Pubdate: Fri, 15 Apr 2016
Source: Standard-Speaker (Hazleton, PA)
Copyright: 2016 The Standard-Speaker
Contact:  http://www.standardspeaker.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1085
Author: Frazier Moore, AP Television Writer

HOW POT HELPS 'REAL TIME' HOST HIT THE HIGH NOTES

NEW YORK (AP) - While a lung-full of marijuana can reduce some 
potheads to a puddle of silliness and sloth - you know who you are - 
the fact remains: Pot can serve a host of creative uses. Case in 
point: Bill Maher. Since premiering 13 years ago with "Real Time," 
which HBO airs live on Fridays at 10 p.m., Maher has provided an 
essential forum for smart discussion about politics and culture, with 
his opening monologue often the sharpest, bestcrafted topical humor on TV.

Even better is his final segment, which ramps up from a litany of 
so-called "New Rules" to a jestful-yet-meaty meditation on such 
subjects as the election follies, political correctness, gun control 
and, yes, legalizing marijuana.

Maher's vocal support for pot legalization exemplifies his largely 
libertarian stance. Meanwhile, there's a practical consideration: 
Grass helps him get his writing right.

So what better occasion than now to salute Maher's decades of comic 
insight while also giving credit to his cannabis muse! After all, 
next Wednesday is April 20, better known among pot proselytizers as 
4-20, which they observe as a special day to honor their favorite 
herb and to advocate for boosted legal access to it.

"I am hardly the only person in this world who finds pot to be a 
creative aid," Maher notes during a recent phone conversation. "But 
if I'm staring at the blank computer screen sober, I'm thinking, 'Uh, 
I don't want to start this, it's an ASSIGNMENT!' Then, as soon as I'm 
high, which takes about three seconds, it's, 'Oh, this is fun! This 
isn't an assignment. It's a GAME."'

He hastens to add, "People think I probably smoke a lot more than I do."

No wonder. It's a part of his professional persona.

He has wisecracked that the conservative magazine The National Review 
coming out against Donald Trump "is like High Times coming out against me."

This is a guy who jokes that he might face consequences from a 
lifetime of pot smoking, "but fortunately, I can treat them with 
medical marijuana."

And a year ago Maher drolly paid homage to the 4-20 holiday by 
reciting an original nursery rhyme, "'Twas the Night Before 4-20," 
which included lines such as, "We lit up a joint and ate a pot 
brownie/ And soon were as high as a young Robert Downey."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom