“Real Time With Bill Maher” Addressed the Limits of Satire

There’s a challenge to finding the right balance in political satire, and it’s one that Bill Maher has reckoned with a few times now on the current season of Real Time. On this week’s episode, he referred to one such item in the news, calling it “[a] story that I feel is a tremendous threat to comedians, because you could never have a punchline stupider, or funnier, than the actual premise.”

What was the issue? The news this week that the Pentagon was planning to remove photos of the Enola Gay from government databases, presumably because the plane’s name clashed with the current administration’s views on sexuality. “Wait ‘til they find out that every plane has a cockpit,” Maher quipped. But the bit raised a larger issue as well: what happens when reality itself feels like it’s already crossed some line into satirizing itself?

Part of this week’s episode offered one answer, with a familiar face showing up as Maher’s first guest. That would be David Sedaris, author of several acclaimed books — most recently Happy-Go-Lucky — who was about to set out on a nationwide tour. The conversation began with banter, specifically about Sedaris’s outfit, which included layered shirts, shorts and mirrored shoes. “It all came from Japan,” Sedaris explained.

“This is what they wear in Japan?” Maher replied. Sedaris paused for a moment, then answered, “…no.”

Sedaris also offered clues to his own sartorial theory. “When I look in the mirror, I see the clothes; I don’t see me,” he told Maher. From there, the duo reflected on the time Sedaris and a number of other comedians and humorists met the Pope. Sedaris seemed more excited to have met one of his peers at the same meeting — “I met Chris Rock!”

Eventually, the two circled around to one of Real Time’s ever-present themes: cancel culture. Sedaris reflected on his own recent forays into being critiqued online. “The things you think people will be offended by are never the things [they are],” he said. “You can’t even guess what they might be in advance.”

Once Sedaris had exited the stage, panelists Jon Tester and Alyssa Farah Griffin joined Maher to discuss this week’s State of the Union address. Lots of SOTU reactions. Farah argued that Congressional Democrats should be doing more to protest the Trump administration’s policies that they oppose. “They need some kind of action beyond whining outside of federal buildings,” she said. And Tester also argued that Democrats should be doing more to show the effects of government cuts.

That ended up leading the trio to talk about Gavin Newsom’s recent foray into podcasting, which in turn led them to discuss the debate over trans women playing sports. (For her part, Griffin argued that the more resonant fight there was for anti-discrimination laws rather than sports participation.) Then it circled around to Maher taking a broader view of sports, arguing that the Lakers would soundly defeat any WNBA team. His guests seemed unconvinced.

Perhaps Tester got the evening’s most succinct line. “The trouble is, people don’t understand civics,” he said. It’s a short statement, but it explains a lot.

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Some other notable moments from this episode:

Maher on his break from touring: “I may go back to it. I didn’t make a big announcement of it.”
Maher argued that cancel culture is why Anora, rather than Emilia Perez, had a big night at the Oscars last weekend. I’ll leave that question for the experts to debate.
Credit goes to the show’s art department for creating a faux propaganda poster featuring a Mountie holding a bloody knife.
Maher on Tester bringing up his missing fingers: “Rahm Emanuel was here last week and he doesn’t have a finger. What is this, a trend?”
Maher is unconvinced on the idea of a government crypto reserve, asking if this would exist “in case Hawk Tuah girl sells out again?”

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…