BY DENNIS McCAFFERTY
Bill Maher
pokes fun
at politics...
all on behalf
of the good
ol’ US of A
So there’s this whip-smart Jersey kid
fresh out of Cornell named Bill Maher and
he’s trying to break into New York comedy
clubs in the late 1970s. On Mondays, places
like Catch a Rising Star and the Comic Strip on
Second Avenue give veterans a night off so the
up-and-comers can test their chops. Here’s the
deal: An emcee decides whether you’re going
to get on the stage, because there are a lot of
people competing for just a few slots. If you get
a shot, you earn $3 for taxi fare and a burger
from the kitchen. If you don’t, you get zilch.
In Maher’s case, the emcee is Jerry Seinfeld,
who likes the act, so Maher gets his cab fare
and meal. Seinfeld’s pal Larry David is hanging out there, too, not to mention Paul Reiser
and Gilbert Gottfried. Because he lives in the
neighborhood, Rodney Dangerfield is always
stopping in. Now, Rodney hasn’t quite hit it
huge yet with Caddyshack, but he’s been making a respectable living doing stand-up and the
TV schmoozing circuit. To these kids, he’s a
god—Johnny Carson asked him to sit on the
couch! But Rodney won’t listen to any of it.
“He was great with us young guys,” recalls
Maher, 51, in an interview with Arrive. “He
loved comedians of all kinds. He always came
in with the same rumpled, dirty shirt and just
