Bill Maher Drops Threat to Quit His Show Amid Eminent Trump Adminstration
HBO talk show host Bill Maher, 68, said in an episode of his podcast Club Random last Sunday that he was seriously considering quitting his talk show, per the New York Post.
In the episode, which was recorded before the election, he expressed fear over Donald Trump regaining the presidency and expressed that he “didn’t want” to cover Trump for another four years.
Maher, a comedian, said that he “did all the Trump stuff before anybody”. He noted that he referred to Trump as a “con man” and a “Mafia boss” before anyone else did, and even claimed to have predicted that Trump “wasn’t going to concede the election”.
“I’ve done it,” Maher said.
In response to Maher’s frustration at covering the same topics as during Trump’s previous administration, Club Random guest Jane Fonda, 86, suggested that he avoid talking about Trump and simply choose a different topic to cover on his show, Real Time with Bill Maher.
Maher insisted that he could not do that. “The show is the politics,” he said. “There’s no other thing, and he’s going to dominate the news like he always does.”
Real Time with Bill Maher is described as a satirical comedy show. It has been running since 2003, and airs weekly on HBO. The show format is to invite three guests of different backgrounds and discuss current events with them.
Discussing the president is an extremely common topic on the show.
During the Club Random episode, Fonda remarked that Trump seems less “hostile” towards Maher, as compared to other comedian Jimmy Kimmel. Maher disagreed, pointing out that Trump has posted about him on social media sites such as X, formerly Twitter.
“He’s very hostile towards me,” Maher stated.
Trump has indeed expressed distaste for Maher on social media, referring to him as a “befuddled mess” and his HBO show as “ratings challenged”.
Despite the animosity, and Maher describing himself as “s—-ing [his] pants” at the prospect of another Trump presidency, Maher took the surprising move of vowing not to “pre-hate” the incoming administration during a panel discussion in November.
While he emphasized that he still doesn’t like Trump and does not have high hopes, he also noted, “They are calling themselves the ‘disruptors’. The country does need disrupting. I mean, the country needs a colonic and a slap in the face so bad. This is not who I would choose to administer the colonic but it’s not like the bureaucracy isn’t bloated.”
“Let’s see what the disruptors can do,” he further said. “Because, quite frankly, the experts have just… let something go for so long that it’s just sclerotic now and constipated.”
He did express doubt as to how effective any upcoming disruptions would be when proposed changes to policies begin to prompt complaints from the “corn lobby,” “pharmaceutical industry” and “defense contractors”. However, he also expressed support for Trump’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine war, and criticized Biden allowing Ukraine to launch US-made missiles into Russia. “I feel… that [Ukraine is] losing the war,” he said. “And they are noble, and we support them, certainly in spirit, should we do it as we have been?”
Maher also expressed tentative optimism about Trump’s pick for the the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “The way we do health, is already very f—ed. So maybe he’ll make it worse. But, like, my head is not exploding about it,” he said. He also noted that “We do need shaking up.”
He summed up his stance with “Let’s see what happens.”
HBO renewed the show in March for two more seasons, meaning that Maher may stay on the air until the end of 2026, if he does choose to stay.
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