This Friday’s Real Time With Bill Maher episode brought the show’s 2025 season to an end, and with the holiday season upon us, Maher had some thoughts to share about political division, family gatherings and — as you might expect — what it all means. Throw in a somewhat meta twist and you have a fairly archetypal Real Time episode, for good and for ill.
Starting things out: Mel Robbins, author of The Let Them Theory, joined Maher for an interview. (Full disclosure: I have not read this book but I did listen to the If Books Could Kill episode on it.) “To say your book is a phenomenon is an understatement,” Maher said. He’s absolutely correct there; earlier this year, The Washington Post reported that the book had sold 3.6 million copies in English to date.
Maher led things off by asking how Robbins classified her book. Should people file it under self-help? “Let them,” she replied, which seemed very on brand. She went on to distill her theory for the audience — that “other people” are the main source of stress in our lives.
“You first start using it because you are annoyed with other people,” Robbins said. She explained that that isn’t the only element of the book’s message, which she described as “learning how to accept people as they are — and as they’re not.”
Maher offered a skeptical note, pointing out that “not everything is a ‘let them’ case.” He argued that office sexual harassment, for instance, would not be a great place to adopt a “let them” attitude.
Robbins looked at that issue a little differently. “They’ve already done it,” she said. “So when you say ‘let them,’ you’re not allowing it, you’re forcing yourself to recognize the situation you’re in.” She then offered advice to people dreading holiday conversations about politics or other sensitive matters, reminding viewers that they have options.
Maher was more in agreement with this line of thinking. “You have to pick what you get upset about,” he said. Robbins co-signed that. “You get to choose how much energy that opinion takes up up here,” she said, gesturing to her brain. She then addressed the importance of “[allowing] yourself to recognize what’s in your control and what’s not.”
Maher closed out the interview by discussing his own idea for a self-help book. “At 70, what I’ve learned in life is, whatever you think the future is, it could be shitty, [but] it’s not going to be what you think it is,” he said.
Then two frequent guests arrived for the panel: musician and actor Michael Render, aka Killer Mike (who, it should be noted, did terrific work on The Lowdown this season) and Democratic strategist Donna Brazile. The two guests quickly settled into plenty of banter, leaving Maher to try to get a word in edgewise — and allude to the possible sale of Warner Bros. Whoever’s going to buy this network, let them think I have some place,” Maher said.
The panel then discussed who might be the next Democratic presidential nominee. Neither Render nor Brazile got too specific, likely because that election is still almost three years away and a lot can happen between then and now. Brazile predicted a large primary field; Render had good things to say about Nina Turner, but predicted that a white guy would be the eventual nominee. (Maher: “Why do we have to put it in terms of that?” Mike: “Because I’m Black.”)
For his part, Maher argued that Stephen A. Smith could be the nominee. “The Democrats need somebody who doesn’t give a shit, and that’s him,” he said. His guests were not convinced.
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There was plenty of weed. Hopefully none of it in the cake.The conversation took an interesting turn when it got to education policy, as all three people on stage alluded to their experience attending public schools. Brazile emphatically argued for better pay for teachers, while Render called for a move away from emphasizing test taking and for schools to return to a broader approach, from art to trade instruction. He argued that the best teachers ask their students, “What talent will send you to the next level?”
To close out the night, Maher addressed familial fights over politics. “Politics has broken up more families than letting your wife see your phone,” he said — and reiterated his opposition to people cutting off their relatives over politics. “Most people don’t decide their politics — they inherit them,” he said.
In this segment, he was mostly critical of the left, eventually moving from awkward family dinners to the criticism he had received for dining at the White House earlier this year. He also had time to riff on Succession, quoting the line “You are not serious people.” We’ll see what 2026 has in store for Maher and Real Time in a few months.
Other notable moments from this week’s episode:
- Maher’s reference to both Zohan Mamdani and Mohammed bin Salman visiting the White House as “Muslim Week” did not get the audience reaction he was expecting.
- Occasionally Real Time guests — or Maher, or both — will allude to smoking weed backstage. This isn’t that surprising; Maher is a partner in a dispensary, after all. That said, this conversational thread was especially pronounced this week.
- As mentioned above, this was the last Real Time episode of the year. The show will return on January 23, 2026. Maher’s podcast, Club Random, will continue through the break.
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