Q+LA Bill Maher
HBO’s curmudgeon in residence inspires many adjectives—clever, cranky, commonsensical, confrontational—and that’s fine by him by ROBIN SAYERS
PHOTO: ANDREW MACPHERSON
In the run-up to any interview, profilists imagine both best- and worst-case scenarios. The latter: Subject doesn’t talk or recorder breaks. The former: Revelation after stunning revelation.
The intro to my fantasy, shocker-filled article with Bill Maher goes something like this: “I’d never met anyone more passionately committed to the further criminalization of pot,” he gushes of his fiancée as we idle at a light in his Humvee. “I knew instantly she was The One.”
Intensive therapy sessions with Dr. Marcus Bachmann, PhD, helped him conquer his acute gamophobia, traditional vows will be exchanged at Mel Gibson’s church in Malibu, and he and his bride will honeymoon in Alaska, a concession to Maher’s love of both icy climes and aerial wolf hunting.
Hey, a writer can dream, right? The host of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher is, as always, a confirmed bachelor, resolute nonbeliever (or apatheist, to use his preferred term for an “apathetic atheist”) and proud PETA member who drives a hybrid, supports the legalization of marijuana and loathes cold weather. If any of my fiction became Maher’s reality, friends would rush him to Cedars, because some catastrophic medical condition would surely be cutting off his blood supply. That’s not to say the guy who wrote The New New Rules: A Funny Look at How Everybody but Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass—the recent follow-up to his 2005 bestseller, New Rules—doesn’t surprise in his own way...
What’s your earliest memory of making someone laugh?
The Smothers Brothers had a sitcom in the mid ’60s. Tommy played an angel, and his shtick was that he stuttered. I distinctly remember cracking everybody up at our Christmas party when I was six or seven doing my Tommy Smothers.
And were you hooked kinda from then?
You know, without consciously knowing it, I think I was.
So, who was the first comedian to make you laugh?
Probably the Three Stooges. That’s what you love when you’re a kid.
The physical comedy?
Yeah—at least the boys. I was never a cartoon fan. The only one I ever got into was Family Guy. I think I was a comedy snob even at the age of five.
Did you go to the movies a lot?
Not a lot. The first movie I was taken to was It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
That could actually be the subtitle to your career.
Yes!
What would 18-year-old Bill Maher think of Bill Maher 2011?
I think he would be impressed! It isn’t that far afield of where I wanted to go. Eighteen-year-old Bill was enamored of Johnny Carson. As I got older, that morphed into a different kind of talk show—one that is more fulfilling, more challenging.
I also ask about you as an 18-year-old because that’s the year you were briefly religious, after your first girlfriend broke up with you.
I was 17, actually, and I was seeking something to assuage the horrible blow of being dumped in high school. I certainly didn’t turn back to Christianity or the Catholicism of my youth, but I was on a daily basis saying, “God, whoever you are, please stop the pain!” Some philosopher said, “You have to have the memory of outlived sorrow.” After you’ve done it once, you know it can always get better. But the first time... I remember waking up for months and months, thinking, Is this the way it’s going to be for the rest of my life? I think a lot of your first love is you’re in love with love. I mean, love is always a fog—but that fog is thick.
Can people change?
That’s a real chestnut, isn’t it? Who hasn’t gotten stoned or had a bull session in the dorm room and gotten into that one? That is one of the eternal questions, and I don’t know if there’s a definitive answer. I mean, the usual answer is, not fundamentally—character doesn’t change. I think events can be so cataclysmic people take a different direction. So, people can, yes, but most people don’t.
I ask because your work seems to be about challenging people to consider changing their positions on big topics.
My experience with that is, politically, we are mostly preaching to the converted. A lot of conservatives, for whatever reason—possibly because I have conservatives on the panel or because the show is funny and they like to laugh—don’t agree with me, but they do watch the show. I can’t remember a time when a conservative said to me, “Boy, I watched your show, and I changed my mind.” But I’ll tell you where [people] do change is with religion. Since Religulous came out, I’ve heard thousands of times, in every forum, “I’ve changed. You’ve convinced me. I was kind of thinking that, and [the documentary] put it all together.” Or even, “I wasn’t thinking that, then somebody made me watch it, and I’m an atheist now.” That’s the one area where people are ripe to change, because part of them knows it’s the 21st century, and these religions are peddling old myths and fairy tales.
Your mother was Jewish, but you and your sister were brought up in your father’s religion, Catholicism.
Well, Irish-Americans were especially Catholic. It never entered his mind that he wouldn’t raise the kids Catholic. My mother was raised Jewish but not very—culturally Jewish, but her family didn’t go to temple. They were, you know, New York Jews.
You’ve said most religious people are nice and trying to do the right thing. “Most” would technically be 51 percent.
Well, plenty. Certainly I don’t tar religious people as evil—they’re just caught up in something that’s evil. The question the movie asks in the beginning is, “How can otherwise intelligent people believe in a talking snake?” How can smart people still believe in stuff they must know is nonsense? Given that, certainly a Christian, if you really followed the example of Jesus, would be a good person. Of course, you know hardly any Christians do.
Do you have an internal struggle in that the comedian in you is hoping for a President Palin, Perry or Bachmann, while the American in you is pulling for someone perhaps more closely aligned with your politics?
Yeah, sure, they’d be very easy pickings. It’d be better for business, that’s true. But I hope I’m a good enough citizen that I outweigh it by the desire to see this country—which is in such bad shape, with so many people suffering so needlessly—righted. Yet I don’t even have hope that the people I vote for do that...because they don’t.
Tell me if I’m wrong with this guess: At your stand-up shows, I bet you get the biggest laughs in the reddest states.
That’s exactly right. They’re appreciative because somebody like me doesn’t come to their states that often, and they’re grateful I didn’t write them off, that I didn’t say, “Oh, you know what? All of Oklahoma is a bunch of f--king hicks.” Because I know better from doing this. There are hip people everywhere. You just gotta be the guy who makes them come out of the woodwork. And so, yeah, sometimes when you walk onstage in Tulsa, you get a five-minute standing ovation just for showing up, which you wouldn’t get in San Francisco.
You were raised in the most picked upon state in the country—New Jersey. At one point, did you realize your state was sort of a punchline?
Later I did, but it didn’t bother me because what can you do about where you’re born? I always thought that pride in things you have no control over is silly. I’m not proud that I’m Irish. I’m not proud that I’m from New Jersey. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved. But I didn’t “achieve” being born Irish-American. That just happened.
And now you live in Los Angeles. It seems kind of in vogue to pick on L.A. in the same way people pick on Jersey.
True, but the city I’ve always had a problem with is New York. I’ve paid a price for that, because the press is mostly in New York, and they’re very thin-skinned. Anything you say other than the conventional wisdom—that New York is the greatest city in the world—is treason. I don’t like living in an urban setting. I don’t like living in a building. I don’t like the weather. I know a million people who started in New York and moved to L.A. I don’t know anybody who did it in reverse. It’s nice out here. This life is just easier. It’s very seductive. It rained a lot the first three weeks I was here, but it didn’t take long before the sun came out, and I realized I was wearing a very light jacket in January. That said a lot.
Tell me about your first time ever in L.A.
It was the classic cross-country trip: with my college roommate in an $800 car in, oh Lord, 1977. We were so bereft of funds we couldn’t afford hotels. It was summer, and we used to go to colleges and sleep on couches in the communal rooms of dorms.
Did that sour you on this city, or did you like it even then?
It was exciting. I was in California! We went to see The Tonight Show. There I was. Johnny wasn’t there, but it was still extremely exciting to be in the cathedral, the temple of all things holy. At some point, we ran out of money and energy for roughing it. We took six weeks to get out to California and two days to get back. We drove [east] like truckers. We just wanted to get back to a f--king sandwich and Mom doing our laundry. I remember one day we were driving, and it was the day Elvis died—August 16, 1977.
When Elvis died, was that toilet thing reported—you know, that he died on the toilet?
Sure, all the greats do—Elvis, Lenny Bruce. If you don’t die on the toilet, you’re nobody.
GROOMER: Lisa Zimmitti
Categories: Celebrities / Politics / Q + LA / TV
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Bill rules!!
Posted by: Dale | 10/03/2011 at 05:41 PM
What a boring kiss ass interview. It seems everybody has their head up Bill Maher's ass including you.
New questions for Bill Maher.
!. Why do you promote pot as being cool when our (your appetite) for the drug is what has caused the slaughter of 40,000 of our Mexican neighbors?
2. Since you know the politicians will never have the balls to legalize pot why don't you have grow a pair and boycott pot? Afraid you will not be invited to the cool liberal Hollywood parties?
3. You are a proud member of PETA. Do you think whales are more important than Mexicans?
4. You courageously spoke out against Bush when we went to war for bogus reasons.
Why don't you do the same about Obama when he still has over 90,000 troups in Afghanistan, 40,000 still in Iraq, and other American troups scattered throughout over 130 countries and has gone back on his promise to close Gitmo?
Political assassinations Obama anybody? Would you rather live in a safe country or a free country?
Whatever.....you probably will never approve this comment. Not politically correct enough I guess. Mazeltov.
Posted by: Justomedude | 10/04/2011 at 09:50 AM
Jeez, Justomedude - lighten up.
Posted by: Dan | 10/06/2011 at 12:35 PM
I remember a long time ago, before he decided to try and become Abbey Hoffman, when Bill Maher was funny. "Sarah Palin is a whore" isn't funny. C'mon, Bill, stop hating republicans so much and be funny again!
Posted by: Holly Wilson | 10/08/2011 at 12:09 PM
I agree it was a kiss-ass interview
Posted by: david Boothby | 10/08/2011 at 07:17 PM
I cant remember what it is, but there is a biological reason why, under the right circumstances, people die when they go to the toilet. They get a massive heart attack. It happened to a friend of mine, an old lady who didnt do drugs or drink or smoke.
Posted by: ANTONIO | 10/09/2011 at 11:03 AM
Wow justomedude, AMEN!!
Posted by: JAMES | 10/10/2011 at 04:55 AM
This is a response to some of the issues raised by Justomedude.
1. If pot is legalized, it will be grown legally in the US and it won't be brought in from Mexico which may reduce some of the drug related causualties in Mexico. However, the murders in Mexico are not related to smuggling of pot. They are related to smuggling of drugs like cocaine. If pot is legalized in the USA, some of the cocaine users may switch to pot thus reducing the demand for the former. This is just a supposition.
2. This question doesn't make sense. If the US govt doesn't have the 'balls' as you put it, would you want to use it to defy the govt as a show of civil disobedience? The second part of the question is plain silly.
3. I don't see the connection.
4. If you follow his program on HBO, you would have discovered that he criticized Obama on numerous occasions.
Posted by: Vijay | 10/10/2011 at 07:58 AM
A famous quote is, "A fool never reveals himself until he open his mouth." Maher opens his mouth a lot.
Posted by: Gary | 10/10/2011 at 06:55 PM
I like Bill Maher, but reading this interview was a waste of time. Seems like he thought the questions were kind of dumb, too.
Posted by: Jessica | 10/11/2011 at 06:10 AM
Maher drives a Humvee? Disappointing. (Not that he would care, of course).
Posted by: Greg Rankin | 10/14/2011 at 06:16 PM
Wow Justomedude has issues with fear. Might want to consider interrupting your rigid self awareness which is showing signs of psychosis with a hit of pot... just one. This wll put you in the present moment... but relax because once the rush of fear of the unkown ends you will be here in the present moment and not stuck in that past and future oriented thought complex that is so fearful for you. It take guts but we know you can do it...
Posted by: jk | 10/15/2011 at 03:54 AM
sure he has a right to comment no matter how nutty it is and he has made some nutty comments
Posted by: tom | 10/16/2011 at 01:28 PM
you give to mutch importance to some one who has nothing to offer but bitterness,reading this at 28000feets on the way to Cameron,
i would love to see this men in Africa,should be an experience to watch.
Posted by: francois LUCET | 10/17/2011 at 11:08 AM
The only thing I disagree here with is the headline. I have never agreed with Mr. Maher politically, but I love a lot of comics with whom I disagree. Mr. Maher, regardless of his political beliefs, is a filthy misogynist who parties at the Playboy mansion and pretends to be liberal. He hates women. Just listen when he has Maureen Dowd on. He's scum.
Posted by: Robert Firsching | 10/18/2011 at 03:26 AM
Bill Maher throws anyone out of his audience who doesn't swallow his 9/11 lies. He is not funny, he is very sad.
Posted by: Dave Silva | 10/18/2011 at 07:31 AM
Some you commenters are unbelievably ignorant. Bill does not drive a Hummer. That reference was part of the author's "dream" (Bill drives a hybrid).
Suggestions that Bill is not respectful of Mexicans because of his enjoyment of weed are just plain ridiculous, and anyone who suggests that Bill goes soft on Barack Obama clearly does not watch his show. He routinely bemoans America's military empire.
You can dislike his humor, but for cying out loud at least know what the hell you are talking about when you criticize him.
Posted by: AndyB | 10/18/2011 at 11:09 AM
This man spews nothing but hatred everyday and calls it comedy. Black Conservatives are call "Uncle Tom's". All Conservative Women are called whores. Christians are told they must die - and this is supposed to be funny?
Posted by: Marty | 10/18/2011 at 01:11 PM
Bill is one of the greatest people to push forward rational thought.
He is very stupid and disloyal when it comes to illegals. They need to stop being enabled by us and go home- change the country they came from. Bill is an enabler and weak on this issue.
But the atheism- awesome! Many Americans are stupid religious children- emotional two yr olds.
Him pushing this fact all the time is very important.
Posted by: Paula | 10/19/2011 at 10:00 AM
Bill Maher is funny, fair, brilliant and honest. I love him, and his show keeps me sane. Would have loved a broader, more in-depth interview, but hey, it is what it is.
Posted by: Victoria Miller | 10/24/2011 at 02:09 PM
Bill, if you were born of a Jewish mother, you ARE Jewish, whether or not you were brought up Irish-Catholic.
Next,Lenny Bruce did not die on the toilet. He was posed there by the ****ing police who found him. One of the more revolting acts of "law enforcement".
You should clear up those points.
Posted by: Giborah | 10/25/2011 at 07:51 AM
This CLOWN .....BILL
Posted by: D | 10/25/2011 at 01:25 PM
This clown Bill......is one of the biggest creeps on planet earth.....hey Bill... hows it going at the playboy mansion ...trying to pick up on 18yr olds ? What a douchebag
Posted by: D | 10/25/2011 at 01:28 PM
I don't always agree with Bill, but I love him for standing up. I want to pound him into the ground about the way that he treats some guests on his show, blacks and oh my Jesus black women, but
I still love him though:)
Posted by: Christopher | 01/17/2012 at 02:27 PM
Bill Maher used to be funny. Like, in 1994 maybe. Now he's just obsessive and bitter.
Entertainment and Commentary FAIL.
Posted by: S. | 01/17/2012 at 06:30 PM
Bill is the best thing on TV! I love him.
Posted by: Dorothy | 01/18/2012 at 06:33 AM
just wanted to address justomedude's comments...
if pot were to be legalized it would help, not hurt the drug war in mexico.
being a member of peta has nothing to do the situation in mexico.
bill is always questioning the obama administration on his show.
as far as the interview goes.... yeah, it was light, but i think that was the intention, so lighten up, ok?
Posted by: ron | 01/18/2012 at 06:55 AM
I will never understand any media giving this men a stage, he is uninforme ,always use a dispicable words, any one who disgrace any form of spirituality and always kisse the but of muslims,i wish he research mohamed or maybe he think like him, sorry for my english .The media should reward quality people not this type of personne.
Sorry.
FL
Posted by: francois LUCET | 01/18/2012 at 07:58 AM
Don't know if he is funny or accurate politically but the one thing I say with fear of being wrong is that he is just about the physically ugliest man I have ever seen! Whoa-- I mean really can you watch this guy and honestly not wretch!!
Posted by: alfredneuman | 01/18/2012 at 03:28 PM
I love Bill-! He's the only smart funny guy on TV these days. Haters obviously don't know his work and their ignorance shows.
Posted by: scottydude | 01/18/2012 at 05:22 PM
He's a comedian, I don't like everything Bill says, But I like most of what he says, he makes me laugh, more importantly he makes me 'Think'!
Thank you Bill.
Posted by: Aja | 01/18/2012 at 10:23 PM
I don't love Bill Maher. He is a putz.
Posted by: Barada | 01/19/2012 at 07:59 AM
One is either smart enough to "get" Bill or they are not. No one is all right or all wrong- just more right than delusional.
He is entertaining as are his writers. He is what makes America great- freedom of thought and speech.
Stop being such sensitive babies- what a bunch of weiners you complainers are- so BORING. Let's see you achieve even half of what BM has. Yeah- that's what i thought.
Posted by: Paula | 01/19/2012 at 11:49 AM
That whole "gotta love a guy who speaks his mind" thing is idiotic. It's not as if speaking one's mind is a rare or unique quality these days. Hardly. Every moron with an opinion feels the need to blather it all over the place every chance they get.
Sorry, no, I don't "love a guy who speaks his mind", I love people who actually spend more time THINKING than running their mouths. I love people who actually have interesting, informative, or insightful things to say.
I also greatly respect people who have enough wisdom and humility to keep their mouths shut when they *don't* have anything interesting, informative, or insightful to say, and who have sense enough to know the difference.
Bill Maher is just the opposite. He's a guy who loves to hear his own voice and wants to shout his (mostly inane) opinions from every rooftop. Which is why, even when I find myself agreeing with him, I can't stand the guy.
Posted by: Mike | 01/20/2012 at 12:14 PM
Actually, I think he's a total ahole.
Posted by: LaReader99 | 01/20/2012 at 04:27 PM
all i can say about bill> Garbage in garbage out
Posted by: f canter | 01/21/2012 at 01:54 AM
Wow. Is everybody here clueless? This is the LA Times Magazine not the The New York Times Magazine. Of course these are fluff pieces. This magazine is not often focused on journalism. Got over yourselves people.
Posted by: Pat Martin | 01/21/2012 at 02:28 PM
Seems Maher is still hurting from his Catholic upbringing--what a stereotypical thing to say, that almost all Christians DON'T live up to Jesus' example! Obvioulsy, Maher hasn't really gotten to know any authentic believers! Those of us who understand Christianity (and HAVE a brain) realize that we'll never live up to Jesus' example, but it is certainly worth trying, even if we do it imperfectly. As a matter of fact, the presence of Christianity has actually IMPROVED every culture in which it has emerged. Check the historical record, Maher!
Posted by: Mark | 01/21/2012 at 05:18 PM
Not does Maher only speak his mind, he is brilliantly insigtful, almost like a sage. It goes beyond intelligence, he seems to figure things out well in advance, analyze & predict things, and he is always right. It amazes me that he is not an elected politician because I think he could help our country get straightened with his uncanny ability to see through the haze of the poltiical mess we're in and provide answers. I love Bill Maher.
Posted by: Woody McBreairty | 01/21/2012 at 10:31 PM
'Admire him because he speaks his mind'?!??! So what! A stoned guy living in a cardboard box on the side of the freeway speaks his mind, too. Oh...
Posted by: Jeff bodnar | 01/22/2012 at 09:28 AM
Unbelievable to see criticisms of Bill Maher, one of the few people on t.v. to have continually blasted Bush as he murdered hundreds of thousands of people for one thing only: money. I think only one thing differentiates a liberal from a conservative in this country today and that is a fearful, hate-filled heart. Apparently conservatives equate hatred with safety. Bill Maher is definitely not afraid and has a heart of gold. More than anyone else during the corporate-ordered Iraqi genocide, he spoke truth to evil and that's just what he does. Go ahead and criticize that all you want. Thanks, Bill. Those of us with common sense and an appreciation of the golden rule love you and always will.
Posted by: joey kantor | 01/22/2012 at 11:00 AM
I do not "love" bill maher--mediocre talent---offers little substance. he needs a new act.
Posted by: dino allk | 01/22/2012 at 06:57 PM
I think Bill is the funniest of the funniest. Best HBO program, best program in TV.
Posted by: Maria Lamas | 01/23/2012 at 09:03 AM
....you love people who speak their mind?.You must love Adolph Hitler......
Posted by: george | 01/24/2012 at 06:03 PM
LA Times reposts the same article from months ago!? Please, Corp newspaper...again evidence.
Posted by: Sean staff | 01/25/2012 at 12:56 AM
Bill = TROLL
Posted by: rON | 01/25/2012 at 02:27 PM
WHY HAS THIS JERKS PICTURE BEEN ON THE FRONT PAGE FOREVER?
Posted by: James | 01/26/2012 at 10:52 PM
Sorry typo. I meant ugly jerk's picture.
Posted by: James | 01/26/2012 at 10:52 PM
I have been trying to contact "Bill" for some time.Question for Bill. Why don't you ever have an all Latino/Latina panel? We make up a large portion of the population, yet little or no Latinos/as are ever given an opprotunity to present their point of veiw,Why? We have many Mexican scholars/activists in our community. I can point out a few, if you need help.
Joe Olague,President, LULAC Council 3163,Inland Empire
Posted by: Joe Olague | 01/27/2012 at 08:35 AM
Dear Joe Olague:
Bill simply does not see the diversity of the country from coast-to-coast--and his show is based in Los Angeles! For him ALL of the issues of the day are to be worked out between gay and straight Anglos and African Americans.
He and filmaker Ken Burns should do a show together for the old liberal establishment !!!
Posted by: Guillermo | 02/11/2012 at 10:29 AM