• New Rules

  • Polite Musings from a Timid Observer
  • By: Bill Maher
  • Narrated by: Bill Maher
  • Length: 2 hrs and 30 mins
  • 3.6 out of 5 stars (790 ratings)

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New Rules  By  cover art

New Rules

By: Bill Maher
Narrated by: Bill Maher
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Publisher's summary

Bill Maher first came to national attention as the host of the hit Comedy Central and ABC-TV program Politically Incorrect, where he offered a combustible mixture of irreverence and acerbic humor that helped him to garner a loyal following, as well as a reputation for being a hilarious provocateur.

Now, his popular new HBO television show, Real Time with Bill Maher, has put him more front and center than ever. In particular, one of the show's segments entitled "New Rules" has struck a chord with viewers. It's within his rules that Maher takes serious aim, bringing all his incisiveness, wit, and his signature exasperation to bear on topics ranging from cell phones ("I don't need my cell phone to take pictures or access the Internet. I just need to make a phone call. From everywhere! Not just the places it likes!") to fast food ("New Rule: No more McDonald's in hospitals. I'm not kidding!") to the conservative agenda ("Stop claiming it's an agenda. It's not an agenda. It's a random collection of laws that your corporate donors paid you to pass."), Maher brings these brilliantly conceived riffs to audio for the first time, along with some singularly Maher-ian "editorials", editorials nothing like the standard fare found on the pages of the local newspaper!

©2005 Bill Maher (P)2005 Phoenix Audio

Critic reviews

  • Grammy Award Nominee, Best Spoken Word Album, 2006

What listeners say about New Rules

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Hysterical!

Cynical, mean, vicious and... hilarious! Humorless, rightwing, gun-toting, narrow-minded Bible-thumpers will not enjoy. Everyone else - buy this audiobook and laugh - it's all we have left.

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71 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

I Like Maher

The material that hit the Left (approx. 1-6 ratio) was hilarious!

Most of the material that bashed the Right (esp. Christians), p***ed me off!

Either I have veered more towards the Righr or Maher is getting only less politically correct than Alec Baldwin.

I still got my laughs for the buck and I still like Bill.

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43 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

If you like Maher...

... Then get the book, you're assured to like it. If you don't like Maher, then don't. None of Bill's flare is lost in this book, it's full of the crisp thoughts and pop culture references he's become known for. If you're looking to sprinkle your conversations with a few good one liners then I highly reccomend getting this.

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40 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Bill Rules

This is 99% hilarious and the 1% had references I didn't get. This guy just makes me laugh with his own dry sense of political humor. He unmasks the pointless laws and the hypocracies of our time.

This is not the audio from the TV show, and you don't need a laugh track anyway. If you like Bill Maher, you'll be laughing out loud. If you don't like Bill Maher, you'll be trying to keep from laughing out loud.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Bill, New Rule...

New Rule ? You can?t print the transcripts of you old TV shows and call them a book. But, the material was catchy, funny and I enjoyed the nostalgia of remembering what I was doing when I first heard each of his new rules. If you missed seeing Bill?s New Rules on his HBO program, get the book. If you have seen them before, you may be disappointed.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

laugh-out-loud funny

This compilation of Maher's New Rule edicts is clever and entertaining. After a while, I caught on to the word-plays in the chapter titles, which are awfully fun ("Entertainment Weakly: No more celebrity gambling shows..." or "Have it Yaweh").
The Religious Right is not the only target of Maher's biting wit. Paris Hilton and the people fascinated by her, jerks with cellphones, predictably mediocre Hollywood films, and spineless Democrats are all candidates for new rules.
Maher's take on the Blue state/ Red state divide is not as simplistic as some critics might suggest. Both sides take plenty of well-deserved hits.
He's got a great delivery and cadence. His rant bounces around from entertainment, politics, social gaffes and hypocrisy of all kinds.
This may be a more telling mirror of our current state of affairs than anyone wants to admit.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

In One Ear....

I bought Bill's new audiobook from Audible since it was very cheap. I got what I expected. Bill Maher has for years now been trying to convince us that he's a smooth and insightful social and political commentator, in the tradition of say Samuel Johnson, Mark Twain, or Oscar Wilde. Very witty, very witty. He is of course, equal to none of these. A naughty Dick Cavett, perhaps. I can't understand his fixation on religion, though. Weren't Bach, C.S. Lewis, and Eddington, religious? His rant on the religious right seems a bit obssessive. But, despite the fact that he is not George Carlin, Robin Williams, or Lenny Bruce, he occasionally made me laugh. Buy this audiobook like chewing gum. A cheap thrill, not to last.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Terrible-whining from front to back

This is the worst book ever. If you like to whine about things read it. Otherwise stay away from it.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Maher does it right

Maher says out loud what we all think in our private thoughts ... and wish we had enough guts to stand by publically.

Nothing is sacred - not the liberals, not the conservatives. All political and religous groups are hammered. No sacred cow unturned. A "fast listen" - over much too soon. I want more Bill Maher...

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Poorly written and even more poorly thought out.

The lack of imagination, lack of clear thinking, and - most importantly - lack of a sense of humour are in clear evidence with this terrible book.

Though I never found him all that funny, he is clearly far too bitter now to have anything interesting or entertaining to say.

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8 people found this helpful