Some episodes of Real Time With Bill Maher wind up focused on one particular topic. Others run the gamut, as the saying goes. With a show with as wide-ranging a lineup of guests as this one, it’s not terribly surprising that that is the case. This week’s episode began with a discussion of health and longevity before moving on to larger discussions of war, violence and morality. It was that kind of a week.
First up to the stage was Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, whose new book Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life was published earlier this year. Emanuel and Maher talked about the legacy of the Affordable Care Act, with Emanuel making the case that there needed to be reform.
“For people who have an illness, there should be no deductible,” he said, and brought up his own experience as an oncologist to bolster his point.
Maher mentioned something that’s been clear for much of this season to date: he’s been using a fitness wearable to track certain data relating to his health. He asked Emanual about some of the more dissonant moments he’s had with it, such as when the ring has told him he slept well but he didn’t agree with it.
Emanuel, for his part, was skeptical of such devices. His advice was more pragmatic: “Don’t be a schmuck. Don’t do stupid stuff.” He brought up the Importance of keeping your mind engaged and of staying happy. When Maher pointed out that advising people to eat ice cream seemed counterintuitive, Emanuel replied that “ice cream makes you happy.”
The two men also discussed the importance of socialization to health. Emanuel also suggested that retirement plans should focus less on money and more on staying social — “what’s going to keep you mentally engaged,” as he phrased it.
The interview that led off the episode was very civil; the panel discussion that followed it, however, was more contentious. Paul Rieckhoff of Independent Americans and conservative political commentator Douglas Murray did not see eye to eye on most issues.
“Let’s just have three guys talking about war,” Maher said by way of introduction. He went on to point out that he and Murray had both supported the current war with Iran initially, but their paths had diverged since then. Why?“We did it and it didn’t work,” Maher said.
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Looking to reboot your creativity? We have a suggestion.Rieckhoff got most of the debate’s memorable lines, including this one: “There is the emergence of a new generation of chickenhawks.” He compared Congress to “mall cops,” and spoke about his own experience as a veteran. “The biggest mistake a president can make is to send troops before they commit a country,” he said.
Later in the evening, conversation turned to the upcoming election in Hungary. “Hungary can keep J.D. Vance,” Rieckhoff said. Murray then referred to Viktor Orbám having won “free and fair” elections, which both Maher and Rieckhoff pushed back on.
Maher closed out the night by addressing the recent revelations about genuinely awful actions committed by labor leader Cesar Chavez. “Being an adult often means choosing between two awful options,” he said, running through several examples historical and contemporary. He also threw in a few digs at Kanye West’s recent comeback attempt; it seems likely that we haven’t heard the last from him on this subject.
Other notable moments from this episode:
- Is the recent Moon mission the only thing that can bring people together? Maher was unconvinced: “it’s just another big fucking rock.”
- Maher is also not happy with the rise of puking on film to indicate stress, and wonders about the benefits of returning to characters lighting up on screen for the same effect.
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