Bill Maher: I'm Swiss

Bill Maher no doubt speaks for a lot of his fellow citizens these days when he says, "I love America…[but] I'm embarrassed," which is why he sometimes pretends that he's actually from Switzerland. But Maher expresses his disenchantment as few others can in this March 2005 Portland, Oregon performance that combines biting humor with trenchant political commentary. Here, his targets are many and varied—reality TV, Civil War reenactments, religion ("nonsensical and spiritually unnecessary"), the folks who make it their business to "legislate taste," and so on—but his most bitter recriminations are reserved for George W. Bush. Maher is still peeved about the fact that Bush sat dumbstruck for so long in that Florida classroom after learning about the 9/11 attacks ("What, did he think he was being Punk'd?"); he's still offended that the 2004 election somehow became "a referendum on boys kissing"; and thinks the president "is so retarded, he could be on death row in Texas." Maher admits that he's preaching to the choir, but much of what he says during this 99-minute monologue (plus a Q&A session with the audience that's included in the bonus material) is genuinely funny, especially a segment called "Master P's Theater," in which he translates rap lyrics into "white." Recommended. Aud: P. (S. Graham)