“Real Time with Bill Maher” is entering its 20th season on HBO, and the comedian/late-night host spoke with Deadline on a variety of topics regarding what has changed since he began hosting the show in 2003.
One of the aspects that Maher mentions that the show has changed since his first season hosting the program is the politics. He goes into specifics regarding how the two parties have altered from the first years George W. Bush to the present day.
“Now, since about I don’t know 2015 or so there’s been a real sea change in what’s going on, on the left,” Maher said. “Now, I always will maintain that the right is the more dangerous faction in this country, especially since they don’t believe in elections — I mean, you have to keep that in perspective.”
“One side does not believe in the form of government we have. What do you do about people who are in the government who don’t believe in your form of government?”
Maher then transitioned to discussing how he sees the United States entering his 20th season and covering politics in this country.
“Not a great place. It could’ve been worse if the election went the other way,” Maher said. “And I, again, per the prediction you were talking about, think the real day of reckoning is going to be between election day 2024 and Inauguration Day 2025, because that’s when the rubber really hits the road.”
Finally, Maher reflected on where he sees the show now that it’s running on two decades, saying that they’re not living in ‘dull times’ and reveals what some of the talking points will be for them this year.
“I mean, I’ll say this, we don’t live in dull times. It’s frightening in many ways, sometimes depressing, but not uninteresting,” Maher said. “I feel like Covid is still the dominate issue of our lives right now, and it should not be anymore. And I think the big discussion on our show Friday night when we go on is that is should we continue with the Covid policies we’ve had in the past?”
“Or do we have to do a reset and just say this thing is never going away and we can’t always be living in a state of emergency? And of course, the other thing is, as we’ve been talking about also, Trump and what’s going to happen with our democracy.”
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
