Bill Maher Refused to Stop Smoking Weed for Sober Steve-O

“I’m a situational pot smoker,” Bill Maher recently told Los Angeles Magazine. “I would never get high to do Real Time. I can do stand-up high because I don’t have to worry about a clock. I like it for sex. And I like it for writing.” Maher, who says he doesn’t smoke every day and never has, knows there’s a time for taking a puff and a time for taking a pass — except when it comes to requests from comic daredevil Steve-O. 

On his Wild Ride! podcast with guest Patrick Bet-David, Steve-O shared his commitment to staying clear of weed. “I’m a clean and sober guy,” he said. “Like, it’s very important that I maintain my sobriety,” a mission that Steve-O has accomplished for going on 16 years. “There’s nothing that I value more than my sobriety. There’s nothing more that I protect than my recovery.”

But when Maher’s bookers came a-calling about a guest appearance on his Club Random podcast, Maher and company made it clear that Steve-O would have to accept a potential contact high. “You know his thing is he smokes pot the whole time while he interviews people,” Steve-O said. “And I said, ‘Hey, I’m happy to go on there, but while I’m on out of respect for my sobriety, could he refrain from smoking pot?’ And he said no. He said no. That’s a deal breaker.”

Other pothead podcasters haven’t had an issue, says Steve-O. Even Mike Tyson, whose Hotboxin’ show is usually recorded in a cannabis haze, agreed to take a bud break for a sober conversation. “All of these prolific potheads, I’ve been on their shows,” explained Steve-O. “And it wasn’t so important to them to blow marijuana smoke in my face. For Bill Maher, it was a deal breaker.”

Perhaps you’re thinking, “Say what you want about Bill Maher, but he stands up for his pot principles. He’s a guy who believes podcasts are better when the host is high.” Except Maher has been known to make exceptions to that rule. In fact, he did so just last week. 

The perpetually lecherous Maher appears happy to make exceptions for beautiful women like Sheryl Crow, with whom he’s clearly made a no-smoke deal beforehand. “What I see on the news is a lot of college kids saying things to people who support Israel, like ‘You’re Nazi scum.’ (People) who have everything so ass backwards. That’s when I need a joint,” Maher told Crow before hastily adding, “But I will never light one up.” 

Crow granted Maher’s request to hold his unlit doobie as a nervous affectation. In fact, if she hadn’t had to sing the following night, she would have told him to light up that bad boy. To summarize: Maher will respect Crow’s need to stay out of the smoke if she’s got a singing gig, but if he threatened Steve-O’s 16 years of sobriety? Maher would simply shrug and spark up that sticky icky.