One of the most predictable things in entertainment news is the inevitable early Saturday morning piece that highlights whatever clueless, out of touch thing Bill Maher said on Friday night's edition of HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher. For journalistic purposes, the show's timing is perfect because nothing else is generally happening on Friday nights that is worth writing about the next morning.
But don't conflate "it's easy to write about" with "it's worth paying attention to or taking seriously." Because if you watch Bill Maher for any amount of time, you realize that the only difference between Maher and the old guy complaining about the state of America while drinking his discounted senior coffee from McDonald's is that Maher has a national forum.
This wasn't always the case. When Politically Incorrect premiered on Comedy Central in 1993, it was a pop culture sensation. The format was unusual, with Maher opening the show with a brief monologue, then bringing out three or four guests who were generally a mix of celebrities, politicians and newsmakers. Most importantly, while they didn't agree with each other on the issues of the day, the guests were usually able to have a conversation. And the show became popular enough that ABC picked it up in 1997, where it aired until 2002.
What made Politically Incorrect work was that while Maher was opinionated, he also didn't take himself too seriously (Although a lot of people who worked for him during that period were less than thrilled with his behavior). Audiences were entertained, but also learned from the guests and the conversations.
But like every other political comedian in recent history, Maher slowly began to drink his own blow-hearted Kool-Aid. He became convinced that he saw through the bullshit of America's political system in a way that no one else could. And that is a failing that has not done any favors for his HBO series Real Time With Bill Maher.
Maher launched his HBO series in 2003 and while it continues to do okay in the ratings, over the past decade or so, the show's format has devolved down to Maher spouting off about some political-loving Grandpa who somehow manages to consumer equal parts of Facebook and Politico. No matter the topic, the under-lying premise of any monologue or any conversation with a guest is essentially, "I, Bill Maher, see through the schemes of mere mortals. I can't believe you are so foolish that you are intellectually incapable of seeing the truth."
And while that ill-advised ranting has its own entertainment value, the problem is that the Real Time forum provides some marginal level of credibility to what Maher is saying. In recent years, it has become increasingly common to see conservative news outlets highlighting his comments, often framing it as "liberal Bill Maher has this criticism of <insert Dem politician or cause>." And let's be honest, Maher has never been a liberal. He often describes himself as a "libertarian," and he means that in the same way most libertarians mean the description. He's mostly just a cranky, self-absorbed ass, but he prefers to ascribe his attitude to some underlying political belief instead of the reality. Which is that he is primarily concerned with himself and the things he cares about. Everyone else is disposable and unimportant.
As an example, let's take the most recent episode of Real Time With Bill Maher, which aired on Friday, March 22nd. His introductory celebrity guest was Dana Carvey and his later political panel was Ezra Klein and Andrew Sullivan.
During the panel, Maher was his typical blowhard self, often correctly identifying a problem (The Dem party is wildly unpopular), but then suggesting the most out-of-touch solution as the best option (Why aren't people listening more to Gavin Newsom and Chuck Schumer?).
Listening to the conversation between the three, which often sounds like it was sponsored by the National Association of Conventional Wisdom Pundits, I was continually struck by their ability to mock politicians such as AOC, while simultaneously arguing the Democrats should do the things progressives like AOC have been arguing for. Maher in particular seems befuddled by any political idea younger than than women he has often favored in his personal life.
Listening to Maher rant about the laws that govern California (which to be clear, could stand to be stripped back) and complaining that he had a new roof installed on his house and he was required to have it inspected, he sounded a lot like those people that argue the oppressive hand of government shouldn't force drivers to wear seat belts, because it's all about personal choice.
Which is fine, but his instinctual urge to be aggressively stuck on a topic like a senile dog chewing on an imaginary bone makes most episodes of Real Time pretty frustrating to watch. In this episode, Maher is stuck on the idea that the Democrats are out of touch and as far as he can tell, they are so unpopular, it's "game over." So every time that Andrew Sullivan would bring up a topic such as the Trump Administration's claim they can arrest and deport anyone if they claim the person is somehow "a terrorist," Maher could chuckle and reign him back in so he conversation could get back to the one topic Maher cared out this week. The Democrats suck.
In the end, this episode - like nearly episode of Real Time With Bill Maher - ends up sounding like therapy for the crankiest grandpa in your subdivision than a political discussion worth listening to. Wherever he started, the Bill Maher of 2025 is predictably obstinate and arrogant in a way that borders on being viscerally unpleasant.
According to Mediaite, in an upcoming episode of his podcast Club Random (because of course, he has a podcast), Maher reveals that he has an upcoming meeting scheduled with Donald Trump, which was arranged with the help of Kid Rock:
“There will be lots of people on the left who will be like, ‘How dare you talk to this man.’ It’s like, fuck you, I’m not playing this game that you mean girls play,'” the comedian said.
As always, Bill, you've got it wrong. You won't be criticized because you're meeting with Donald Trump. You'll be criticized because meeting with Donald Trump is the predictable flight path for an elderly crank of a comic who used to be able to distinguish between critical thinking and making a living believing your own ill-informed bullshit.
You're not being brave. You are being predictable. Which is the worst thing that can happen to a comedian.