Bill Maher had a pretty good show Friday night (it reruns many a time on HBO in the coming week) with guests Robin Williams, terrorism expert Richard Clarke, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chris Matthews, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI). It's odd to hear Kerry talking tough now when it doesn't do him any good.
But the odd thing is that the show was done from Washington, D.C. and I'm wondering why. You might go to the time and expense of doing your show from another city because you'll be getting guests you can't snag back home…but Kerry and Chafee were on remotes (Kerry's was even pre-taped) so that could have been done from Hollywood. Robin Williams is on a tour promoting his new film so it would probably have been better for him to be in Los Angeles where he could have done four other appearances the same day. Chris Matthews is out here all the time (he was on with Leno the other night) and it's not like Richard Clarke or a Florida Congressperson wouldn't have flown out to do the show.
Or you might go to another city to get a hotter audience but that's no explanation, either. Maher's audiences at Television City out here are about as hot as you could ever want. So I don't know what the producers thought they were going to get in Washington that they couldn't get at home.
In any case, the show ran over its one-hour slot so if you set your TiVo or VCR and didn't pad the recording time, you didn't get the last few minutes, which included some funny bits under the closing credits. (They looked like they were shot for some other show, which may explain why Real Time with Bill Maher went to Washington…so its star could tape bits for a special of some sort.) And why did it run over? Well, I love Robin Williams when he's the only funny one on the stage. But when someone else is trying to get a laugh, especially with prepared material, he can be very annoying. I've heard professional comics argue over whether Williams interrupts to intentionally sabotage another comedian's performance or if it's just reflex. I suspect the latter but either way, there are times you just wish he'd let someone else get a punch line in edgewise.