WendyM

I remember him on MAD TV! Now THAT's old! 😉

Carla was also a model, right? Before she started cooking, IIRC. And Padma was a model. I can see it working. (Not that the person should have all of Padma's attributes; they're replacing the host, not the person.) Carla is also warm and quirky and just lovely in general. And she knows about food. If not, I can see Gail doing it. I also remembered Aisha Tyler being on Top Chef many, many seasons ago and Whose Line is it Anyway? is done (where she's been hosting), so she might be a possibility. She's a foodie and she's been a host and she's funny (she's a stand-up comic too). From Vulture's list of best/worst celebrity Top Chef judges: "Aisha Tyler (Season 4, Episode 4) The earlier seasons of Top Chef were lighter in celebrity guests (quality, not quantity), and those who were featured weren’t typically there for obvious promotional reasons. One standout is actress Aisha Tyler’s appearance on Top Chef: Chicago. The chefs were tasked with making a six-course meal inspired by their favorite films — ranging from Willy Wonka to A Christmas Story to Talk to Her — for Tyler’s birthday dinner, hosted by film critic Richard Roeper. While the challenge itself could’ve been really fun, the decision to have the chefs pair up led to more creative restraint. Still, they managed to make impressive dishes, and Tyler was easily the episode’s highlight."

I think he's off tonight because of the strike...? Odd they're not airing a rerun.

So Bill, how about bringing back Kara Swisher? You know, she and Elon used to be pals.

A couple of things: the hair, the hair, the hair. Why does someone with the longest hair not tie her hair back when she cooks? How does it not catch on fire? And if I auditioned or even thought of auditioning for a cooking show, wouldn't I at least try doing something I'd never tried before such as...baking? Have these people never watched television?

Just like Watergate was about the cover-up, not necessarily the crime. I was really, really surprised how wrongheaded Bill was being about it, and then I remembered he thinks this is an edgy take and his right-wing friends will totally invite him to their...whatever they do for fun. Gun shows? Re Katie Porter: when she was on in 2019, she pissed off Bill and I couldn't forget that while I saw how subdued she was this time: "Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) drew laughs from the audience while defending a woman’s right to choose Saturday night, after Real Time host Bill Maher joked about being “squishy” on his “pro-choice” views. 'They told my mother after my sister, very difficult birth, she shouldn’t have another one. So knowing I could’ve been on the cutting room floor…why is that so terrible?' Maher said. Porter quipped back at the comedian: 'Your mom made her choice, and we’re all here with the consequences of that choice.' 'I just want to say God bless Ms. Maher, God bless her for having you. I’m sure it wasn’t easy,” Porter said, adding the point is “she made her choice.'" https://thehill.com/homenews/media/447644-rep-katie-porter-ribs-bill-maher-during-abortion-discussion/

And maybe it's because it's a weekly show so if feels like a broken record, but...how many times can he make fun of trigger warnings, COVID protocols, "woke"ness? He is fast becoming the echo chamber he accuses every other network of doing. If he were on every evening, he'd have to come up with different topics, right? And his interest in ageism sprouted when he turned 60. Hmm. I wonder why.

Good grief, dear god...Russell Brand. WTF. Make it stop.

Same. I was going back and forth between the Red Sox/Yankees game and this and saw Piers Morgan and heard something about "this generation" and its "anxiety" and that's it. A baseball aftershow is more enjoyable at this point.

I'm finally (finally!) watching this because it made it to Netflix...with all the flashbacks, I started imagining what if Sandra Oh came back for just these final two episodes, and she brought Villanelle with her...and how would Villanelle kill all of them? She bores so easily.

Yeah, I think I said this in last week's thread: if I were in that audience, I would be afraid to react to anything he says. He scolds them if they don't laugh, if they laugh in the wrong places, if they applaud in the wrong places, if they do nothing...I wonder if he has a warm-up person and if so, what do they say? Laugh at your own risk?

He also thinks when there isn't laughter, it's because the audience is offended. Uh, sometimes it's not FUNNY, Bill.

It was telling when Barro asked her whom she was supporting on the GOP side and she wouldn't answer. IIRC, he may have teed up DeSantis for her and she wouldn't bite one way or another. She wouldn't go out on that limb, not this time. Not after she badmouthed her guy before 2016. (I can't remember if this happened during the regular show or Overtime.)

For the life of me...I couldn't think of why no one was challenging her with even a moment of this. If *I'm* sitting on *my* couch and have these rejoinders at the ready, why wouldn't his staff? Or why wouldn't he? After all, at the top he told his audience he watched the hearing so we wouldn't have to, so he must be super informed. And then I think, he must think this overtalking-each-other bit is...entertainment? No, Bill Maher-a-lago. It's not.

Gas, gas, gas, gas, gas.