Bill Maher rarely misses an opportunity to criticize cancel culture, and has frequently taken the opportunity to host celebrities who have fallen from grace. In 2023, that meant Andrew Cuomo appearing on Real Time; more recently, that’s included Woody Allen and Armie Hammer showing up on Maher’s podcast Club Random. That approach continued on this week’s Real Time, when comedian Louis C.K. appeared as the evening’s first guest.
“I’ve wanted him on for a long time,” Maher said. C.K. has been in the news recently for his upcoming appearance at a comedy festival in Saudi Arabia, which the two men discussed late in their conversation. While his reputation and career have taken a wholly understandable hit after he admitted to sexual misconduct, C.K. remains a draw, if this list of upcoming performances — many of which are sold out — is any indication.
That wasn’t what he was there to discuss, however. Instead, he was promoting his forthcoming novel Ingram. He described fiction as something he’d long been interested in. “I got into comedy and TV, which is a lot easier than writing novels,” he told Maher. As for the novel itself, its plot follows a child on the road in Depression-era Texas. Maher referred to it as “very Huckleberry Finn-y,” and also mentioned Charles Dickens as a reference point.
Of the title character, C.K. said, “Ingram is like me without a mom, in Texas.” He also told Maher that he hadn’t done any research, instead working out the internal logic of the book in his mind. The conversation was fairly measured, and then Maher addressed the elephant in the room.
“One night Ingram discovers masturbation and pays a high price for that,” Maher said. After a very deliberate pause, he continued: “Where do you get your ideas?”
“Like you said…write what you know,” C.K. replied. Was this a case of him taking his lumps, or more of a knowing wink, akin to the giant “SORRY” backdrop he performed in front of when he made his return to live comedy?
As for the comedy festival, Maher stated that he had “mixed feelings on this.” C.K. mentioned that he had performed around the world, so he didn’t see Saudi Arabia as being all that different from other places he has visited. As for the festival’s restrictions, specifically that he couldn’t bring up religion or government, he was blunter: “I don’t have jokes about those two things.”
He added that he was grateful for the issues Marc Maron and David Cross had raised about the festival. Maher and C.K. were more in agreement on something else: neither agreed with Dave Chappelle’s assertion that one could speak more freely in Saudi Arabia than in the U.S.
Bill Maher Had Plenty to Say About Jimmy Kimmel on “Real Time”
Censorship, networks and the border were all on the agenda this weekCNN’s Van Jones and The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman joined Maher for the bulk of the episode, covering everything from the government shutdown to conflicts overseas. Friedman was highly critical of social media, saying, “It is now an industry to make people stupid and angry.”
Friedman also addressed the role the president had in the national discourse. “[Trump] made it permissible, popular and profitable to say and do things to and about each other we never did before,” he said. “All three of those things need to be addressed.” And for his part, Jones spoke of the polarizing effects of being “in different algorithmic universes.” Between that and some criticism of AI earlier in the episode, technology took on plenty of criticism over the course of the night.
Other notable moments from this week’s episode:
- Maher on the recent meeting of military leaders: “This was supposed to be an exercise in morale-building. Nothing pumps you up like taking a 22-hour flight to be yelled at by a Fox News dry drunk about your love handles.”
- Maher on Chuck Schumer: “He once convinced me to give him a million dollars, and that went down the drain.”
- Maher on a certain AI-powered necklace: “If you think you have no friends now, wait ‘til everyone sees you talking to your necklace.” (Said product appears to be a gift that keeps on giving for comedy writers; it was also roasted by the Approval Matrix this week.)
- Real Time is off next week, and will return on October 17.
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