Even Bill Maher Fans Are Finally Sick of Bill Maher
On Friday night’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, the author of the decidedly non-shocking book What This Comedian Said Will Shock You, actually managed to shock some people.
Maher began his show by perching on top of his little “I’m about to say something important” stool, and then proceeded to describe his account of a recent dinner he shared with President Donald Trump at the White House. The Pizza Man star complimented his host, claiming that “everything I’ve ever not liked about him was — I swear to God — absent, at least on this night with this guy.”
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Maher continued to praise the “gracious” and “measured” Trump for not reacting negatively to his jokes, and stated that he’s “much more self-aware than he lets on in public.” Maher also ran through a laundry list of political topics that the two see eye-to-eye on.
Presumably because “being rude to affluent cable TV personalities” and “not being a pleasant dinner companion” aren’t at the top of anybody’s Trump-related complaints right now, Maher’s monologue didn’t go over super-well with a ton of people. Even folks who have somehow remained Bill Maher fans low these many years are now jumping ship. Per The Detroit News, after the broadcast, the Bill Maher subreddit was full of messages written by bummed out fans who are now giving up on Real Time. They were posting in a thread titled “I Think I’m Out,” which originated with a user suggesting that Maher had been “duped by a textbook malignant narcissist,” adding that “this last episode was just weird.”
“Agree 100%. I could not say it better,” another Maher-head agreed. “I was a fan for decades, and I am totally saddened to see Bill swallow the red pill.” Another noted that “until I heard about Bill planning to break bread with Donnie, I was a loyal fan.” Others said that they “didn’t think Bill was this naive” and bemoaned the fact that “Bill got played so mad it’s disappointing.”
One longtime follower told The Washington Post that Maher’s story about Trump being chill in private was a “distraction from more pressing issues,” pointing out that “Trump’s a human being. We know that. But he doesn’t demonstrate that he’s a very good one most of the time.”
Perhaps most amusingly, a number of people on Reddit used old clips of Bill Maher to criticize Bill Maher, including one from an episode in which he chatted with Geraldo Rivera about his friendship with Trump. “A person can be nice to you, and then be a monster somewhere else,” Maher barked at Geraldo.
That being said, there are plenty of Maher devotees still defending the host — making it almost inevitable that Trump will one day spend two to three hours in Maher’s tacky smoke-filled man cave.
