things. It lets you say things that otherwise you maybe couldn’t say.”

“The ultimate example of that is cartoons,” Maher added with a particular one in mind. “I’m always joking about this with my friend Seth MacFarlane, and what he gets away with on Family Guy because it’s a cartoon. The cartoon person can say way more than any of us could. I remember once Peter Griffin made some incest joke, which is very verboten. And he turned directly to the camera and went, ‘Ahh, c’mon it’s a friggin’ cartoon.'”

So there you have it folks, the getting-away-with-shit hierarchy goes: comedian, political comedian, cartoon (not including political cartoons, which are often criticized.) Or something like that.

Finishing off that topic, Syracuse.com asked Bill if he would consider himself “the cartoon of the political punditry world.”

“I try to push it as far as I can while still remaining a human being,” Maher said.

[via Syracuse.com]