On the latest episode of “Real Time,” Bill Maher returned to a topic he’s touched on before — ageism and why it’s bad. But he found an amusing way into the matter by holding up President Joe Biden’s performance in office as what amounts to the ultimate refutation of ageist thinking.
“Three months into his presidency, it’s time to admit that Joe Biden has been a huge disappointment… to comedians,” Maher joked during “New Rules.”
“All the jokes we were stockpiling about ancient, doddering, sleepy Joe — useless. The man has been nothing short of sharp, focused and completely on top of things,” Maher continued. “We were expecting a font of comedy gold. A senile geezer showing up to work in his pajama bottoms and plowing his motorcade into a farmer’s market. Forget the dog, he was gonna bite someone on the South Lawn.”
“But a funny thing happened on the way to the old age home: Biden slayed the Orange Dragon and is now spearheading the most transformative administration since FDR with an approval rating of 59%,” Maher said.
Maher added that “even the Joe Biden tics and gaffes that used to bug us,” among them his hair sniffing and masculine tough talk, “gone. Gone. Biden stepped up his game.”
And that’s how Maher transitioned to his point. “Yes, he got better at 78. What a mind-blowing concept that must be to the younger generations for whom writing someone off simply for their age is the last acceptable prejudice.”
Maher complained that while jokes at the expense of other groups are no longer OK, when it comes to age, it’s “have at it.” Maher rebutted some things he said he’s heard in defense of ageism, such as the suggestion that America is “a young country” and said it’s time for Americans to accept “the most fundamental trade-off in life: You’re beautiful when you’re young, wise when you’re old.”
And because of that, Maher said, “Biden is the right man for this moment precisely because he is old. Been there, done that. It’s a virtue. He’s getting things done on wealth inequality, in Afghanistan, racial justice and climate change that keyboard warriors only dream about while muttering ‘OK, Boomer.’”
“Young, dumb and full of cum? Yes, there is a season for that” Maher added. “Right now, I’ll take old, stooped and full of soup.”
Maher complained that people are reluctant to “use old people as a resource” and compared attitudes toward older people in other countries to those in the U.S. And of course, in wrapping up the bit he also got in a few digs against younger people in the process, specifically calling out what he said are commonly held beliefs among younger voters like abolishing policing or support for socialism.
But we won’t belabor things any longer. You can watch the whole thing in the video at the top of the page.
