Two of the most controversial commentators in America, Stephen Colbert and Bill Maher (of HBO's Real Time) went toe to toe last week during a Late Show interview. Two of the comedians' favorite topics, politics and religion, were among the things discussed. At some point during the feud, foul language entered into the mix and there was a cacophony of bleeps intermingled with words that actually made sense, few though there were.
On the topic of politics, the two intellectual combatants tended to agree, but Maher came close to putting his foot in his mouth when he said Muslim ideology should be "wiped out." At least he doesn't think the people themselves should be completely eradicated.
The cursing was more or less localized to one particular part of the interview, but during that segment of the discourse, it felt like there were more bleeps than actual words. You may not be able to understand some of the things coming out of their mouths, but you can easily use your imagination to get the idea. Maher, at one point, asked if one of the obscenities would be left in and even threatened not to come back to the show if it was censored. Time will tell if it was an empty promise.
Maher's potty mouth prompted Colbert to ask if the Real Time host ever gets invited to dinner parties. He referenced basic manners to back-up his reasoning: "They say at a dinner party you should never talk about sex, politics or religion. Have you ever been invited to a dinner party in your life? Are there things you won't talk about?" Maher laughed heartily at the backhanded comment before pointing out the two men are very different, and while he does attend dinner parties, it would be unlikely that he and Colbert would be invited to the same one.
The quip led Colbert to ask what Maher means by "different," which inevitably ended in a religious exchange. A few snide comments were predictably bandied about by the anti-religious Maher. He went about "Describing religion as 'silly stories' and Christianity as' intellectually embarrassing myths from the Bronze Age.'" Early in the religious debate, Maher practically accused Colbert of being a "practicing Catholic," to which Colbert retorted, "I give it a shot. It doesn't mean I'm good at it." Colbert subsequently invited Maher back into the catholic fold, but was rejected by Maher who branded the solicitation as a lecture.
Perhaps dinner party hosts should reconsider their invitation lists. At the least, the conversation would be far more entertaining than usual if both comedians were present at the table.
Who do you think won the religious debate and what brings you to that conclusion? Use the comments below to tell us what you think.
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