John Waters is still stirring things up at 78. A frequent Real Time guest of Bill Maher, the writer, actor, and filmmaker of such cult classics as Pink Flamingoes and Cry-Baby can still zing with the best.
He started off with a brief discussion of this week’s biggest news, the Trump trial results in New York.
“If he gets home detention, you will hear Melania scream,” Waters said. Adding, “In jail, they pay guards for cell phones. He has to sneak in “Just for Men.”
The conversation took an abrupt turn when Maher brought up the Pope’s slur against gays this week, which prompted Waters to reminisce about the days of Glory Holes on both coasts. “God, I hope I didn’t blow Rex Reed!”
Fortunately for Walters, he claimed his films are “doing better than ever,” though he admits he lost every obscenity case he was ever involved in.”
Waters admitted he doesn’t like filming sex scenes.
“We didn’t have intimacy coaches,” he said. He imagined if they did while filming the likes of Divine. “Is it all right to eat shit? Do you have breath mints?”
Asked about the start of Pride Month, Waters said he wants new minorities. “I’m trying to come up with new perversions,” he said. “Our pubic past is something we have to remember.”
Waters said his parents never asked if he was gay. “They feared it was something worse.”
This week’s panel discussion included David Axelrod, former senior advisor to President Obama, CNN political contributor, and host of the podcast The Axe Files with David Axelrod, and Ken Buck, former Republican congressman from Colorado.
The discussion first focused on the Trump New York decision.
Buck started by noting, “I never ran for office and said I’m going to get someone,” he said, noting that everyone on the panel could be charged with a crime if subjected to a magnifying glass.
Axelrod countered by noting that civilized society is based on rules, and “it’s dangerous when the guy in charge doesn’t believe in them.”
Buck warned that retribution is likely. “What one side does, the other side picks up on quickly.”
Should Trump go to jail? Both Buck and Axelrod said no.
Maher brought up one of his new favorite themes, asking if Joe Biden should be replaced as the Democratic candidate.
“Right now, he is the nominee,” said Axelrod, saying that this is not 1968 and there’s no generation of elders who can go to the White House and convince Biden not to run. “He’s not going anywhere.” He added, “People ought to focus on that and give up the fantasy that there’s going to be another candidate.”
The concluding discussion was about San Francisco’s decision to take down the “Appeal to Heaven” flag that has flown in the city for 60 years. The city fathers claimed it has been co-opted by a group that doesn’t share the city’s values.
“The left is cuckoo,” Maher said. “They take it to far.” George Washington flew this flag, he noted.
“I don’t get it,” Buck said. “It’s a flag.”
Maher concluded the panel by noting the Washington Post story about the economy being good, but people not believing it. “Biden is too feeble to make the case,” Maher said.
The New Rules editorial was a suggestion aimed at college students to seek a new notion to combat. See the video above for Maher’s take.
