It's not easy being a comedian. No matter what you say, you're going to piss somebody off.
Right now people are really pissed at Bill Maher.
He seemed to go off the deep end during the pandemic, railing against masks and goverment regulations intended to slow the Covid spread.
Then came Joe Biden, who he supported with resevations after baiting Oprah Winfrey to run for president.
Noted for his liberal opinions, Maher has recently shifted to the right, ripping Biden and candidate Kamala Harris during the 2024 campaign. However, he never supported Donald Trump... until now.
A few weeks ago on Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO and CNN, Kid Rock told the host he could broker a meeting beween arch rivals Maher and Trump at the White House. Maher never got over being sued after he called Trump's father an orangutan. Kid Rock offered a solution and indeed he followed through, setting up the meeting. Off the air for a week, Maher wanted to disclose the story to his audience first, insuring increased ratings.
Maher's 12-minute spiel on the recent show was entirely embarrasing. He bent over backwards to defend Trump, who he says in private is a cordial, warm and friendly person, not the spiteful brute we see everyday on TV:
• "Just for starters, he laughs! I've never seen him laugh in public. But he does, including at himself. And it's not fake. Believe me, as a comedian of 40 years, I know a fake laugh when I hear it. And I thank you for them.
• "It doesn't matter who he is at a private dinner with a comedian; it matters who he is on the world stage. I'm just taking it as a positive that this person exists, because everything I've ever not liked about him was, I swear to God, absent, at least on this night with this guy.
• "I've had so many conversations with prominent people who are much less connected, people who don't look you in the eye, people who really don't listen because they just want to get to their next thing, people whose response to things you say just doesn't track. Like, what? None of that with him. And he mostly steered the conversations: ‘So what do you think about this?’ I know. Your mind is blown. So is mine.
"Bill Maher's very public political pivot is now complete."
• "Moving Israel's embassy to Jerusalem? Loved it. The border did need to be controlled. I'm glad the cops are getting their morale back. DEI had gone too far. Biological men shouldn't be playing women's sports. Europe should pay for their defense. And of course, it makes sense that Arab countries should take in Arab refugees, like the million Syrians who wound up in Germany when Saudi Arabia took none. He said to me, ‘You're right, they took none.’
• "I never felt I had to walk on eggshells around him.
• "He said to Dana White, you know, ‘Bill said my father was an orangutan, and I said, I really love my father.’ And I said, ‘Well, Mr. President, I did that because I didn't like what you were doing regarding Obama's birth origins. I thought that was low.’ Again, no anger, just a little smile, as if to say, yeah, I get it.
• "I'm just reporting exactly what I saw over two and a half hours. I went into the mine, and that's what's down there. A crazy person doesn't live in the White House. A person who plays a crazy person on TV a lot lives there."
Some think "Trump charmed Bill Maher." Others say "he got played."
Podcaster Marc Maron didn't hold back, calling him a "bitch."
How will this affect Maher's career? He's already been fired once by a network (ABC) back in 2001 after his offenive 9/11 comments. It's doubtful HBO will do the same, unless Real Time's ratings take a plunge. Over the last few years his numbers have declined significantly.
I dubbed Maher "The Man in the Middle" after watching his latest HBO special, Is Anyone Seeing This?
In 2022, he told Joe Rogan:
"Centrism is such a wishy-washy word. But that's sort of what it is. Some people lean a little more to the left, a little more to the right, sometimes it's by issue to issue... I seem more conservative maybe, but it's not me who changed."
I would beg to differ. Maher has changed, with the exception of his cannabis advocacy. That's remained and still gives some reason to watch his show and follow what he has to say.
But now that Maher's in Trump's back pocket, there's no way out. His very public political pivot is complete.
MORE MAHER LINKS
• Calls for a 4/20 National Holiday
