Bryan Cranston | Club Random Classics with Bill Maher

On Club Random Classics this month Bill Maher sits down with Bryan Cranston for a headline making talk about privilege vs. advantage, the role that got Bryan Cranston in hot water, critical race theory, the show where Bill and Bryan first met, bulldozer parenting, creeps vs. nuts in casting, white peoples’ bias against themselves and tons more. Support our Advertisers: Try Lucy today! Get 20% off your first order at https://www.lucy.co with code CLUBRANDOM Subscribe to the Club Random YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/clubrandompodcast?sub_confirmation=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Watch episodes ad-free – subscribe to Bill Maher’s Substack: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://billmaher.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the podcast for free wherever you listen: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/ClubRandom⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Buy Club Random Merch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://clubrandom.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices ABOUT CLUB RANDOM Bill Maher rewrites the rules of podcasting the way he did in television in this series of one on one, hour long conversations with a wide variety of unexpected guests in the undisclosed location called Club Random. There’s a whole big world out there that isn’t about politics and Bill and his guests—from Bill Burr and Jerry Seinfeld to Jordan Peterson, Quentin Tarantino and Neil DeGrasse Tyson—talk about all of it. For advertising opportunities please email: [email protected] ABOUT BILL MAHER Bill Maher was the host of “Politically Incorrect” (Comedy Central, ABC) from 1993-2002, and for the last fourteen years on HBO’s “Real Time,” Maher’s combination of unflinching honesty and big laughs have garnered him 40 Emmy nominations. Maher won his first Emmy in 2014 as executive producer for the HBO series, “VICE.” In October of 2008, this same combination was on display in Maher’s uproarious and unprecedented swipe at organized religion, “Religulous.” Maher has written five bestsellers: “True Story,” “Does Anybody Have a Problem with That? Politically Incorrect’s Greatest Hits,” “When You Ride Alone, You Ride with Bin Laden,” “New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer,” and most recently, “The New New Rules: A Funny Look at How Everybody But Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass.” FOLLOW CLUB RANDOM https://www.clubrandom.com https://www.facebook.com/Club-Random-101776489118185 https://twitter.com/clubrandom_ https://www.instagram.com/clubrandompodcast https://www.tiktok.com/@clubrandompodcast FOLLOW BILL MAHER https://www.billmaher.com https://twitter.com/billmaher https://www.instagram.com/billmaher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Network freedom and flexibility. That's what you want in a healthcare plan. With a Humana Medicare Advantage PPO plan, you can see any doctor in the country who accepts Medicare, including specialists. No referrals, no kidding. Learn more at gethumana.com. See any doctor who accepts Medicare and is willing to bill Humana. Humana PPOs may not be available in all areas. Benefits and costs share may vary. Humana is a Medicare Advantage PPO organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in any Humana plan depends on contract renewal. Network freedom and flexibility. That's what you want in a healthcare plan. With a Humana Medicare Advantage PPO plan, you can see any doctor in the country who accepts Medicare, including specialists. No referrals, no kidding.

• 0:43Speaker 00

  Learn more at gethumana.com. See any doctor who accepts Medicare and is willing to bill Humana. Humana PPOs may not be available in all areas. Benefits and costs share may vary. Humana is a Medicare Advantage PPO organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in any Humana plan depends on contract renewal.

• 1:00Bill Maher?

  Well, in our next Club Random Classic, we revisit my conversation with Bryan Cranston. Oh, I love him. He's got stories from his acting days that'll make your jaw drop. Wow, sounds good. We get into parenting and privilege in a way that actually means something. And then we debate critical race theory. We did? Wow, I must have been high. Well, I'm sure it's good then. Which made headlines because apparently two people having an honest conversation is newsworthy.

• 1:30Bill Maher?

  I've had a Zippo lighter in the past. They suck. They never... It's like you've... If I don't put in every five times. But in Vietnam, they were always like burning the village. It's all Zippo. And you can't light a fucking cigar with it. How did it always work in the jungle of the Mekong River? Because Zippos work when it's nice and moist out. Really? No.

• 1:59Bill Maher?

  But you know, do you drink?

• 2:01Speaker 02

  I do. You know, we have my booze over here.

• 2:05Bill Maher?

  Oh, why am I asking? I'm asking a guy who's got a giant tequila company.

• 2:09Speaker 02

  That's not the only thing.

• 2:10Bill Maher?

  Can I try your Dos Hombre?

• 2:13Speaker 02

  Would you?

• 2:13Bill Maher?

  I feel like we're doing an infomercial. Would you? Can I try it? Step up to the smooth, refreshing flavor.

• 2:21Speaker 02

  It is a great little sipping thing. I love it.

• 2:28Bill Maher?

  You always drink tequila?

• 2:30Speaker 02

  I've been drinking, no, actually mezcal. This is mezcal. And our mezcal has been around now for three and a half years.

• 2:41Bill Maher?

  Mezcal?

• 2:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's what this is.

• 2:42Bill Maher?

  Is it a type of tequila?

• 2:44Speaker 02

  Actually, it's the other way around. Tequila is a mezcal.

• 2:47Bill Maher?

  Oh.

• 2:48Speaker 02

  So.

• 2:50Bill Maher?

  Is that from Mescaline?

• 2:51Speaker 02

  No, no.

• 2:53Bill Maher?

  It sounds very much like mezcal.

• 2:54Speaker 02

  It does sound like mezcal.

• 2:56Bill Maher?

  It sounds like they possibly could be the same drug. Would you like it with soda?

• 3:01Speaker 02

  No.

• 3:02Bill Maher?

  No, you just drink it straight?

• 3:03Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 3:04Bill Maher?

  Jeez. Is that because you own the company? Or just because you really like it that way?

• 3:08Speaker 02

  I like it this way. But if I'm, if I want to sip something all night, I don't want to drink, I'll put soda in it.

• 3:14Bill Maher?

  Well, I drink it with this, I'm going to give this company a plug because I think they should advertise here. Maybe, I think we.

• 3:23Speaker 02

  That's a soda.

• 3:25Bill Maher?

  It's, I drink this stevia soda. It's called, it's called Zevia.

• 3:29Speaker 02

  Oh, Zevia.

• 3:30Bill Maher?

  Because, and I can never find it anywhere. I literally take it into a restaurant because it's the only soda that doesn't, it doesn't have sugar or aspartine. So it's carbonated, it's stevia, which I think is, I'm not sure it's health food, but I, it's, I think, I know it's better than sugar and stea, and aspartine.

• 3:50Speaker 02

  Well, I mean, so you're saying stevia, which is that sweetener. Right, cheers, by the way. Nice to see you.

• 3:56Bill Maher?

  I'm so glad you're here.

• 3:57Speaker 02

  Thank you, bud.

• 3:58Bill Maher?

  You know I'm a big fan of yours. I mean, I'm not just saying that.

• 4:00Speaker 02

  I am yours. It's been a long time, we were just talking.

• 4:03Bill Maher?

  That's probably why we both accepted to do this. Because, because you know, we're almost the exact same age. Do you know that? I'm January 20, 1956.

• 4:12Speaker 02

  Ah, you're, you're two months, like a month and a half older. March 7, 56.

• 4:18Bill Maher?

  Mel Gibson, I think, is March. Fifty-six. Mel Gibson.

• 4:23Speaker 02

  Mel Gibson, yeah. I think he's, yeah. Exactly right.

• 4:26Bill Maher?

  Can you imagine if you and Mel had just switched parts your whole career? Why couldn't you have been Braveheart?

• 4:33Speaker 02

  Why could I not have been?

• 4:34Bill Maher?

  Why couldn't you be, you know, with the, "I'm too old for this shit guy." You could have done that, and he could have been on Malcolm in the Middle.

• 4:42Speaker 02

  And Breaking Bad.

• 4:43Bill Maher?

  And Breaking Bad, yeah. He probably would have.

• 4:45Speaker 02

  I wouldn't switch with Mel at this point.

• 4:48Bill Maher?

  You could have been in The Patchen of the Christ. Wouldn't you?

• 4:52Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. That's a good one.

• 4:54Bill Maher?

  Did you ever see it?

• 4:55Speaker 02

  I did not see that one.

• 4:57Bill Maher?

  You might be surprised at this, but I even said this publicly. I think it's a terrific movie. I think he's an amazing filmmaker. Apocalypto is a great movie. Braveheart is awesome. And, look, I'm an atheist, but I get the story.

• 5:14Speaker 02

  I'm here for the story and the popcorn.

• 5:19Bill Maher?

  As storyteller, it's very compelling.

• 5:23Speaker 02

  He's, no, he is, he is a very good storyteller. And, you know, he was also a very good actor at one time, and I don't know, I mean, personal life.

• 5:33Bill Maher?

  He, yeah.

• 5:34Speaker 02

  Conflagration.

• 5:37Bill Maher?

  Sugar tits, remember, remember Sugar Tits?

• 5:39Speaker 02

  Oh, boy.

• 5:41Bill Maher?

  Well, he had the loon father.

• 5:45Bill Maher?

  Right? You know about his father?

• 5:47Speaker 02

  Not too much.

• 5:49Speaker 02

  I try to stay away.

• 5:50Bill Maher?

  He had, he had, like, more Catholic than the Pope, you've heard that?

• 5:54Speaker 02

  Oh, okay, yes.

• 5:55Bill Maher?

  He had the more Catholic than the Pope father. I mean, crazy Catholic.

• 5:59Speaker 02

  That's tough.

• 6:00Bill Maher?

  Who was like, it's almost like, you know, Trumpers, who the regular Republicans aren't.

• 6:05Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 6:06Bill Maher?

  Enough.

• 6:07Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:07Bill Maher?

  Like these twenty clowns who, who just held up the speakership with Kevin McCarthy.

• 6:12Speaker 02

  They go far right.

• 6:12Bill Maher?

  Right. That's Kevin, that's Mel Gibson's father with the Catholic Church. He was always criticizing the Church because they did things like, you know, the Mass in English. Was too liberal for him.

• 6:24Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 6:25Bill Maher?

  Or like, they used to do the mass with the priest would have his back to the crowd.

• 6:29Speaker 02

  I was one of the congregants at that time. In a fucking church. And even I, at seven years old, on a Sunday, having to wear a goddamn tie and a suit. And that's the last place in the world you wanted to be.

• 6:44Bill Maher?

  Right.

• 6:44Speaker 02

  And I, my brother and I would get an ear twist from our mother when we're, we were fucking around in the pews. And those hard bench pews.

• 6:54Bill Maher?

  Yes.

• 6:55Speaker 02

  And we, the only thing we could have fun with in the Catholic Church in those days was, are we gonna stand next, or are we gonna kneel next?

• 7:03Bill Maher?

  Right.

• 7:04Speaker 02

  We stand or kneel. And it was all, almost like, you know, um, so it was, it was terrible. And we, the, the priest coming down. Come not see me, come not see me.

• 7:18Bill Maher?

  With the smoke thing.

• 7:19Speaker 02

  The smoke thing, and it's like, and you don't understand a word. He goes up to the pulpit.

• 7:25Bill Maher?

  Right.

• 7:25Speaker 02

  He turns his back, facing the crucifixion, and. I mean, it's like, you know, what the hell are we doing here? What is this?

• 7:34Bill Maher?

  Um, I'm so interested to hear you talk about this because, you know, I was brought up Catholic. And I also was a seven-year-old boy in hard bench pews. And probably I made the movie Religulous out of, because of how much I was turned off to religion back then. When they scared the shit out of me and we, we went to catechism. Did you go to catechism with nuns who taught you the Catholic? I still have the mimeographed thing they gave us of a hundred questions that we had to memorize.

• 8:05Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 8:05Bill Maher?

  Like, who is God? Where is God? You know, all those kinda, and there was specific, and you had to, and I remember crying. Because I was in seven or, in school, they, they weren't that strict. Catholic schools, they don't fuck around.

• 8:18Speaker 02

  No.

• 8:19Bill Maher?

  Even today, when parents want their kids to get an actual education instead of the bullshit that goes on in other schools, regular schools, even if they're not Catholic, they send them to Catholic schools if they can get them in. And they just tell them, yes, there's gonna be some bullshit about Jesus, just ignore that. They're going to teach you grammar. And I've seen it with kids, absolutely. You can tell when a kid has got a Catholic education.

• 8:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, there's no shit about that. So you went through Catholic school all the way to high school? No.

• 8:50Bill Maher?

  Not Catholic school?

• 8:51Speaker 02

  No.

• 8:52Bill Maher?

  And my mother was Jewish, which I didn't find out till later, but a hint, a hint should have been that she never went to church with my sister and my father and I. And I never asked why. It just never, you know, it just was never a thing, so I never questioned it. And I was so nervous about going to church itself, it gave me such anxiety, that I wasn't even thinking about that. It just, she just never went. So, but yes, my sister and I would be driven to catechism first. That was like two hours before the mass we went to. And then my father would show up at the church, and then we'd go to the mass together, and then we'd go home.

• 9:33Bill Maher?

  But.

• 9:34Speaker 02

  Did you go to Bible study and all that stuff?

• 9:38Bill Maher?

  No, but that was, you know.

• 9:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, your catechism was that, yeah.

• 9:41Bill Maher?

  Catechism was just learning about, it's so interesting, you mentioned like what you've found appealing, which was sitting and standing. My big thing was the collection plate.

• 9:55Bill Maher?

  That and the red candles. They had these red, not, the candles weren't red, but they were in this little red thing.

• 10:03Speaker 02

  The glass.

• 10:04Bill Maher?

  The glass, right. And you lit them for like dead people.

• 10:07Speaker 02

  Right.

• 10:09Bill Maher?

  No, you did, I remember.

• 10:10Speaker 02

  And you put a dollar in a, you know, quarter fifty cent. They had the little slot where you put the money in.

• 10:16Bill Maher?

  Oh, yes.

• 10:17Speaker 02

  Yes, where they had all the candles, and there was a slot with a cash box, basically, and they would come empty it every now and then.

• 10:25Bill Maher?

  That's a good description of a church itself.

• 10:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, the cash box. But you're right.

• 10:30Bill Maher?

  Slit with a cash box.

• 10:31Speaker 02

  I always thought, who, how did they get that job? The guys look like pool skimmers, right? And they send, they send this little trade.

• 10:38Bill Maher?

  That's what fascinated me, that it was a basket on the end of a long pole.

• 10:43Speaker 02

  Filled with money.

• 10:44Bill Maher?

  And it was just so filled with money. And my father would give me a quarter to put into it.

• 10:51Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 10:52Bill Maher?

  And one time, I remember that, God, there are things you remember, but I guess it was traumatic. You know, I was bored to tears, of course, as you were.

• 11:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 11:01Bill Maher?

  And so I had, for some reason, rolled the quarter up in my shirt.

• 11:07Bill Maher?

  So then the basket's there, and I'm like, I couldn't try to get the quarter out of my shirt.

• 11:12Speaker 02

  I, I think that's where my sneaky Pete started, really. When I was so bored, I needed to do something, and I had a, I was given a dollar to put in there, in the basket. And I would fold it up, as kids do. I palmed it a couple of times. I, I rattled.

• 11:31Bill Maher?

  Really?

• 11:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, rattled the basket and just.

• 11:33Bill Maher?

  Good for you.

• 11:34Speaker 02

  And it's like, there's, there's a candy bar in plus.

• 11:39Bill Maher?

  Wow.

• 11:39Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 11:40Bill Maher?

  Yeah, that takes balls. It would have really took balls to take some out. Now, that would have gotten my attention.

• 11:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, let me, can I get change? Yeah, it's like, put in a ten. Yeah, yeah, it's a.

• 11:55Bill Maher?

  I find it fascinating that all those sermons I sat through. And I remember my father talking about the sermon, like, I guess to my mother or something like when we got home. Because that was the part that he was interested in, because it was a guy, you know, he was obviously still a practicing Catholic. He did quit at some point, but, so he cared. And he was very often disappointed because he wanted, you know, um, some soaring rhetoric from some wise person. Because the sermon was, is just a speech about something that, that the priest or the pastor chooses to speak about.

• 12:35Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:36Bill Maher?

  So it can be good, it can be bad, it can be tri- and, and it's interesting that, of course, I was a kid, but I can't remember one word from one, there is nothing that sticks in my mind that that sermon ever reached me.

• 12:50Speaker 02

  No. Well, they were talking over us.

• 12:53Bill Maher?

  Well, they were talking to adults.

• 12:54Speaker 02

  Yeah, they were talking over us. It wasn't for us. And I remember distinctly thinking, "Why are they doing this to kids?" I remember, like, it was a punishment. "Why are they doing this to kids? This is awful."

• 13:09Bill Maher?

  Well.

• 13:09Speaker 02

  And it turned me off, too.

• 13:11Bill Maher?

  I mean, it is... I mean, I think it was Richard Dawkins who called it, you know, when just bringing a kid up in a religion, child abuse, because the kid has no choice. I mean, you're just inculcating him in this superstitious voodoo, and it's full of bad... I mean, occasionally, the Bible stumbles upon some morality. But it's almost unintentional, you know?

• 13:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, and pretty obvious. Do unto others as you would have done.

• 13:40Bill Maher?

  And there's a couple of greatest hits, but there's a lot of, you know... I always go... I've talked about it on my show. I mean, slavery, for the people who are wanting to cancel Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, they had slaves, and everybody else, in an era when everyone had slaves who could afford it, including people of color in other parts of the world.

• 14:03Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:04Bill Maher?

  It was a human thing.

• 14:05Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:06Bill Maher?

  It's not just a white thing.

• 14:07Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:08Bill Maher?

  Okay, so if you're going to cancel Jefferson and Washington, you have to cancel Jesus. Because he never spoke against it. It's not in the Old Testament. There's a million rules about slavery. None of them are, "Don't do it." And the reason is because it literally didn't cross their minds. No one ever says in either testament, "What about we just don't do it at all?" What? "Don't do it at all." Well, who's gonna schlep the big stones over to the, you know, to make the cathedral and make the, you know.

• 14:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:50Bill Maher?

  It just, it did not enter their minds. It just was a way, every civilization did it. The Romans did it, the Egyptians did it. You know, Slav is a, slave comes from the word Slavs.

• 15:02Speaker 02

  Slavic, yeah.

• 15:03Bill Maher?

  Yeah, very widely, I mean, they were slaves everywhere. It's just people were like, hey, if I can make you my bitch.

• 15:09Speaker 02

  I'm gonna do it.

• 15:10Bill Maher?

  I'm gonna fucking do it.

• 15:11Speaker 02

  God.

• 15:12Bill Maher?

  You know. So, I, I just wanna hear them answer that question. What about your boy Jesus, the prince of peace?

• 15:21Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 15:21Bill Maher?

  Cause he's got sweet fucketh all to say about this kinda, you'd think it'd be kind of a big issue. Or maybe it would, the 10 commandments? Don't you think that should be maybe in the top 10? More than like false idols?

• 15:36Speaker 02

  Yes, yeah, yeah. Well, he did come out and he did, of course, embrace, well, Jesus. He did, he, well, he didn't come out. No, he's, he's still closeted.

• 15:51Bill Maher?

  That's why they say amen.

• 15:52Speaker 02

  Amen.

• 15:56Speaker 02

  He, you know, I mean, Mary Magdalene, he, he was embracing of, of her, not judgmental of her and, and saying.

• 16:06Bill Maher?

  Yeah, oh, I'm not saying he wasn't a good guy.

• 16:08Speaker 02

  That's a good thing, that's a good thing.

• 16:09Bill Maher?

  He, it never crossed his mind to condemn slavery.

• 16:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:13Bill Maher?

  They, I'm telling you, they had rules about it, but it was like.

• 16:16Speaker 02

  We have some issues.

• 16:17Bill Maher?

  If a man, oh my god.

• 16:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:21Bill Maher?

  Decapitates your slave, you make decapitate it, you know.

• 16:24Speaker 02

  One of his slaves.

• 16:25Bill Maher?

  Yeah, it was just, it was never like, but don't do it.

• 16:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:28Bill Maher?

  But let's just junk the whole concept. It just never occurred to them.

• 16:32Speaker 02

  It never occurred to them because that talk about being privileged was superior then.

• 16:39Bill Maher?

  Because mankind advances just the way humans do, in increments. That's why.

• 16:47Bill Maher?

  200 years ago, it's just how people thought. There wasn't, there was an abolition society in America at the time of the founding of the revolution, the founding of the country. It had 24 members.

• 17:02Bill Maher?

  That's how many people.

• 17:03Speaker 02

  That's it.

• 17:04Bill Maher?

  That's it. Now, by 1860, it had changed.

• 17:09Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:09Bill Maher?

  And most of the world had got rid of slavery before we did. We were bringing up the rear.

• 17:17Bill Maher?

  But, you know, you could gay marriage. Obama was against it his first term.

• 17:23Speaker 02

  Speaking of bringing up the rear.

• 17:29Bill Maher?

  You know.

• 17:30Speaker 02

  Yes, he was. You know, but that was a political move. That was because he thought that politically.

• 17:35Bill Maher?

  But it's still, but it reflects.

• 17:37Speaker 02

  Too soon.

• 17:37Bill Maher?

  Of course, because it was. Because it reflected where the people were.

• 17:42Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:42Bill Maher?

  That, my point being, that people just don't grow up overnight. Society doesn't.

• 17:49Speaker 02

  It doesn't.

• 17:50Bill Maher?

  More reason, and.

• 17:51Speaker 02

  But for God's sakes, it's time. It's 400 fucking years that we've dealt with this.

• 17:57Bill Maher?

  Oh.

• 17:57Speaker 02

  And our country still has not taken responsibility or accountability.

• 18:03Bill Maher?

  For what?

• 18:04Speaker 02

  For the history of the systemic racism that's in this country.

• 18:08Bill Maher?

  What should we do more?

• 18:09Speaker 02

  Well, I mean, for, for one thing, uh, critical race theory. I think is essential to be teaching.

• 18:16Speaker 00

  Network freedom and flexibility. That's what you want in a healthcare plan. With a Humana Medicare Advantage PPO plan, you can see any doctor in the country who accepts Medicare, including specialists. No referrals, no kidding. Learn more at gethumana.com. See any doctor who accepts Medicare and is willing to bill Humana. Humana PPOs may not be available in all areas. Benefits and costs share may vary. Humana is a Medicare Advantage PPO organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in any Humana plan depends on contract renewal. Network freedom and flexibility. That's what you want in a healthcare plan. With a Humana Medicare Advantage PPO plan, you can see any doctor in the country who accepts Medicare, including specialists. No referrals, no kidding.

• 19:00Speaker 00

  Learn more at gethumana.com. See any doctor who accepts Medicare and is willing to bill Humana. Humana PPOs may not be available in all areas. Benefits and costs share may vary. Humana is a Medicare Advantage PPO organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in any Humana plan depends on contract renewal.

• 19:17Bill Maher?

  It depends on what you mean by that.

• 19:18Speaker 02

  Well, I mean, I mean, teaching how the race trade and racism is systemic in everything we've done, in government, in social activities.

• 19:32Bill Maher?

  Yes, it has been.

• 19:32Speaker 02

  I mean, it's embedded in it.

• 19:35Bill Maher?

  It's like, for example, why the Second Amendment really, really was, I mean, this is one person's theory, but I think it's the truth. The Second Amendment really has to do with, in a country where you were keeping hostile people in chains.

• 19:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:52Bill Maher?

  You needed guns to, you know, you needed very loose reins on guns to keep, keep the lid on that.

• 19:59Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:00Bill Maher?

  So that has a lot to do with why other countries don't have like a Second Amendment the way we do.

• 20:04Speaker 02

  And we didn't have an organized army. We didn't have an organized militia, so you had to, you had to form one quickly and be able to get your arms quickly when we were being attacked, so.

• 20:20Bill Maher?

  But if you, but critical race theory can mean, it's, I mean, it's just one of these catch-all terms. If you mean we should honestly teach our past, of course. If you mean more what the 1619 book says, which is that it's just the essence of America and that we are irredeemable, that's just wrong. It's not, okay, all right.

• 20:41Speaker 02

  I, I, I agree with that, but even, even teaching our past and being honest and owning up to who we are as a country in the history of.

• 20:50Bill Maher?

  Most schools are doing that. I'm, I'm sure there are ones in Texas that are not.

• 20:54Speaker 02

  Look, in Florida, they're, they, they wanna do, do away with critical race theory in a lot of other states.

• 21:00Bill Maher?

  Because some, because sometimes it veers off into things that are really not appropriate in schools.

• 21:06Speaker 02

  So how do you govern that?

• 21:07Bill Maher?

  If you're telling five-year-olds that you're either an oppressor.

• 21:12Bill Maher?

  Or someone who was oppressed, you're introducing ideas about race that are inappropriate for kids that age. You can't understand it.

• 21:23Speaker 02

  Okay, so common sense would govern that.

• 21:25Bill Maher?

  Common sense is what's lacking in this country. That's why, but that is why people wind up passing laws about that. And yes, you're right, very often the laws go too far. But it's not coming out, it's not coming from nothing. It's coming from things that have started in colleges and very far-left woke thinking that many people feel is not appropriate in schools. I mean, the same thing with gender stuff. You know, can they just be kids for a minute?

• 21:55Speaker 02

  Right, okay. And that's absolutely. And we have to find that time, that level of maturity when a child can understand that at certain times in this country's history, there was a grave mistreatment of other human beings.

• 22:14Bill Maher?

  I think we get that.

• 22:15Speaker 02

  Well, no, we don't get it. What do we get?

• 22:17Bill Maher?

  Really? You think that is not something that is now widely understood and agreed to?

• 22:23Speaker 02

  It's definitely not widely understood.

• 22:25Bill Maher?

  That America has a sorry races past?

• 22:29Speaker 02

  It's talked about and whispered, but they don't know it.

• 22:31Bill Maher?

  Whispered?

• 22:32Speaker 02

  Yes. What, the Jim Crow laws? So emancipation proclamation in 1865, it was 1965 or 1964 when the Civil Rights Act was passed by LBJ.

• 22:48Bill Maher?

  But this is 2023.

• 22:50Speaker 02

  It took 100 years, is my point.

• 22:53Bill Maher?

  Can we live in the year we're living in? You don't think?

• 22:57Speaker 02

  Of course you live in the year living in.

• 22:58Bill Maher?

  Okay, well, the year we're living in is not.

• 23:00Speaker 02

  You're gonna drive me to drink.

• 23:01Bill Maher?

  It's not what you're describing. You're describing in America, yes, that I think most right-thinking people would agree, was deplorable in so many ways. No, I'm good. It's tasty, though.

• 23:14Speaker 02

  It is good.

• 23:15Bill Maher?

  It's very different, and I like it.

• 23:17Speaker 02

  It's a little smoky, but not too smoky.

• 23:18Bill Maher?

  Because it's mezcal.

• 23:20Speaker 02

  It's mezcal and not tequila. Because it's smoked and not steamed. Yeah. Anyway, what were we arguing about?

• 23:28Bill Maher?

  Well, probably the Golden Globes, which you sound like you should be making a-

• 23:32Speaker 02

  Hello?

• 23:35Bill Maher?

  No, I just think we need to live in the year we're living in. And acknowledging progress is not saying the past isn't horrible, or that we're done and there's no more work to be done. It's just being realistic about where we are today. And where we are today is nothing like the times you're describing, as bad as they were.

• 23:58Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 23:59Bill Maher?

  So you're, I mean, this is, I think, a problem with a lot of the left. They seem to be obsessed on the past. The past is important. It's not the only thing.

• 24:09Speaker 02

  They teach it like the Holocaust.

• 24:11Bill Maher?

  Again, I think most places do teach it. There are places, there are also, there are places that go too far on either side. Can we agree with that? But I bet you most places in America, I mean, again, this is 2023. The people who are doing the teaching are of a generation that is not mostly interested in suppressing the past or being racist. I mean-

• 24:32Speaker 02

  I disagree with that.

• 24:34Bill Maher?

  Well, then you don't watch a lot of the videos that they themselves post.

• 24:39Speaker 02

  They themselves?

• 24:40Bill Maher?

  Teachers and educators. Trust me, they're, they're hyper-aware of race. If anything, it is injected too much into everything.

• 24:53Bill Maher?

  But you sound like you're more in the Hollywood woke camp and I-

• 24:59Speaker 02

  I'm not saying that.

• 25:00Bill Maher?

  It doesn't mean we have to like-

• 25:01Speaker 02

  No, it's like, it's a humanistic camp. I want, I want, did, did you, did you know when you were a child? Did you know that, that segregation was all through-

• 25:12Bill Maher?

  Again, when I was a child was the 60s.

• 25:15Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 25:16Bill Maher?

  This is 2023. You keep going back to like how it was.

• 25:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, but Bill, it's still present.

• 25:24Bill Maher?

  It is still, of course, you know what? Racism is always going to be present in, in not just white people, but in all people, to a certain degree. You can't, you can't completely sanctify human nature. It's just what it is. It's tainted. We try to extrate it as, extrate it as much as we possibly can. But we can't. Certainly, it's a great thing that we've passed most of the laws that you would need. I mean, discrimination is illegal, has been for a very long time. Obviously, it'll always be fought in the courts and so forth. But I mean, as opposed to these errors you're talking about, when it wasn't even the law.

• 26:04Bill Maher?

  Jim Crow, yes. Before the Civil Rights Act, yes. But that's a long time ago. And you seem to think that the country in 2023 is populated by seething racists who are unaware of our past and the obligation we have to do better.

• 26:23Speaker 02

  I do agree that there are people who want to move forward without looking at the past. And when you move forward without looking at the past and course correcting, you're in trouble. Because it can happen again.

• 26:37Bill Maher?

  Well, can't we do both? Can't we be cognizant of the past and move forward?

• 26:41Speaker 02

  Yes, you can. Let me ask you a question.

• 26:43Bill Maher?

  And acknowledge the present also?

• 26:44Speaker 02

  Let me ask you a question. When you look at this guy's hat, "Make America Great Again", what do you think about that?

• 26:51Bill Maher?

  Sweetheart, nobody has made more fun of Donald Trump than I have.

• 26:54Speaker 02

  I know.

• 26:54Bill Maher?

  So you can't get me on like, "I like Donald Trump."

• 26:58Speaker 02

  I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that.

• 26:59Bill Maher?

  And I get your point. I've said it myself. Yes, "Make America Great Again", I understand to a certain number of people, that's a dog whistle about America was better when it was whiter. I get that. Okay.

• 27:12Speaker 02

  But would you then also accept that there's a large swath of people in his camp and other people like him who have no clue that that's a dog whistle? That they think, "Oh yeah, 'Make America Great Again' is for everyone", but when was it great? Let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. Oh, God. Making a big sigh. Come on. When was it great for African Americans in this country? When was it great?

• 27:43Bill Maher?

  Well, if you're applying for college now, I would say now.

• 27:47Speaker 02

  So in our history, now, it's great?

• 27:53Bill Maher?

  I didn't say great. It's never great for anybody, fully.

• 27:56Speaker 02

  Never great for anybody?

• 27:58Bill Maher?

  Well, life is full of problems, so great, you know, yes, if your life is great, you're very lucky. Most people would not say, "My life is great." Would you say your life is great?

• 28:06Speaker 02

  Yes, I would.

• 28:07Bill Maher?

  Yeah.

• 28:11Bill Maher?

  Okay.

• 28:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, I would.

• 28:13Bill Maher?

  Yeah, I mean.

• 28:14Speaker 02

  And a lot of it has.

• 28:15Bill Maher?

  I'm glad for you.

• 28:16Speaker 02

  And I've been privileged.

• 28:18Bill Maher?

  Yes.

• 28:19Speaker 02

  Do you believe in white privilege?

• 28:21Bill Maher?

  I like the word advantage better. Because advantage is broader. Here's the reason why. When you say advantage, now, have I had advantages? Especially growing up in, you know, being a, again, we were born the same year, 1956. If you were born in that year, yes, you were a young person in the 80s. Probably in the 80s, you know, could, like, I have been up for a job at a comedy club when I was working little comedy clubs, and there was a black comedian, and they gave it to me instead because they thought I would do better being a white comedian, or that they were just, maybe had racism in them. Yes, I think that probably could have happened. And that was wrong. Again, I didn't do it. I mean, we can't all be.

• 29:06Speaker 02

  Not saying you do it.

• 29:07Bill Maher?

  No, no, no.

• 29:07Speaker 02

  Just recognizing that it exists.

• 29:09Bill Maher?

  I don't think I should be even questioning that I'm someone who doesn't

• 29:13Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 29:13Bill Maher?

  recognize that it exists. I have a pretty good record of speaking on the right side of civil rights issues. I just like to be real about where we are. And where we are is not where we were. And some people seem literally reluctant. It seems like they feel like, the worst I think things are, the better person I am. That's what I get from a lot of the left, you know? I think things are worse than you do, so that's what makes me good. And, like, I just want the reality. I just want the truth. What is the truth of the situation? And again, I'm not decrying that these changes are made. I'm applauding it. I'm applauding it that it's great that if you're a black kid applying to college,

• 29:57Bill Maher?

  yeah, you don't have to face discrimination like they used to. And very often, those colleges and businesses also in America are trying to make up for their sorry past.

• 30:08Speaker 02

  I think we're not really far apart. I think it's to, I mean, yes, are there factions that are on both extremes? Of course. But to be, to say you're a liberal person, as I would consider myself?

• 30:26Speaker 02

  I don't, I, I think common sense is, is, is the law of the land. It's what should be. I think we are in a much better place than we've ever been before as far as civil rights, as far as acceptance and.

• 30:41Bill Maher?

  And just, it's just, you know, the people who are running the world now are millennials and Gen Z's. They're just, they're not, I think you're thinking of your generation and, and they are still in place in some places. They're certainly not all racists who are in place, but yeah, there are. You know, like I said, I don't know if we'll ever get rid of it completely like any human flaw, but the people who are running things, you know, I, I, I just don't think that's their mindset is let's be racist to people of color.

• 31:11Speaker 02

  They don't, they don't understand it, but they are innately that way.

• 31:15Bill Maher?

  Innately?

• 31:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 31:17Bill Maher?

  Oh, Lord.

• 31:18Speaker 02

  Oh, no.

• 31:19Bill Maher?

  What have you been reading?

• 31:20Speaker 02

  Oh, babe, you know, come on.

• 31:22Bill Maher?

  Is that White Fragility or some bullshit like that?

• 31:24Speaker 02

  No, it's not White Fragility.

• 31:25Bill Maher?

  Well, that's the book. Is that where you're getting that from?

• 31:27Speaker 02

  No, no.

• 31:28Bill Maher?

  But innately, like, like original sin, like, like we're toxically white born racist?

• 31:34Speaker 02

  Not toxically, but you are, you recognize your experience and your, and what we don't recognize often is, is the privilege that you said, the advantage that you have. We look at, look at Congress. Look at, look, look at the makeup of Congress. You cannot deny that as older white men are the predominant factor in Congress.

• 32:04Bill Maher?

  I don't have the stats in front of me, but there's plenty of people in color in Congress and it, yes, we are moving from a place where it was all white. We get it.

• 32:13Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 32:13Bill Maher?

  But what, what direction is it going? And I don't, and I'd like to see the numbers in Congress. Certainly in the Democratic Party, I bet you they're at least representative percentage wise.

• 32:26Speaker 02

  I would say so.

• 32:27Bill Maher?

  Okay.

• 32:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:28Bill Maher?

  Less so on the Republican Party, but I have to tell you, Republicans are doing better and better all the time with people of color.

• 32:37Speaker 02

  I hope so.

• 32:39Bill Maher?

  Because the woke shit actually doesn't help any black people. See, to me, this is between liberalism and wokeism. Liberalism is about lifting people up. Woke is just about self-loathing and hating yourself and scolding everybody and virtue signaling. It doesn't actually help anybody. Lifting people up who have gotten a bad shake in this country, who are for some reason downtrodden or have been cheated, absolutely. I've always been for that. But I don't think that's a lot of what's going on. And I think there are...

• 33:16Bill Maher?

  I just look at the numbers from the last election. I mean, Trump, would you think that he would get even one black or Hispanic vote? He got 20% of the male black vote. And he did better with Hispanics than he did the first time.

• 33:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 33:33Bill Maher?

  Comes out, "You're rapists." Then gets respectable numbers in that election.

• 33:40Speaker 02

  And from women, too.

• 33:40Bill Maher?

  And then four years go by and he does better. The people, especially immigrants, they don't like this unrelenting negativism about this country. They're like, "You know what?

• 33:53Speaker 02

  I agree with that.

• 33:54Bill Maher?

  You should see the fucking river I swam through to get here. And I get here, and all you people do is shit on your own country and tell me how horrible it is. You know what? I came from horrible. You want to know horrible? I'll tell you fucking stories."

• 34:09Speaker 02

  So how can we bridge the chasm that has been created between this divisive world that we live in?

• 34:19Bill Maher?

  Oh, good. I thought you were gonna say you and me, and I don't want there to be a chasm between it.

• 34:24Speaker 02

  No, man.

• 34:25Bill Maher?

  So you don't mind having a good Irish debate like that?

• 34:30Speaker 02

  Heck, yeah.

• 34:31Bill Maher?

  Good for you.

• 34:31Speaker 02

  Oh, my God. Come on, buddy. And like two old white guys, we don't know, "Should we do this? What's the handshake? I don't know."

• 34:40Bill Maher?

  That was the 1956 handshake.

• 34:45Speaker 02

  By the way, I just found out too, from 23andMe, that I'm 10% Ashkenazi Jew.

• 34:53Bill Maher?

  Oh, wow.

• 34:55Speaker 02

  So my grandmother

• 34:57Bill Maher?

  Yeah.

• 34:57Speaker 02

  converted to Catholicism, like your

• 35:02Bill Maher?

  Like my mother.

• 35:02Speaker 02

  Like your mother did or didn't or whatever.

• 35:05Bill Maher?

  My mother, I used to love my mother telling this story about she was this, my parents got married in 1951. Now, back then, that was more outrageous than an interracial marriage is today.

• 35:17Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 35:17Bill Maher?

  Okay, so neither family was very happy about it. But my mother agreed to take Catholic lessons. And she really had the greatest affection to the end of her life about this priest who did it. Because she said, he was cool. He understood that this was a charade. So he didn't really, he didn't really, you know, she could have gotten some asshole.

• 35:40Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 35:41Bill Maher?

  Who gave her the 100 questions.

• 35:44Bill Maher?

  And made her do it. But this, he said, they just talked and, and, and, you know.

• 35:49Speaker 02

  Good for him.

• 35:49Bill Maher?

  Yeah. And when I asked my mother at the beginning of Religulous, I took her back to that church we used to go to. And I don't know why they let us film there, but they did. And I said, like, why did you go along with it? And she said, well, I just thought having some structure was better than nothing. Like, that's how they thought in those days. It was like, you just can't have no religion.

• 36:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 36:12Bill Maher?

  Even if it's a bullshit religion, I don't believe in.

• 36:15Speaker 02

  Well, a lot of, a lot of the teachings were meant just to keep children in line. Right, that to scare children in line.

• 36:22Bill Maher?

  And adults. What do you mean children? And adults too.

• 36:25Speaker 02

  Yes, it's like, starts with children and you know, you'll be damned to hell if you don't do this. But so were nursery rhymes. All those Grimm's fairy tales. I mean, they were all designed to scare children into behaving.

• 36:38Bill Maher?

  Right.

• 36:40Bill Maher?

  Yeah, they were gruesome, right?

• 36:42Speaker 02

  Oh, fuck.

• 36:43Bill Maher?

  Weren't they gory?

• 36:44Speaker 02

  Putting kids in the oven and cooking them.

• 36:47Bill Maher?

  Right. Yeah.

• 36:49Speaker 02

  Jesus.

• 36:50Bill Maher?

  But people were so much rougher, you know, back then. People are just pussies now.

• 36:56Speaker 02

  Well, you and I had an upbringing where you could... My mom and dad, they didn't know where I was. I'd come home, I'd hop on my bike.

• 37:06Bill Maher?

  Exactly.

• 37:06Speaker 02

  I'd be with my friends and I was off.

• 37:09Bill Maher?

  There was no helicopter parenting.

• 37:11Speaker 02

  No.

• 37:12Bill Maher?

  There was no, um, what do they call it? Bulldozer parenting, you know what that is? That's when they push out of the way any objects or impediments. It's even worse than helicopters.

• 37:23Speaker 02

  That's terrible.

• 37:24Bill Maher?

  Yeah. I mean, there were people who've always done this. I mean, we should just call them spoiled kids, you know? But now it's gotten to be, you know, so... I mean, that's the, uh, who was the lady? You probably worked with her at one point.

• 37:38Bill Maher?

  She got her kids into college by...

• 37:42Speaker 02

  Oh, yes. Yes, I know who you're talking about.

• 37:45Bill Maher?

  What's her name? She was on some show, um...

• 37:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:49Bill Maher?

  And you probably played Uncle Plunky one week or so.

• 37:52Speaker 02

  I didn't play Uncle Plunky. But I'll tell you, you know where we first met?

• 37:56Bill Maher?

  Where?

• 37:57Speaker 02

  Murder She Wrote.

• 38:01Bill Maher?

  Really?

• 38:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:02Speaker 00

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• 38:33Speaker 02

  You were the old lady?

• 38:36Speaker 02

  I was Angela Lansbury in drag. And, no, they were.

• 38:42Bill Maher?

  Wow.

• 38:43Speaker 02

  You were being groomed.

• 38:45Bill Maher?

  Yes.

• 38:45Speaker 02

  They were grooming your ass, man. They were saying, okay, we're gonna make this guy the next star of this show.

• 38:52Bill Maher?

  Oh, boy.

• 38:53Speaker 02

  And you were her nephew?

• 38:54Bill Maher?

  I did not realize that.

• 38:56Speaker 02

  Yeah. You did too.

• 38:58Bill Maher?

  No, I didn't.

• 38:59Speaker 02

  They put you in a position.

• 39:00Bill Maher?

  Here's what I remember. Okay, here's what I remember. I did one episode with Roddy McDowell. I remember I was in a hotel room with him all day. No make any jokes.

• 39:10Speaker 02

  Not gonna say a word.

• 39:12Bill Maher?

  Such a sweet guy. Where I was just like a guest star. Where I was like one of the maybe people who killed somebody in this small town where everyone died every week. Okay. Then, I guess I did well enough. I came back like the next year and did a one hour episode where she wasn't in it. She just introduced it.

• 39:30Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 39:30Bill Maher?

  And it was me and Faith Ford.

• 39:33Speaker 02

  Yep, that's one I was in.

• 39:35Bill Maher?

  What, really?

• 39:35Speaker 02

  I was in that one.

• 39:37Bill Maher?

  Well. You know what?

• 39:38Speaker 02

  We gotta find it.

• 39:40Bill Maher?

  Yeah, I remember reading the script. Perhaps not all the way through.

• 39:44Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 39:45Bill Maher?

  Because I remember they were fitting me for a dress at the end and I'm like, wait.

• 39:50Bill Maher?

  Yeah, I like got into a witch's outfit or some, or maybe that was the other one. I don't know. One of them, they had me in a dress like a witch's outfit and I think I was.

• 39:58Speaker 02

  Did you feel pretty?

• 40:01Bill Maher?

  I felt, hey, I should read the whole script and all that. But the other one was a one hour, they used to call it an M O W.

• 40:07Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 40:08Bill Maher?

  Movie of the week.

• 40:09Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 40:09Bill Maher?

  So we were hoping it was, we saw it also as a pilot.

• 40:14Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 40:14Bill Maher?

  But it was me and her as like, I guess, you know, husband and wife detectives.

• 40:18Speaker 02

  Okay, so the other actors who were just co-stars, guest stars for the week.

• 40:23Bill Maher?

  Right.

• 40:23Speaker 02

  We were going, this Bill Maher guy, he's being groomed.

• 40:26Bill Maher?

  Really?

• 40:27Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. Oh, it was totally that. And you know what? We were going. Good luck, man.

• 40:33Bill Maher?

  Yeah.

• 40:34Speaker 02

  You get a gig. You know, it's when you worked, you remember in those days, they call, your agent calls you and you're saying yes before the, before he hang up the phone.

• 40:44Bill Maher?

  Oh, yeah.

• 40:45Speaker 02

  I'll do whatever you want. I'll, you know, what is, what is you want me to do? Yeah.

• 40:49Bill Maher?

  I went.

• 40:50Speaker 02

  I'll sit in a hotel room with Roddy McDowell for.

• 40:52Bill Maher?

  Oh, no, I was thrilled to get that part at that point.

• 40:55Speaker 02

  Roddy fucking McDowell, man.

• 40:57Bill Maher?

  I remember going to auditions for, you know, sitcoms I knew were horrible. And I was once sitting in a room, and do you know the comedian Charles Fleischer?

• 41:07Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 41:07Bill Maher?

  He was, he was kind of weird looking, a very funny guy, but like, he was like a nut. You know, that was his thing. And I remember I walk in and he went, we're rooting for this sitcom. And he went, okay, nuts over here, pricks over here.

• 41:23Bill Maher?

  That's what it was.

• 41:24Speaker 02

  And did you get up and move?

• 41:26Bill Maher?

  I was the guy for the prick part.

• 41:27Speaker 02

  Okay, I'm over here.

• 41:29Bill Maher?

  He was out for the nut part, you know?

• 41:32Speaker 02

  Oh, who framed Roger Rabbit?

• 41:34Bill Maher?

  Yes.

• 41:35Speaker 02

  That's his claim to fame and he was brilliant.

• 41:37Bill Maher?

  Yeah, he was. Charles Fleischer.

• 41:40Speaker 02

  Charles is a good fucking actor, man. I should tell you the time that, you know, remind you, Charles Fleischer and, and, you know, like,

• 41:51Speaker 02

  there was a time when I was, I was doing a movie in Toronto that John Ritter was supposed to do. And he was supposed to do this movie and said he did a, he did a play and it went to Broadway. And I said, and he was still producing this movie I was doing. So I said, I was talking to him every day and I said, well, I'll come to New York and I'll see your play. No, no, no, you don't have to see it. You don't have to see the play. And I go, no, come on, what are you talking about? Of course I'm gonna come see the play. He said, no, no, really, you don't have to see the play. And I said, well, stop talking that way. He said, well, give me a call when you come in and we'll see. My wife and I fly in, it was during Malcolm in the Middle, we were doing Up Friends. And uh. I remember that.

• 42:33Speaker 02

  And I said, we're gonna go see John Ritter in his play Dinner Party. It was a Neil Simon play. I vaguely remember that. Dinner party. Dinner party. Yeah. And uh. Inevitable name for a play. It's got to happen at least once. So I, she says, oh no, we shouldn't go see that. And I go, what? He goes, it got panned by everyone. No one liked this play. And I said, well, I told him I'd come, so we have to go. Let's walk down to Times Square, let's see where it is. So we walked down to Times Square and we looked down, oh, there, there. Let's go down and see the marquee, let's see the one sheet and whatever. We, we didn't know what time it was.

• 43:18Speaker 02

  We walked down, as soon as we approach, the door is open. Every, it's the end of the play. Oh my God. End of the play, people are throwing down their playbills going, this is a piece of shit. I, uh, this is horrible, horrible play. And I said. Oh. I reached down, I grabbed the playbill and I grabbed my wife's hand and I said, come on. She goes, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. She's not one to be able to fake anything through. And I proudly say, she's never faked anything. And so.

• 43:55Speaker 02

  We knock on the, on the stage door, he said, I'm here to see John Ritter, Bryan Cranston, come on. Oh, come on up, he's, he's surprised. So I come up, he goes, John goes, why, what, why didn't you call? Like, don't tell me about the call. Are you kidding, the call? Why would I call? Yeah. He says, well, what did you think? What did I think? What did I think? Are you really? No words. Seriously asking what? My God. My God. That's perfect. And talk about funny. Right.

• 44:30Speaker 02

  He goes, seriously? And I go, are you kidding? Of course, come here, give me a hug. I hugged him and I'm like, huh. And, and my wife goes over and talks to his daughter who was in his room. In comes John Lovitz and um, oh my God, I'm just blanking on his name. Uh, uh, um, a comic actor, does a droll, droll, uh, uh. Stan Laurel? No.

• 44:56Speaker 02

  We'll think of it. They come in, they're taking over. And, and he says, "Brian liked it." And I went, "Oh, are you kidding? Liked it? This, this play." And they're going, "Really? You're like, you're gonna, oh my God, are you kidding? Come on, let's have a drink." To this day.

• 45:18Bill Maher?

  So Lovitz had seen the play?

• 45:19Speaker 02

  Lovitz went into the play.

• 45:22Bill Maher?

  And did he say anything to betray your lie?

• 45:27Speaker 02

  No, he was shocked. He was a little shell shocked to look at it. And, oh my God, I can't think of his name. He's such a great comedian.

• 45:35Bill Maher?

  First you take money out of the collection plate. Then you lie your way.

• 45:40Speaker 02

  Is this a review?

• 45:41Bill Maher?

  Backstage.

• 45:42Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 45:44Bill Maher?

  I'm just saying I'm getting a fuller picture of you, Brian. That's it, you know?

• 45:48Speaker 02

  It is.

• 45:48Bill Maher?

  You get to know somebody in increments, you know?

• 45:50Speaker 02

  And I see you kissing Angela Lansbury's ass in order to get a job.

• 45:56Bill Maher?

  Well, look at, but look at how it came out. I mean, the, you know, the irony as we fast forward in this movie of our lives is that you are the award-winning, famous, you know,

• 46:08Speaker 02

  Dude.

• 46:09Bill Maher?

  critically lauded, universally loved, A-list actor. And here I am, lonely in my little club random, all by myself, smoking my blunts.

• 46:21Speaker 02

  In your cave.

• 46:22Bill Maher?

  We both went exactly where we should have gone. I was not an actor. An actor is the opposite of what I do. It could never work. A comedian.

• 46:31Speaker 02

  Believe me, I saw your work. It was the opposite.

• 46:36Bill Maher?

  Was I terrible in that?

• 46:40Speaker 02

  It was, it just wasn't you.

• 46:42Bill Maher?

  Yeah.

• 46:43Speaker 02

  It just wasn't you.

• 46:43Bill Maher?

  That's what acting is. You're not you.

• 46:45Speaker 02

  You're not you.

• 46:46Bill Maher?

  I wasn't some guy who found a John Doe body. I remember that, I did not, I know, to this day, I don't understand that script. It was so convoluted.

• 46:54Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:55Bill Maher?

  And.

• 46:56Speaker 02

  Pretty confusing.

• 46:57Bill Maher?

  Yeah, and like, no, I'm, I'm very fortunate that I wasn't cast as the, you know, office creep on bringing up Chunky because. I could, you know, have done ten years on a show and then have never been able to have the credibility to do what I really do.

• 47:15Speaker 02

  Bringing up Chunky Two, Chunky Three.

• 47:18Bill Maher?

  Well, you know.

• 47:19Speaker 02

  It would have been a whole series.

• 47:20Bill Maher?

  The residuals would have been.

• 47:21Speaker 02

  Would have been fantastic.

• 47:23Bill Maher?

  Amazing, but, no, but you.

• 47:25Speaker 02

  I met you, I met you over twenty years ago on Politically Incorrect.

• 47:29Bill Maher?

  Oh, that too. I remember that.

• 47:31Speaker 02

  Fantastic.

• 47:32Bill Maher?

  Yes.

• 47:33Speaker 02

  And, and groundbreaking.

• 47:35Bill Maher?

  Well.

• 47:36Speaker 02

  And I'm, and I'm not, I, I, and I'm not here to kiss your ass, but it was fucking great.

• 47:41Bill Maher?

  But if you want to.

• 47:42Speaker 02

  No, it was great.

• 47:43Bill Maher?

  Yeah.

• 47:44Speaker 02

  It was great.

• 47:45Bill Maher?

  Well, I hope you don't think it was better than the show I do now, because I, most of us who worked on both think it was a giant step up to go to HBO and do the show we do now.

• 47:55Speaker 02

  Well, because you had more freedom.

• 47:56Bill Maher?

  Um, it's just more adult. You know, Politically Incorrect was a, I would say, a planned train wreck. It was four people who should never have been together in the same room.

• 48:07Speaker 02

  Right.

• 48:08Bill Maher?

  And were, you know, and that's what we, and that's fun, you know, it's like, hey, this is a democracy, everybody gets to vote, why can't Bob Dole and Carrot Top have a debate? You know, I mean, but it wasn't, you know.

• 48:20Speaker 02

  And that was, what was so brilliant about it is that now, in all truth.

• 48:27Bill Maher?

  But for me, it, it was, it's not nearly the work I've done on Real Time.

• 48:31Speaker 02

  No.

• 48:32Bill Maher?

  It just isn't, it isn't, it's just different.

• 48:34Speaker 02

  It's a different world.

• 48:35Bill Maher?

  Yeah, well, it's just, it's just a, anyway.

• 48:38Speaker 02

  I remember you went shortly after, after Politically Correct ended, I remember being on one of the shows near the end, and I remember, if, correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember you hinting like, I'm going somewhere else.

• 48:56Bill Maher?

  Oh, really?

• 48:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 48:58Bill Maher?

  On the air or?

• 48:59Speaker 02

  No, no, oh, no.

• 49:00Bill Maher?

  Oh, sorry to interrupt you.

• 49:01Speaker 02

  No, no, it was after, yeah, I was, I'm going somewhere else.

• 49:03Bill Maher?

  Dramatic aside.

• 49:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, I was like, I'm going somewhere else.

• 49:05Bill Maher?

  Hark, I'm going somewhere.

• 49:06Speaker 02

  I think, I think you used semaphores.

• 49:09Bill Maher?

  And I got, I got the message. Well, um, I loved the last six months of Politically Incorrect, even though we were canceled. Even though we were, one critic called us dead show walking. Because we were still on. Yeah. For like nine months after nine eleven. And it freed us to like do much closer to the show I'm doing now. Yeah. It freed us to like, because you know why, the country was like in this somber mood. So it wasn't appropriate to have, you know, like, like, you know, dumb asses and sitcom twerks. So I did a much more adult show. With like a panel of people who like actually could speak instead of just verbal. It's, it's been, it's been amazing to watch this.

• 49:55Bill Maher?

  It really is. I can't believe, you know. We're, first of all, we're both so lucky that we're still working. Yeah. You know, this is a business that puts people out to pasture. You know, whereas, you know, I mean, you've never been busy, right? It's been really, really busy. Yeah. But it's, see, you look just, I think we both look, no one is fooled that we're Chris Hemsworth. But like you look generically still like late middle aged, but middle aged, you don't look old. You know, it's so, it's not like you can play parts. I look Hollywood middle aged. Well, you look, you can play parts where like your looks are not distracting. We're not, we're not, you're not, no. Oh my.

• 50:38Bill Maher?

  We're not confused that you're the guy who's gonna, who's gonna be, you know. Your looks are not distracting, I love that, that's true. Right, yeah. I look in the mirror and I don't, I don't get distracted at all. At sixty seven, that's not a bad. Yeah, that's right. Okay. It's coming. Right, it's a, it's, it's as good as you can do. Yeah. And you have all this acting experience and like popularity built up from your past roles. So you're like, you're in the killing field now. No, really. Yeah, it's, it's good, it's a good time. And I feel like almost the same thing for me. It's a good time. Yeah, built up enough credibility, I've been around and you can still look at me. You're not. I'm not repulsed. You're not doing it. I don't recoil. Right, exactly.

• 51:22Bill Maher?

  You're not doing it for the reason of looking at us. Hey, let me ask you this. What? Is there a bathroom around? I mean, it's like, do we do that on a show like this? Can you hold it for like five minutes and then I'll just let you go? Oh, okay. I mean, unless you wanna like. I really, I gotta go. Then, come here. Should I go and then we'll come back?

• 51:42Bill Maher?

  I, good God. I feel that that really humanized you. It did. It calmed me down a little bit. That choice you made in the scene to go to the bathroom. I feel like we don't see that in enough movies. And I'm like, you know, these super spies, they do everything. They run off buildings. They shoot 100 people without getting shot, but they never have to go to the bathroom. They never have to pee. Really? They never have to pee? I feel like if you did. Bullshit. If you did a superhero movie, and I'm sure you wouldn't, that would be a good, to have a really vulnerable, like, maybe a superhero, but who has a urological problem. And he has to. A superhero who wears the pens.

• 52:27Bill Maher?

  He just, he just. Who's always. Leaks. Always. He leaks. He's always at the urologist's office. But you would not do a movie like that. You, have you been offered, are you like, could you be like the villain in Doctor Shitfuck?

• 52:44Bill Maher?

  I would consider. Really? Well, I would because. They're, oh, then they're gonna, they're gonna hear that and they're gonna do it. Because you're exactly, you're, like I said, killing field for you. You're exactly at the perfect time to play like a super bad villain. And because of who you are, built this up to, you'll get, you know, a bankload of, a truckload of money. I will? Yes, absolutely.

• 53:09Bill Maher?

  You won't be the star, that'll be Liam Hemsworth. But you'll be, you know, but they need you too.

• 53:15Speaker 02

  I would do it.

• 53:15Bill Maher?

  And it'll be the fun part of the picture.

• 53:17Speaker 02

  That's what I'm saying.

• 53:18Bill Maher?

  You'll steal it, cuz you always do.

• 53:19Speaker 02

  It's the fun part of the movie.

• 53:21Bill Maher?

  Yes, and.

• 53:22Speaker 02

  Why would I say no to that?

• 53:23Bill Maher?

  Because you wouldn't. Why aren't they offering it? Because they need like, someone who's the bad guy to be of like, equal credibility, but on that different level.

• 53:33Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 53:33Bill Maher?

  You know, not, he's not, okay, I'm not Liam Hemsworth, I'm not.

• 53:38Speaker 02

  You've said that like, four or five times now. Fuck you.

• 53:43Bill Maher?

  But you're gonna.

• 53:44Speaker 02

  You should've seen me in my youth. I wasn't Ben either.

• 53:46Bill Maher?

  I did on Murder City Road. And everybody was saying, that guy's going nowhere, look what we know. What did you play on that? I don't remember.

• 53:54Speaker 02

  I don't fucking know. You know, it's, it's these, I don't know.

• 53:58Bill Maher?

  I remember there was.

• 53:59Speaker 02

  I honestly don't remember the shit I used to do.

• 54:01Bill Maher?

  I do remember an actor on that named David Huddleston.

• 54:05Speaker 02

  Yes, George Stole David Huddleston.

• 54:06Bill Maher?

  He was the sheriff.

• 54:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, and he, he did that shit for a long time, and yeah.

• 54:12Bill Maher?

  I remember one day he was complaining, I think he played Santa Claus.

• 54:17Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 54:17Bill Maher?

  There was a Santa Claus movie.

• 54:19Speaker 02

  He would be a good Santa Claus.

• 54:21Bill Maher?

  Yes, and.

• 54:23Speaker 02

  I did a Matlock where I was a Santa Claus.

• 54:24Bill Maher?

  You did a Matlock?

• 54:26Speaker 02

  Heck, of course.

• 54:26Bill Maher?

  Oh my god. Don't ever.

• 54:29Speaker 02

  Didn't you?

• 54:29Bill Maher?

  Don't, no, I was, how can that be? We're the same age. Matlock was on, oh yeah, I guess in your twenties.

• 54:40Bill Maher?

  I don't know. When Matlock was on, I was like, I feel like I was a million miles from doing anything real in show business.

• 54:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, I did that, I did, I, I met my, my wife in a show called Airwolf. Do you remember that?

• 54:56Bill Maher?

  Yes.

• 54:56Speaker 02

  With the helicopter?

• 54:57Bill Maher?

  With the guy, Jan, wasn't that Jan Michael Vincent?

• 54:59Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 55:00Bill Maher?

  Did not end well for him.

• 55:02Speaker 02

  It did not.

• 55:03Bill Maher?

  You see, how lucky we are, Bryan Cranston?

• 55:05Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 55:06Bill Maher?

  I mean, here we are, you know.

• 55:09Speaker 02

  We got our hair.

• 55:10Bill Maher?

  We got our hair, some of it, not everyone that was ever there. You know, our careers are peaking in our late sixties.

• 55:18Speaker 02

  Look at this.

• 55:19Bill Maher?

  I mean, it, it could go, it could've gone a lot worse.

• 55:22Speaker 02

  White privilege on display.

• 55:24Bill Maher?

  You know.

• 55:26Bill Maher?

  Oh, you know, speaking of that, you know what, what one I love? The one you did with Kevin Hart.

• 55:31Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 55:32Bill Maher?

  That is.

• 55:33Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 55:34Bill Maher?

  Oh, wow.

• 55:36Speaker 02

  We're doing a sequel to that.

• 55:38Bill Maher?

  By the way, when he is encouraged by the right director to just be an actor.

• 55:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 55:44Bill Maher?

  Fantastic.

• 55:45Speaker 02

  He is terrific.

• 55:47Bill Maher?

  He does not need to just do what, you know, look, there's no shame in getting famous by being very popular, doing a.

• 55:55Speaker 02

  And selling jokes?

• 55:56Bill Maher?

  Yeah, well, he's also a good comedian.

• 55:58Speaker 02

  Great.

• 55:58Bill Maher?

  But I'm saying in movies, he had that one kind of thing he did where he was a little over the top, but it was funny and yeah, it's a comedy, let's come here, let's live, okay? But when he is encouraged the right way, in a where it's not appropriate and to, he was, I was so impressed.

• 56:13Speaker 02

  It was, it was called The Upside.

• 56:15Bill Maher?

  Yeah, The Upside.

• 56:16Speaker 02

  The Upside, and he, I, I went to lunch with him, I, I wanted to find out if he was ready for this, if he was like, if he got this, I, I said to him at lunch, I said, you know, this is, this is really not a comedy, I mean, this is really a character piece. Are you, are you ready for that? He goes, I know exactly what it is.

• 56:40Bill Maher?

  Right.

• 56:40Speaker 02

  And it's exactly what I need for my career.

• 56:42Bill Maher?

  Right.

• 56:43Speaker 02

  And he was, he was entirely correct.

• 56:45Bill Maher?

  Right.

• 56:45Speaker 02

  And I said.

• 56:46Bill Maher?

  And he did it.

• 56:47Speaker 02

  This movie rests on your shoulders. You have to drive every scene.

• 56:51Bill Maher?

  Sure.

• 56:54Speaker 02

  And he did.

• 56:54Bill Maher?

  Yeah, he did.

• 56:55Speaker 02

  He did, and.

• 56:57Bill Maher?

  Well, I mean, that's a bit over, it was a fairly equal two man show. It was two people who are locked together.

• 57:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 57:06Bill Maher?

  Because in the movie, you're in a wheelchair.

• 57:08Speaker 02

  But he was such a whirling dervish, he carried the show.

• 57:12Bill Maher?

  Yeah, I mean.

• 57:13Speaker 02

  So we're doing a sequel to it.

• 57:15Bill Maher?

  Oh, wow.

• 57:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 57:17Bill Maher?

  You get up?

• 57:21Speaker 02

  Okay. For those of you who don't, who haven't seen The Upside, I play a quadriplegic in a chair. And that's why this bastard said, "Do you get up?" You know, I got shit for that.

• 57:34Bill Maher?

  What?

• 57:35Speaker 02

  I got a lot of shit for that.

• 57:36Bill Maher?

  For what?

• 57:37Speaker 02

  Oh, this is gonna set him off.

• 57:39Bill Maher?

  Uh-oh.

• 57:41Speaker 02

  I am not a, um...

• 57:45Bill Maher?

  Oh, because you're not in a wheelchair?

• 57:47Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 57:48Bill Maher?

  Well, we'll fix that.

• 57:51Speaker 02

  I am, uh, I am an able-bodied actor playing a disabled actor.

• 57:55Bill Maher?

  Sean Penn had the great line about that. He said, "It's getting to the point where you can only play Hamlet if you're a prince from Denmark."

• 58:03Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 58:04Bill Maher?

  I mean, it's called acting. It's almost the whole point that you are doing something that you are not, right?

• 58:15Bill Maher?

  I can't even, I can't even. And again, you know, not to get back to woke goes too far, but you notice it when it enters your own life, don't you? Like that.

• 58:27Speaker 02

  Yes. It, it, it was noticeable to me. I, I was pretty surprised that I got some blowback to it. And, um, I thought, there's a good point that disabled actors are not given an opportunity. It's a kind of a catch-22 that, that, um, you know, it's like, do you have the cachet to be able to carry a film?

• 58:52Bill Maher?

  It has to make sense. If, you know, if you're playing Jim Thorpe, you gotta be able to run. We lost all common sense. Yes, should, should there be the thought given to, hey, you know, this part could be... And by the way, it's not like I've never seen anybody in a wheelchair in a movie. Pretty much anyone who ever works a computer is in a wheelchair in every movie I've ever seen. Okay? So, but yes, are there other, you know, doctors and lawyers? Yeah, they, they could. And where it's appropriate, without like taking you out of the story, great.

• 59:30Speaker 02

  We would've missed some great performances. Daniel Day-Lewis, My Left Foot. Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman.

• 59:37Bill Maher?

  Oh.

• 59:38Speaker 02

  There is a lot of-

• 59:39Bill Maher?

  Oh, yes. It's not even worth considering. It's so silly.

• 59:45Speaker 02

  The thing I'm just saying, it's perspective. You can only have the perspective of a 66-year-old white male. That's all you can have.

• 59:55Bill Maher?

  All of us can only have our own perspective.

• 59:58Speaker 02

  Exactly right.

• 59:58Bill Maher?

  It doesn't mean I can't, I'm not a sentient being who can't see-

• 1:00:02Speaker 02

  You can understand, but you cannot really know what it feels like to live in that skin.

• 1:00:07Bill Maher?

  Nobody can.

• 1:00:08Speaker 02

  Except them.

• 1:00:09Bill Maher?

  If you had said that again in the era we were born, like, and somebody did a book on it in the 50s called Black Like Me, where he put on blackface, basically, so he could see what it was like. In the 1950s, to walk around, it would be, I just, you would, that's why that book resonated.

• 1:00:30Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:00:30Bill Maher?

  It would be a shock.

• 1:00:31Speaker 02

  And in the 1960s, during the riots in Watts and in Detroit and Chicago and elsewhere, I remember asking my mother, "Why are these black people so angry? Why are they so angry?" I couldn't understand. Why are they throwing rocks and bottles?

• 1:00:49Bill Maher?

  Because they lived in the 1960s.

• 1:00:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:00:52Bill Maher?

  But surveys now show that black people, especially young black people, are way more optimistic about their future in America than whites.

• 1:01:01Speaker 02

  I hope so.

• 1:01:02Bill Maher?

  Whites are the, actually, the only ethnicity that has a bias against themselves. The only, yes, they're the only group that, this comes from, you know, the far-left, I think, they, they just, the only group who doesn't want to be with their own kind of people. Every other ethnic group, or at least is okay with them. Yeah.

• 1:01:23Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 1:01:24Bill Maher?

  No, there is a weird kind of white self-loathing-

• 1:01:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:01:27Bill Maher?

  -that does go on in America. It's, it's, it's kind of a kink. It's, it's, it's kind of like wanting some dominatrix to dig a high heel into your neck to a certain degree.

• 1:01:40Speaker 02

  Let's not disparage that kind of activity. That could be very engaging and exciting.

• 1:01:47Bill Maher?

  You could put that on your judge show. My judge show. Why? Why? Why, why? Why, you you sounded a little bit like Walken there. Why? Do you do any impressions? I do impressions of impressions. Everybody does. Kevin Pollak, you know. Oh, that's good, yeah. You do Kevin Pollak's, yeah. I do Kevin Pollak's Walken, you know. Right. I I can do, um, I know exactly what you mean. I can do, um, somebody's, somebody, um. Oh, this is perfect. I can't remember. You can do some impression. I can't remember. Who is it who I can do? What's the impression I can do?

• 1:02:31Bill Maher?

  Somebody, but yes, but that happens a lot with impressions. There was a guy, you probably remember this because we're the same age, Will Jordan. Yeah. Okay, he was the guy who first did Ed Sullivan. And then everybody else was kind of like, do, yes. Doing Ed? Yeah. Doing, yeah, Will Jordan. Everybody was doing Will Jordan's Ed Sullivan. You know, mailmen were doing it. Yeah. It was not, you just had to do. A big shoe? Yeah. Yeah. Yes. That's right. Yes. Oh, man. See, that was, that was something that made America a, a easier place. What? Great again? Oh, God, I can't, I can't even. So that's what made America.

• 1:03:13Bill Maher?

  Go get your Golden Globe, really, just, just go up there and, and, and do what they want and do your, but engage in your kink. Make them feel guilty about just existing and their privilege because they're at an award. Well, I mean, an award show is pretty privilegey. It is, isn't it? Isn't it? Your life is fine, why make yourself feel guilty about it? I don't feel guilty about it. You didn't do it, you didn't do Jim Crow. I'm not guilty about it. I know. I'm just accepting that this is the world that we have lived in. Have lived in, yes, and, and are, are making great strides and, um, still work to be done. True.

• 1:03:56Bill Maher?

  And let's, let's try to accurately place ourselves where we are. Yes. Is, is where, what I would say. I like that. But I still think you should go to the, now, wasn't there a show last night? Wasn't that the Golden Globes last night?

• 1:04:10Speaker 02

  It was, yeah.

• 1:04:11Bill Maher?

  Were you there? Were you? No, not up for anything this year? Go on what you're doing.

• 1:04:15Speaker 02

  No, isn't that surprising?

• 1:04:17Bill Maher?

  Now, weren't the Golden Globes themselves canceled? Because they were unwoke like a year ago?

• 1:04:23Speaker 02

  They have completely, you know, Jared Carmichael, who hosted the show.

• 1:04:28Bill Maher?

  Okay.

• 1:04:28Speaker 02

  Young, black.

• 1:04:29Bill Maher?

  I know who he is, sure.

• 1:04:32Speaker 02

  He had the temerity and the balls, and I was happy to hear that. That he said, "The reason I'm hosting this show tonight is because I'm black."

• 1:04:42Bill Maher?

  And gay.

• 1:04:43Speaker 02

  It's like, here it is!

• 1:04:45Bill Maher?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:46Speaker 02

  And that, and...

• 1:04:47Bill Maher?

  Well, that's, and that is, to get back to our thing about the actor versus the comedian.

• 1:04:52Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:04:52Bill Maher?

  That is why he's a good comedian. That is what comedy does. It is like a divining rod.

• 1:04:59Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:05:00Bill Maher?

  That goes toward the thing that is true.

• 1:05:03Speaker 02

  It's the truth.

• 1:05:03Bill Maher?

  That everybody, that everybody either is thinking or recognizes when they hear it.

• 1:05:09Speaker 02

  Totally get that.

• 1:05:09Bill Maher?

  Or phrases it better than they have. But it's the, it's the elephant in the room. And you're right, good for him.

• 1:05:17Speaker 02

  That's so beautiful about that.

• 1:05:18Bill Maher?

  Yeah. Yes, I mean, a lot of America is trying pretty hard in the last few years to, to make up for the sorry past.

• 1:05:27Speaker 02

  Can I ask you a question? In your work, did you ever pull up? Because, pull up from the joke because you thought it was not gonna be received well?

• 1:05:42Bill Maher?

  No.

• 1:05:43Speaker 02

  No?

• 1:05:43Bill Maher?

  Well, I mean, pull up from a joke? The only, I mean, I guess I could do that in the monologue because that's just really a bullet point here or there. So I'm really saying it, but I don't remember doing it there. The editorial I do at the end is, you know, I worked hard on that all week, getting every word exactly the way I want it. So I'm never gonna pull up on that.

• 1:06:04Speaker 02

  You work really hard.

• 1:06:05Bill Maher?

  No, I mean, yeah, I mean, I, I'm pulling up is not, it's not the way I create a bond with my audience.

• 1:06:12Speaker 02

  No.

• 1:06:13Bill Maher?

  You know?

• 1:06:14Speaker 02

  I think most people will look at your show and go, "Oh my God, he's just..."

• 1:06:22Speaker 02

  Winging it. He's just having a great time.

• 1:06:24Bill Maher?

  That's what, that's what it should look like. That's exactly right. That's fantastic if you think that. That's the, that's the skill. Part of the skill is to, you know. Man, I think the Italians call it sprezzatura, like to make something difficult look easy. And, you know, hopefully, yes, I mean, I'm old school with showbiz, like, like I'm there for them. Like, I don't ask the audience, like, if, if I have a problem, you don't hear about it. My mother died, you don't, you didn't hear about it. You know, some people do that, it's fine on talk shows, I'm not knocking it, it's just not me. Like, I am there for you. So like, if I don't feel good, that's my issue to work out before the show.

• 1:07:06Bill Maher?

  And to make the show just fly by and glide by and yes, make serious things, still say, still stay buoyant and funny at times and so that it's not, you know, a truck to the dentist to find out what happened in the world that week, you know? So, you know, I'm there for them. I will do what it takes to get to that point.

• 1:07:31Speaker 02

  I've never seen your show, your Vegas show.

• 1:07:37Bill Maher?

  Come with me to Vegas some weekend.

• 1:07:38Speaker 02

  I will. And, and how, how long is it?

• 1:07:42Bill Maher?

  Like just guys? Would your wife let you do like just a guy?

• 1:07:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:07:47Bill Maher?

  Really?

• 1:07:48Speaker 02

  Oh, absolutely.

• 1:07:49Bill Maher?

  Even if it was me?

• 1:07:50Speaker 02

  I've been married for 33 years.

• 1:07:51Bill Maher?

  I know, but I'm known as a bad influence.

• 1:07:53Speaker 02

  No, you're not gonna, your influence is not.

• 1:07:58Bill Maher?

  I'm just saying, be prepared to have your picture taken at the Spearmint Rhino at 2 a.m. It's, it's Vegas.

• 1:08:04Speaker 02

  Great.

• 1:08:05Bill Maher?

  Okay, so you would do that?

• 1:08:07Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:08:08Bill Maher?

  You'd go to the Spearmint Rhino with me?

• 1:08:09Speaker 02

  I, I totally would.

• 1:08:11Bill Maher?

  Oh, this is so gonna happen.

• 1:08:13Speaker 02

  Let's do it.

• 1:08:14Bill Maher?

  Let's do it now.

• 1:08:21Speaker 02

  Totally, I totally would go. I'm, I go to Vegas.

• 1:08:26Bill Maher?

  Trust me, the Lisa Marie is fueled up and ready to go.

• 1:08:29Speaker 02

  I'm tell-

• 1:08:34Bill Maher?

  I've got the peanut butter and banana sandwiches on ice.

• 1:08:39Bill Maher?

  We are, we are-

• 1:08:41Speaker 02

  How, how long is your show? When you, when you do Vegas, your Vegas show?

• 1:08:45Bill Maher?

  Vegas is different than, than any other city.

• 1:08:46Speaker 02

  Okay, so you go to-

• 1:08:47Bill Maher?

  Seventy minutes.

• 1:08:49Speaker 02

  Seventy minutes, why?

• 1:08:50Bill Maher?

  Because, like, normally I would do ninety, or maybe a little more. Uh, but in Vegas, they always wanna, uh, keep the show short because any minute you're in the showroom, you're not in the casino, losing the house.

• 1:09:03Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:09:04Bill Maher?

  So-

• 1:09:04Speaker 02

  You want a little more?

• 1:09:05Bill Maher?

  No, I have strict limits on, uh, no, really, seriously. It's important.

• 1:09:12Speaker 02

  Oh, okay.

• 1:09:13Bill Maher?

  At our age, you know, you just cannot, I mean, it's one of the saddest things in my life, is that I have to be very careful and circumspect about how I drink. Not that it's gonna kill me over tonight, but like, come on, we're just not playing with the house money anymore, you know? I, I always say about health, and you look great, you look like you're in, in really good health. I mean, you're no Liam Hepsford.

• 1:09:41Bill Maher?

  I'd go up one more time for the road.

• 1:09:47Bill Maher?

  But, but here's how I look back on my decades and how I handled myself. There's a saying in sports.

• 1:09:58Bill Maher?

  Whatever the defense will give you. In other words, like, if they're playing against the run, you throw the pass. If they're throwing against the pass, you know, we took what the defense would give us. I feel like that's what I did with my body. When my body, in my twenties and thirties, would allow me to have thirty drinks a week, I did it.

• 1:10:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:10:17Bill Maher?

  I smoked cigarettes, you know? I mean, I just did stupid things, but my body didn't revolt enough to make me stop. You know, I still could function. You know, when you're, when you're thirty, you can fucking drink, have eight drinks at night, and, you know, pass out or whatever, fall asleep pretty easily. And, and you're at work the next day.

• 1:10:39Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:10:40Bill Maher?

  I couldn't, that is inconceivable at this point. I mean, I'm, I'm impressed with you, like, throwing these back. Because that would knock me on my ass. Not that I'd be so drunk, I would just be sick for like till tomorrow. Oh, no. Well, purity. I don't smoke, but I I do. Yeah. I do like I do like the drink, but I sip. No, I think. I don't. I think it's just you're you're you probably have a very strong constitution. I do. Are you Irish? I am. Sure, me too. Yeah, Irish and Jewish. Me too. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I have more Jew in me than you. I'm more Jew than you is what you're saying. But it's it's not a competition.

• 1:11:25Bill Maher?

  Otherwise, we are not only are we gonna. Excuse me.

• 1:11:33Bill Maher?

  Not only are you are you and I gonna go to Vegas and to the Jenny Bar. I. But I feel. Okay, but I I really want to see your show. You can. I want to see the show. No, I know. You're coming with me on the plane. It's gonna we got you're gonna be gone a total of thirty hours. Okay. You can see the show twice. We'll go. I will do that. Friday late afternoon. We'll we'll have Friday night after the show. We'll we'll have brunch, a leisurely. I've done this before. Trust me. That's good. We'll have a leisurely brunch on Saturday. It'll be awesome. And then do whatever in the afternoon. Do the second show on Saturday night and get right back here. You'll be in your bed Saturday night at midnight. Great. Your wife will hardly know you're gone. She'll probably like it.

• 1:12:19Bill Maher?

  She'll say, Raoul, is that you? Yeah. Let's do it. No. I can't wait. But beyond that, I do think we should do some sort of reboot of the Bing Crosby, Bob Hope road pictures.

• 1:12:35Bill Maher?

  I think I'd be a good Bing, I mean, a good Bob Hope, and I think you could do Bing Crosby. So you think you're Bob and I'm Bing? Oh, yeah. I'm the comedian. I'm the comedian. Oh, yeah. You know. Yeah. And I can play that, you know, cowardly.

• 1:12:52Bill Maher?

  Schmuck, you know, that he Bob Hope for a guy who was so beloved, his his character was a shyster. And in his personal life, he was just known to be a huge. Huge prick. Oh, my God.

• 1:13:04Bill Maher?

  Graydon Carter tells a great story. I read it like in somewhere, probably Vanity Fair, his magazine. But he was at staying at Bob's house in Palm Springs. This is, I don't know, 25 years ago or something. And I don't know, I guess he was doing a story on him or something, you know? He was a well-known editor, but you know, he became a much bigger. I think this is before the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

• 1:13:33Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:13:34Bill Maher?

  But he was still Graydon Carter, or maybe it was after, it must have been, because he was a sort of a celebrity himself. So for whatever reason, he was staying at Bob's house in Palm Springs. And he goes and then we put him to bed, you know, whatever. And, you know, he says he's about to turn out the light. He said it was 11 o'clock at night. And he hears this padding outside the door and then a little faint knock. He opens the door, it's Bob. And Bob says, hey.

• 1:14:00Speaker 02

  But I want to tell you.

• 1:14:01Bill Maher?

  Why are we going to town and pick up some girls? And then Graydon wrote, he was 80 at the time.

• 1:14:08Speaker 02

  Unbelievable.

• 1:14:12Speaker 02

  But I want to tell you.

• 1:14:14Bill Maher?

  Yeah, I was going to town and pick up some girls.

• 1:14:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, I was going to town and pick up some girls.

• 1:14:17Bill Maher?

  I mean, and of course married.

• 1:14:19Speaker 02

  Connie Francis, ladies and gentlemen, Connie Francis.

• 1:14:21Bill Maher?

  And that's what you guys are fighting for. Oh shit, it's 8 o'clock?

• 1:14:26Speaker 02

  It's 8 o'clock.

• 1:14:28Bill Maher?

  All right, I'll let you go.

• 1:14:29Speaker 02

  Good time, bro.

• 1:14:30Bill Maher?

  But I'm telling you, that was fun. You don't mind going from here to here and then back? I love that about somebody, when they can bounce from, we're very serious, and then we're laughing, and then we're serious, and then, right? It's rare.

• 1:14:50Speaker 02

  It's fun.

• 1:14:52Bill Maher?

  How it should be.

• 1:14:53Speaker 02

  I admire the respect, the shit out of you.

• 1:14:56Bill Maher?

  And I you, really.

• 1:14:58Speaker 02

  Really do. You have, over the decades, been the voice of reason.

• 1:15:07Bill Maher?

  Oh, I hope so.

• 1:15:08Speaker 02

  I never miss your show.

• 1:15:10Bill Maher?

  Oh, great. I never see it, so how can I miss it?

• 1:15:14Speaker 02

  You don't watch your show?

• 1:15:14Bill Maher?

  No, that's Milton Berle's old line. I never miss your show. I never see it, so how can I miss it?

• 1:15:22Bill Maher?

  See, I was serious. You were, you were, yeah. Yeah, well, that's why we should go pick up some girls, yeah.

• 1:15:29Bill Maher?

  Eighty. You gotta love that. Gotta love it. Anyway, we're doing good. Thank you, Ben. All right, let's have a good year. It's the beginning of a new one. New year. My birthday's in, uh, nine days. I'll get to sixty-seven a little before you. Sixty-seven, my friend. I know, but look at us.

• 1:15:50Bill Maher?

  We could play in a...

• 1:15:54Bill Maher?

  Perhaps not the ingenue, but, uh... In a band of some sort. I'm not saying I could do Kate Hudson's part in Almost Famous, but I think... But I'd try.

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