Pod Insights Club Random with Bill Maher Jane Fonda | Club Random with Bill Maher About this episode NOTE: This was recorded before the election.
Bill Maher and Jane Fonda on how Jane stays so energetic, smart health and how habits change with age, their mutual commitment to drinking only in moderation, the Barbarella Halloween costume of the moment, whether some issues are exaggerated or not in our modern media world, climate and other countries roles in fixing it, over-regulated California, a deep dive on Jane’s movies, meditation and mindfulness, and the people who inspired Jane the most.
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
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0:31 Speaker 01 You could be my son. I'd put you over my knees and spank you.
0:37 Speaker 01 Would you like, you'd probably like that.
0:40 Bill Maher? For someone like you to be willing to go to jail, which can't be fun.
0:45 Speaker 01 If you're white and famous, going to jail is nothing.
0:52 Speaker 01 Hey, Bill.
0:53 Bill Maher? Hi.
0:53 Speaker 01 Do you remember when I was last in this room?
0:55 Bill Maher? I remember.
0:56 Speaker 01 You probably don't.
0:57 Bill Maher? I do.
0:57 Speaker 01 Hi.
0:58 Bill Maher? You were telling me to adjust the lighting.
1:00 Speaker 01 Huh?
1:01 Bill Maher? You told me to adjust the lighting.
1:03 Speaker 01 I did. It was Larry David was here.
1:06 Bill Maher? Yeah, I think it was my 60th birthday.
1:08 Speaker 01 What was it? And a lot of former Playgirls, and we, yeah.
1:14 Bill Maher? Playgirls, first of all.
1:15 Speaker 01 And you passed the volcano around.
1:17 Bill Maher? The volcano, yes.
1:18 Speaker 01 It was fun.
1:19 Bill Maher? I remember.
1:20 Speaker 01 That was when I was with Richard, which is why I got invited, because I don't usually get invited to your parties.
1:26 Bill Maher? Oh, stop it. That's right. I was going through Richard Perry to get to Jane Fonda.
1:31 Speaker 01 Uh huh.
1:32 Bill Maher? You're daft about that. No, of course. I mean, I love both of you. I knew Richard for a long time, probably before you did.
1:39 Speaker 01 When, when did you know him?
1:42 Bill Maher? Because we were both Playgirls.
1:44 Speaker 01 I've heard.
1:47 Bill Maher? By the way, Playgirl is the magazine for, you know, I mean, it's actually for gay men, but it was the magazine that was out there. I did it once. I remember. It was the magazine for women, and they would have like firemen. I remember looking in the table of contents, and there was, you know, it's like the first press I ever got. And there was a little picture of me, but you know, Bill Maher speaks out on, and was right under a huge cock from whatever other article about the firemen.
2:15 Bill Maher? But, no.
2:16 Speaker 01 You look well.
2:17 Bill Maher? So do you.
2:17 Speaker 01 Why do you look well? I mean, I haven't seen you in a decade.
2:22 Bill Maher? That's not true.
2:23 Speaker 01 But I've watched you on TV. No, you've hung in there. You've you're.
2:26 Bill Maher? Yeah, I mean.
2:27 Speaker 01 You look very well.
2:28 Bill Maher? Well, drugs. You know, I try to do a lot of drugs. No, I don't. I smoke pot.
2:34 Speaker 01 How's that working for you?
2:35 Bill Maher? Uh, good. I mean, uh, you know, you're you're. I thought you were gonna. You're not against it. Uh, what I don't do much is what I'm gonna do now, drink.
2:45 Speaker 01 Ah.
2:45 Bill Maher? I mean, that's the key.
2:47 Speaker 01 Drinking?
2:48 Bill Maher? Of all the things that are bad.
2:49 Speaker 01 I'm too old, Bill.
2:50 Bill Maher? Me too.
2:50 Speaker 01 I'm too, yeah, but, you know, we're we're falling down is a big problem when you're my age. So I don't drink really. I mean, I do occasionally. I'll have a martini. I love martinis, but I don't. I try not to get high because.
3:06 Bill Maher? I only drink.
3:07 Speaker 01 I'm scared of falling. You only drink here?
3:09 Bill Maher? Really, yes.
3:10 Speaker 01 What is that?
3:11 Bill Maher? That's tequila.
3:12 Speaker 01 Oh, can you give me just a little?
3:15 Bill Maher? And by the way, this is Kylie Jenner's or no, maybe this is the other Jenners. But Kylie dressed as Barbarella for Halloween. Did you see that?
3:24 Speaker 01 No.
3:24 Bill Maher? Oh. It's amazing the way.
3:28 Speaker 01 A little, just a little.
3:29 Bill Maher? Yes, I can measure it here. This is why I have here, so I don't drink too much. I'll give you half. Half a shot.
3:35 Speaker 01 Half a shot.
3:36 Bill Maher? Right, no, that, I got it. Now, would you like some sparkling water with that?
3:41 Speaker 01 No.
3:43 Speaker 01 No.
3:44 Bill Maher? No, pussy. Great to see you.
3:46 Speaker 01 Good to see you, LaHeim.
3:49 Bill Maher? But yes, the one of the, yeah, it was.
3:52 Speaker 01 Oh, that is good.
3:53 Bill Maher? Yeah. Oh, see, the Kardashians will love you for that because they need more money.
3:58 Speaker 01 Oh, it's nice.
3:59 Bill Maher? Yeah. No, it's good. But it's amazing Barbarella still like something that the, you know.
4:08 Speaker 01 That the cat dragged in.
4:12 Bill Maher? Well, uh, the fact that.
4:14 Speaker 01 It's hard for me to believe that I ever made that movie.
4:17 Bill Maher? It's hard. It it is amazing the way you almost are a, um, microcosm of the country as it moved from decade to decade. I mean, all the things you are. I mean, cultural icon, of course.
4:37 Bill Maher? Someone who affected the culture. You know, great performer, you know, at your job, you were always amazing. I mean, and just world-class piece of ass. I hope that's not picking out of school.
4:48 Speaker 01 Thank you.
4:49 Bill Maher? You know, great-looking then, kept your looks. I mean, that's rare.
4:55 Speaker 01 Yeah.
4:55 Bill Maher? Yeah, but you were genetically blessed, which is, you know, when I watched the documentary, it didn't seem like your mother was a great beauty. Your father's got a nice look, Midwestern look, but he wasn't like Cary Grant or, you know, Clark Gable. He was nice-looking, but like...
5:14 Speaker 01 Oh, there were periods of his life when he was so handsome. Oh, my God.
5:18 Bill Maher? Really?
5:19 Speaker 01 Right, yeah.
5:20 Bill Maher? It just seems like you're much better-looking than your parents.
5:24 Speaker 01 And my mother was also a great beauty in her heyday.
5:27 Bill Maher? She was?
5:27 Speaker 01 Yeah. And then just, my father wrote in his autobiography that men were drawn to her like moths to a flame. She was extremely beautiful. I don't look anything like her.
5:41 Bill Maher? Really? I mean, that does not come across in the documentary. I mean, she looks nice, but, I mean, of course, a lot of it was showing her when she was sad.
5:52 Speaker 01 Yeah.
5:54 Bill Maher? I mean, that's a great theme that runs through it.
5:56 Speaker 01 She was sad all her life, yeah. You know, people, I'm gonna be 87 in a few months.
6:03 Bill Maher? That's unbelievable.
6:03 Speaker 01 And people say to me, where do you get your energy? And it always surprises me because I don't, I don't feel like I'm more energetic or anything than anybody else. I just, I don't know. I guess people expect when you're my age that you're kind of on your way out. Well, I am definitely on my way out, but...
6:23 Bill Maher? Well, we're all on our way out.
6:25 Speaker 01 Death is so democratic.
6:26 Bill Maher? Yeah, I mean, but do you feel less energetic than you were?
6:30 Speaker 01 No, I feel more. That's what's so weird. In fundamental ways, I feel younger than I did when I was in my twenties.
6:37 Bill Maher? Right.
6:37 Speaker 01 I was so old when I was young. So old. Do you know what I'm talking about?
6:42 Bill Maher? Oh, of course I do. I'm almost 70.
6:45 Speaker 01 So young, you could be my son.
6:47 Bill Maher? Right. Well, if you're.
6:49 Speaker 01 I'd be worried if I had a son like you.
6:51 Bill Maher? Yeah, you should be. But there's that Byrde song. Remember the Byrde's, the band?
6:58 Speaker 01 I remember them very well.
6:59 Bill Maher? But they had a great line about something I was so much younger than. Maybe it's a Dylan.
7:04 Speaker 01 Oh, I was.
7:05 Bill Maher? You know this?
7:05 Speaker 01 Yeah, I know the line you mean, but I can't remember what it is. Yeah.
7:08 Bill Maher? But it's like.
7:10 Speaker 01 I was so much younger than than than before. Yeah, I know.
7:12 Bill Maher? Right. Well, the idea being that you actually do in some ways get younger when you get older. I feel like I'm, I don't know if I'm more energetic, but I'm so much smarter about my health. I've learned so much about health.
7:26 Speaker 01 Health, okay.
7:27 Bill Maher? Health and how to take care of myself.
7:29 Speaker 01 Yeah. And you want to take care of yourself.
7:31 Bill Maher? Well, you have to, because when you're old, you're on a short leash. I've said it before, but when you're young, your body's almost too good. Because you you can beat it up so badly. You can do drugs and stay up all night and snort coke through a dirty $20 bill, and you're fine. And you get up on two hours' sleep and you go to work and you're out. And you just can't do that at a certain age. With drinking, we were talking about. I'd love to be able to drink. I still love drinking. I loved it every minute I did it. I just can't do it. I'll look like shit and it'll make me sick.
8:07 Speaker 01 Good for you.
8:08 Bill Maher? Well, no, good for me. It's forced upon.
8:10 Speaker 01 Not everybody realizes that. I never was, I never beat myself up like you just described. I was never a big druggie or, you know.
8:19 Bill Maher? Yeah, no, I mean, I did all the drugs. I don't think I was, I'm lucky. I don't think I'm an addictive personality. So I never got too into anything.
8:31 Speaker 01 That's a big doobie.
8:33 Bill Maher? That's what Mrs. Arnold Palmer said. Oh.
8:37 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah, I know. Oh, well.
8:41 Bill Maher? The way we just both had that same thought, like, oh.
8:45 Speaker 01 Yeah.
8:46 Bill Maher? I mean, yeah, I'm.
8:47 Speaker 01 It's hard to believe.
8:48 Bill Maher? I'm shitting my pants.
8:49 Speaker 01 It's hard to believe.
8:50 Bill Maher? I mean, I may quit. Because I don't want to do another, I did Trump, I did, I, I did all the Trump stuff before anybody. I called him a con man before anybody, I did, he's a mafia boss. I was the one who said he wasn't going to concede the election. I've done it, I've seen this fucking.
9:10 Speaker 01 Well, then how come he's so hostile to Jimmy Kimmel and not to you?
9:14 Bill Maher? He's very hostile to me, he tweets about me every week.
9:17 Speaker 01 Oh, really?
9:18 Bill Maher? Oh, yes. Every week he accidentally watches my show and then, low ratings, loser.
9:24 Speaker 01 Oh, well, yeah.
9:25 Bill Maher? But, I mean, I, I just, I'm bored with it, I mean.
9:32 Speaker 01 So, find a new thing to do and not, not do Trump, do, do, do something else.
9:39 Bill Maher? The show is the politics, there's no other thing and, and he's going to dominate the news like he always does. Because I had a congressman, no, a governor on, Governor Jared Polis of Colorado, he's.
9:55 Speaker 01 Bad.
9:56 Bill Maher? Bad?
9:57 Speaker 01 He's a bad governor.
9:59 Bill Maher? Why?
10:02 Speaker 01 Okay, there's a town in, in, in a suburb of Denver called Commerce City. People are dying because they're surrounded by an oil terminal and a pet food factory and a, a, a super fun site. And they're dying and he does nothing, he does nothing about it, nor do the senators Bennett and, and Heckenlooper.
10:26 Bill Maher? Well, why do you suppose that is? I mean, if he is not.
10:28 Speaker 01 Because he takes money from the fossil fuel industry, I'll bet you anything.
10:32 Bill Maher? Okay, but we're talking, if the folks out there don't know who we're talking about, he's a liberal Democrat.
10:37 Speaker 01 He's a Democrat who is, this is really weird, this is what his constituents say, that he's a Democrat who is a libertarian.
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11:46 Bill Maher? So?
11:47 Speaker 01 He doesn't like regulations. Well, we live in a soup of toxic chemicals. If we don't regulate it, we're all gonna die of cancer.
11:54 Bill Maher? That's true.
11:55 Speaker 01 And he doesn't do anything about it.
11:57 Bill Maher? There's also many regulations that aren't necessary. That aren't, I mean, this, you really don't believe that the state we live in, California, is lacking regulation. There's over 300,000 regulations. I mean, I once-
12:11 Speaker 01 Well, maybe they're needed.
12:13 Bill Maher? They're not. When I tried to put in a garage door, I had to have three inspections. There should have been none. I should be allowed to change my garage door.
12:22 Speaker 01 Are you kidding? Really, it was about a garage door?
12:24 Bill Maher? Absolutely.
12:25 Speaker 01 I'm sorry. Yeah, that is-
12:27 Bill Maher? No, you know this about California.
12:29 Speaker 01 No, I don't.
12:30 Bill Maher? Well...
12:32 Speaker 01 I'm sorry, I don't.
12:33 Bill Maher? You don't, you've never heard that California is overtaxed and overregulated? That we are a one-party state where there's sort of no checks on that sort of extreme leftism? And that, why do you think-
12:47 Speaker 01 I don't for a minute consider California a state that is extreme leftist.
12:53 Speaker 01 Not at all, not any way.
12:56 Bill Maher? Well, that shows where your politics are. That's not where mine are. I'm sorry to tell you, is because that, I've been saying this on my show, there is two parts of the Trump coalition. There's about a third of this country who always love the hard right wing. That's the Birch Society. We're old enough to remember the John Birch Society.
13:17 Speaker 01 I had family members who were John Birch.
13:19 Bill Maher? Really?
13:20 Speaker 01 Uh huh.
13:21 Bill Maher? Okay. And these were people who were happy when Kennedy got assassinated. These, they became the birthers, they became the Tea Party. There's about a third of this country that's very hard right. Of course, they love Trump. When he left office, he had an approval rating of 34%. So he really only had those people. Why is he now tied? Because the other part of the coalition are people who, they don't really like him that much. They just think the far left has gone so nutty on so many issues.
13:55 Speaker 01 That's what they're being told.
13:56 Bill Maher? That's what they...
13:57 Speaker 01 By people like you.
13:59 Bill Maher? Because it's true. You think the far left does nothing crazy?
14:03 Speaker 01 Oh, I'm sure they do.
14:04 Bill Maher? Oh, well, then...
14:05 Speaker 01 But I don't, who is the far left? What do you mean when you say far left?
14:08 Bill Maher? I mean, I could give you a million examples.
14:10 Speaker 01 Yeah, well, give me one.
14:11 Bill Maher? Okay, the NAACP...
14:14 Speaker 01 You think the NAACP is far left?
14:16 Bill Maher? Could I finish my sentence?
14:17 Speaker 01 Yes.
14:17 Bill Maher? You asked me for an example.
14:18 Speaker 01 Yeah.
14:19 Bill Maher? The NAACP last year issued a travel advisory, you know, that's like we used to, the State Department does, to go to, I'm sure when you went to Vietnam, they were advising you not to. There's a war on it.
14:31 Speaker 01 I didn't order them, I don't have no...
14:33 Bill Maher? I know, but you know a travel advisory.
14:34 Speaker 01 Yeah.
14:35 Bill Maher? Today, we have them for very dangerous countries.
14:37 Speaker 01 Yeah.
14:38 Bill Maher? Don't go to North Korea, don't go to Iran.
14:40 Speaker 01 Yeah.
14:41 Bill Maher? You know where they issued a travel advisory for black people not to go?
14:45 Speaker 01 Yeah.
14:45 Bill Maher? Florida.
14:48 Bill Maher? Every day, there's stories like that, where that just makes people roll their eyes and go, "Are you people nuts?" Even if they don't matter that much, I don't think one person listened to this and thought, "I can't go to Florida." But they just, they just suggest something to the average person, which I completely understand, which is, "Wow." Do you people ever find anything that's ridiculous? Do you really think men can get pregnant? You know, that kind of stuff. And I understand that a trans woman can get pregnant. That's different than a man getting pregnant. And the way they sort of like insist on blurring that line is if that's some sort of reasonable social cause,
15:33 Bill Maher? as opposed to just being for having full rights, respect, and protection for trans people. We get that.
15:40 Speaker 01 So I've never heard about men getting pregnant. I've never heard about this argument. It's, it must be some part of a, what you call the far left, that is so miniscule that I, who am...
15:50 Bill Maher? No, Jane.
15:52 Speaker 01 What?
15:52 Bill Maher? It's not miniscule. And I'm sorry, you can't throw this back on us. It's, I assume it's because you are locked into media that just never, never wants anyone in their audience to know anything sketchy about the blue team.
16:09 Speaker 01 Well...
16:10 Bill Maher? And that's...
16:12 Speaker 01 I mean, I don't know. I read two papers and I, that's, yeah, I, maybe I don't. I should watch Fox News.
16:19 Bill Maher? No.
16:19 Speaker 01 I guess.
16:20 Bill Maher? I don't watch Fox. That's too far. But you don't have to. That's, I mean, I'm not gonna torture myself. But I like, but I know what they're...
16:28 Speaker 01 I'm for the team that understands that everybody should have the same opportunities, that everybody should be able to attain a middle-class life.
16:39 Bill Maher? That's right.
16:39 Speaker 01 That, um...
16:40 Bill Maher? Yes. That's not what we're talking about.
16:43 Speaker 01 Childcare should be, I mean, this, this isn't far left and...
16:47 Bill Maher? No, that isn't. It's interesting, the Democratic politician...
16:52 Bill Maher? Generally, in this country, are not far left. They don't stand up to the crazy when they hear it. That's true. But they themselves, like after 2020, a big rally in Crewe was "defund the police." You remember that?
17:06 Speaker 01 Yeah, I was critical of that.
17:08 Bill Maher? OK, OK. And so were most Democratic politicians. The Republicans tried...
17:13 Speaker 01 I know where it comes from, though. I mean, I understand where the desire to do something about a police force that all too often is willing to shoot black people. But "defund the police," I knew was a very bad political smugger.
17:31 Bill Maher? Yeah, I mean, there's a lot we could unpack there, but that certainly has been the history of this country, was police who were all too willing to shoot black people. So "defund the police," though, was not a good idea. And you know who mostly didn't think it was a good idea was black people, because they want police in their neighborhoods, probably more than we need them and are. So, but the Republicans tried to catch the Democrats with this, and they put this on, you know, they brought it up in Congress.
18:05 Speaker 01 Yeah.
18:06 Bill Maher? And all the Democrats voted against it. The Democratic politicians were not for defunding the police. It's that radical fringe that has captured a lot of the media, academia, some of these cultural institutions that are not liberal anymore by my old-school liberalism. The ACLU is all about free speech. They don't really believe in it anymore. They believe, I mean, and one of their chief people, who is trans, said, "I will die on this hill of banning this book," which was a very reasonable book about a subject that's still debatable.
18:46 Speaker 01 What was the subject of the book?
18:48 Bill Maher? Um, how we should treat kids who say they are trans.
18:52 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah.
18:53 Bill Maher? You know, which is one of those issues, I think, which is, you know, there's a centrist position that's like, yes, of course, it's a real thing that we should deal with. But we are a country that does it in a way no other country does anymore.
19:09 Speaker 01 How so?
19:11 Bill Maher? Um, allowing the, no age limits and do it by self-diagnosis of the child and make it illegal in some places to tell the parent. If the kid is in school and has transitioned, uh, using a different name and so forth. They've, I've heard them say it's outing the child. Outing to a parent? I think a parent should be able to know pretty much what their kid's doing.
19:41 Speaker 01 Yeah, normally, yeah. There are probably situations where the parents, maybe the child is being incested or you.
19:48 Bill Maher? That, that is, that is why they do it because.
19:51 Speaker 01 But you know what I feel? I feel like you're taking a problem that, that exists. There is somewhere some pretty dismissible and, you know, far left thing. And you're making it a big issue, and I don't think it is.
20:09 Bill Maher? I, this is the argument people say, and when I, my answer to that is, I don't think you know. You're saying, I don't know. I think you don't know how pervasive some of this stuff is. And you're, and you're right, many schools, it's just like school was sort of in, in our day. I, I do hear, I've talked to parents and some of them say that. But there's also undeniable, you, you can see, like, you don't need a filter of any sort of media to see teachers who are making TikToks and telling you about how they conduct their class and so forth. And it was, I, I imagine my parents would not approve of some of that stuff. And, and you know, it's okay, it's okay.
20:53 Bill Maher? We, we want to have a world where the kids understand, um, that it's okay to be whatever you are. Gay, trans, black, white. This is old school liberalism. It's another thing to sort of put out the idea so much that you might not be the default setting.
21:13 Bill Maher? You know, there is a default setting. That doesn't mean it's better. It's just a
21:17 Speaker 01 No, I don't understand what you mean.
21:19 Bill Maher? Male and female.
21:22 Speaker 01 What's the default setting is?
21:23 Bill Maher? That babies are born either male or female.
21:26 Speaker 01 Uh huh.
21:26 Bill Maher? But there is variation. That doesn't mean it's worse. And we we respect it just as much.
21:32 Speaker 01 Yeah.
21:32 Bill Maher? But there that's sort of that's not what they do. It's not what a lot of the TikToks are about. They're not it's much it's a lot.
21:40 Speaker 01 I I know this because I've been around longer than you have. And what I have always noticed is that the beginning of any movement, people are very radical and very, I don't know what the right word is, but.
21:54 Bill Maher? But.
21:55 Speaker 01 You know, and and then it kind of like joins reality more. And I think that that's.
22:02 Bill Maher? Yeah, like I said, the Democratic politicians, that I feel like by and large, they do live in reality. They're they're they're in it more for the right reasons. They're more likely to be policy wonks and actually know the details. Republicans, very few of them ever like know any detail. It's just not where their mind goes. You know, Bush, Reagan, Trump, you know, you think of them and you don't think of them like really mastering the subject like Obama, Hillary, Clinton, you know, Bill Clinton. They were wonks, you know, and that's what you really need to be to be an effective governor of the country
22:42 Bill Maher? or state. But like Clinton and Obama, which are our last two successful Democratic presidents, two term, both of them went much more toward the middle. That was their success. And I don't see anybody anymore going toward the middle. The the Trump people, they just go toward being as big a dick as we can. We'll have a rally and like.
23:10 Speaker 01 Let me just.
23:11 Bill Maher? Say awful things and call her a whore, you know, just disgusting.
23:17 Speaker 01 Okay, we're facing a climate crisis.
23:19 Bill Maher? Oh, that too.
23:20 Speaker 01 And we, according to science, I'm I believe in paying attention to the science, we don't have a lot of time to do something about it. There comes a point where the tipping points happen.
23:31 Bill Maher? Absolutely.
23:32 Speaker 01 And then there's nothing we can do. It's out of our control. And we don't have a lot of time between now and the tipping points. Okay? Which is stop all new fossil fuel development, cut our emissions in half very quickly, and then gradually phase out. That would probably be considered, maybe even by you, as radical.
23:54 Bill Maher? Well, it doesn't even matter because it's never gonna happen. That's just not something humans are willing to do.
24:01 Speaker 01 It's gonna have to happen.
24:02 Bill Maher? No.
24:02 Speaker 01 Or there's no future for us.
24:04 Bill Maher? Well, that's, well, first of all, that's not necessarily true. I've always been on your page.
24:09 Speaker 01 Well, then, how can you say that isn't necessarily true?
24:12 Bill Maher? I'll get to it if you let me.
24:13 Speaker 01 Okay.
24:14 Bill Maher? Okay. First of all, the problem with tipping points, which I totally am on the page. There is a tipping point, and it could be tomorrow. We don't know. But the problem with that argument is that they have been saying it for a long time and made tipping point predictions that we've passed. That doesn't mean it's not gonna happen because I agreed. It is gonna happen. It's just common sense. You can't do what we're doing. We know how it changes the atmosphere.
24:43 Bill Maher? Most of the discussion in the last year has been about there are like four or five new methods. They've come to, you know, maybe AI had something to do with it, I don't know, but that are coming online, carbon capturing type of stuff.
25:00 Speaker 01 Right, we can't depend on that.
25:02 Bill Maher? We can't. We can't. My question always is, we tried, people should be better. And they're like, fuck you. And that's just Americans. What about the Chinese and the Indians? Who for, you know, that's most of the planet. And for years, they didn't have cars and air conditioning because they were poor. But they've been lifted out of poverty by the hundreds of millions. And now they want cars and air conditioning. Are you gonna tell them, rich white lady, sorry, we used up all the air. And now you can't have these things. They're gonna go, fuck that. You guys enjoyed it, and we're gonna have it.
25:40 Speaker 01 No. What we do is the simplest and the least expensive thing, which is we bring solar to them. You know, the powers that be wanna bring nuclear. Which is a disastrous.
25:53 Bill Maher? He made a movie about it.
25:55 Speaker 01 Yeah, it's a terrible idea and it certainly won't solve the climate crisis. It takes at least 10 to 20 years to build a reactor. No, we bring them inexpensive, locally controlled solar energy and electric cars. We haven't lived up to our promises of giving them money and we need to give the Global South money so they can do these things. They don't have to go through the same.
26:18 Bill Maher? Again, people, so people are gonna give, you know, even liberal, even liberals, when they're, when they're polled about this and they, and even when they say like agreeing with us that this is a crisis. And then the next question is, and what would you pay in a year to address this crisis? And the answer is like $10 or maybe 100. Not close to the money we're talking about. I mean.
26:46 Speaker 01 But we have to get in a government that will give the money that we're talking about.
26:50 Bill Maher? Well, you have to vote that.
26:51 Speaker 01 We have to make sure that the, that part of the world that needs development like we've had, we have to offer them the new way of developing. You don't have to go right through, you know, it's like there are countries that left over feudalism. They don't have to go through fossil fuels to get to a sustainable energy source. We can, yeah.
27:12 Bill Maher? But, I mean, darling, this would have to be passed by Congress. We can't transfer trillions of dollars, especially to other nations by fiat unless we become a dictatorship, which.
27:26 Speaker 01 That's why voting is so important. We have to elect people who understand, be they Republicans or Democrats, that we're in a crisis and it's, we have to do everything we can and we have to say what.
27:37 Bill Maher? I know, but I'm telling you, nobody in Congress is going to vote for that because they would have to answer to their constituents who would be saying, um, why are you saying that my taxes have to go up 60% to give to India?
27:52 Speaker 01 Let me tell you something.
27:53 Bill Maher? That stuff's not gonna happen in America. You know that.
27:56 Speaker 01 We, taxpayers, including poor people, out of work people, all across this country, are giving $20 billion to the fossil fuel industry every year.
28:09 Speaker 01 Think what that money could do. Twenty billion dollars could go to Africa, South America, the places that want to develop and solve their problems. We're paying for that. The people that are killing us are getting our money to do it. So we stop that, stop the subsidies and put it to helping the rest of the world. You know what I mean?
28:29 Bill Maher? I'm not opposed to your plan. I'm just saying it's not a plan that will ever get passed. So why obsess about it? Maybe what we should do, I'm sorry to say it, I always resisted it, is yes, we might have to invent our way out of this. And it looks, I'm telling you, all the articles this year, not from right wing sources, this is in the New York Times, are actually very promising. There's like five new, which kind of makes sense because we are getting, I mean, with AI especially, the amount of scientific questions that elude us is going to decrease exponentially.
29:11 Bill Maher? This is how I think that you and I might be sitting here 100 years and having this 100th year anniversary of the first time you were on Club Red. Because it's possible we could live forever. I certainly hope you do.
29:25 Speaker 01 I certainly hope I don't.
29:27 Bill Maher? Really?
29:28 Speaker 01 No.
29:28 Bill Maher? Why? You're having a great time.
29:30 Speaker 01 No, I, no, life.
29:33 Bill Maher? No, I mean now.
29:34 Speaker 01 Life only makes sense if there's a beginning, a middle and an end.
29:38 Bill Maher? Why? That's a story, that's not life.
29:40 Speaker 01 I mean, if you really think about living forever, uh-uh. Not tempting to me at all.
29:46 Bill Maher? But you don't want to go tomorrow. So you think there's a day that's going to be like, oh, tomorrow is a good day?
29:51 Speaker 01 I don't care. I, I'm not afraid of dying. I just want to be sure that when I die, I know that I've done everything I possibly could.
29:59 Bill Maher? Well, that you did.
30:01 Speaker 01 I am, I am.
30:02 Bill Maher? I mean, you.
30:03 Speaker 01 You're so cynical, God.
30:07 Bill Maher? Well, and you're so naive.
30:09 Speaker 01 You think so?
30:09 Bill Maher? Yes. But I love you.
30:12 Speaker 01 We'll see.
30:14 Bill Maher? But yeah, you're, you're very much like the character in The Way We Were. I mean, you could have played that part. Not that Barbara didn't do an amazing, awesome, perfect job.
30:24 Speaker 01 Well, according to Barbara, my whole career I owe to her.
30:27 Bill Maher? Let's not get gossipy.
30:29 Speaker 01 We won't go into that, yeah.
30:31 Bill Maher? But you know the character I'm talking about.
30:34 Speaker 01 Barbara Streisand's character you're talking about?
30:36 Bill Maher? Yes, in The Way We Were.
30:37 Speaker 01 Or Robert Redford's character.
30:39 Bill Maher? I get it. No.
30:41 Speaker 01 I can't remember the movie well enough to know what you're talking about.
30:44 Bill Maher? Okay, well, I'm gonna tell you. It's a really great movie. And she's, she's, she plays a part who, very close to who she is. Everything is super political. And so I'm saying you could have played it, you know, and she, like, there's a great scene at the beginning and, you know, she has this rally and she's for the communists, it's the 1930s and now the kids are against her and then she wins them and then she loses them because she won't laugh at herself. And she says, "Everything is this and this," and protesting and Robert Redford, and he's just like the handsome chick, so goddess, you know. And he's like, "Katie, you never stop, do you? You never stop." And she doesn't, and that kinda is Barbara. She never stops. But you have sort of that same gene.
31:26 Bill Maher? I mean, it's like, sometimes I wonder if we had a utopia, it would be the greatest pain for you because you need, because you need to be, I mean, you're there for the cause, absolutely, sincerely, but also the cause is there for you a little. Am I wrong?
31:51 Speaker 01 I don't, you're so different than me that it's hard for me sometimes to even understand what you're talking about.
31:56 Bill Maher? Really? So we must have a lot in common.
32:00 Speaker 01 I don't think we do.
32:01 Bill Maher? Really?
32:03 Speaker 01 Except the tequila's really good.
32:06 Bill Maher? Why? What do you think is so different about me?
32:08 Speaker 01 Just your worldview is so totally different than mine. I just, I don't see people the same way, I don't see...
32:15 Bill Maher? You think I'm a cynic?
32:16 Speaker 01 I think you're very cynical, I know, yeah.
32:19 Bill Maher? But don't you think the world makes you cynical?
32:22 Speaker 01 I don't know, I'm not cynical. And I've been around longer than you.
32:25 Bill Maher? Yeah.
32:26 Speaker 01 A good 20 years more. You could be my son. I'd put you over my knees and spank you.
32:33 Speaker 01 Would you like, you'd probably like that.
32:35 Bill Maher? No, I think I'm, I think I'm very normal. I think I'm very normal and I, I, I love when I grew up. You know, I think it was like a very normal time.
32:47 Speaker 01 If you were white, yeah.
32:48 Bill Maher? Yes, if you were white, absolutely.
32:53 Bill Maher? Glad we said that.
32:55 Bill Maher? I mean, you know, I can't help that, nor could you. And when we were born and how we were, you know, I mean, I think.
33:04 Speaker 01 The color of our skins.
33:05 Bill Maher? Yeah, I mean, the, the problem with race, I always feel is like, you and I personally didn't do it, but our race did it.
33:16 Speaker 01 And continues.
33:17 Bill Maher? And we benefited from it.
33:19 Speaker 01 And still do, yeah.
33:20 Bill Maher? Yeah, but less than before. I, I feel one problem liberals have is they don't, they don't feel like they can acknowledge progress because it somehow makes them less good. They, you know, they just have to always, there's more work to be done. And there always is more work to be done, we're humans on earth. There always will be, but.
33:40 Speaker 01 No, but it's pretty serious for people of color.
33:43 Bill Maher? What is?
33:44 Speaker 01 The ability to live a middle-class life, the ability to accumulate wealth, the ability to hold, own a home. You know, they're, they are prevented from doing those things by laws that remain in place, like redlining and mortgage issues and so forth.
34:02 Bill Maher? That remain in place?
34:03 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
34:03 Bill Maher? Redlining?
34:05 Speaker 01 Mortgage issues, they don't, they can't get the same, um,
34:10 Speaker 01 loans and mortgages that we do, white people do.
34:13 Bill Maher? It's, it's not against the law to, to discriminate when you, for a business to handle?
34:20 Speaker 01 I, I, you know, there, I guess there must be some laws, but they're not, I don't know, they're still discriminated against. I don't know about the laws. It still happens, it's very hard for black people.
34:29 Bill Maher? Well, racist, racism still is with us. The question I think we're asking is, is it institutional? I mean, you, you can never.
34:38 Speaker 01 It's institutional in, in terms of.
34:42 Speaker 01 Wealth accumulation. It's very hard for people of color to accumulate wealth the way we can.
34:48 Bill Maher? Definitely, the biggest factor when you look at discrepancy is family wealth. It's crazy. Like, the average net worth.
35:01 Speaker 01 Uh huh.
35:02 Bill Maher? This, obviously, is a legacy of our despicable history. I mean, for the longest time, black folks couldn't own anything.
35:09 Speaker 01 Do you consider it very radical?
35:11 Bill Maher? But, yeah, but the question then is, how do you address that?
35:17 Speaker 01 Well, you try to organize in the mortgage banking community. I just spoke to a conference of mortgage bankers. Um, that's one way. Well. We have to change the laws.
35:31 Speaker 01 Change the regulations.
35:32 Bill Maher? Well, I must admit, this one is not one that's on my radar. I didn't know that, uh, I certainly was aware that, you know, for different reasons, I thought, uh, black folks sometimes did have a harder time just getting a mortgage, you know, getting a loan. That's just individual racism that people have. These people just have stereotypes and...
35:57 Bill Maher? But I feel like we passed the laws that we... You mean, like, this is not covered in any statute right up until 2024? That a mortgage company can do that? I don't know.
36:09 Speaker 01 I don't think that redlining is legal anymore. But there are other ways that the banking system and the real estate system keeps people of color out of communities, nice homes, the ability to, you know... Homeownership is the beginning of wealth accumulation.
36:29 Bill Maher? Yes, right.
36:29 Speaker 01 It's something that everybody should be able to do.
36:31 Bill Maher? Right. Yeah, I mean, it's a difficult problem because there's so much accumulated from centuries of having a monopoly on it.
36:39 Speaker 01 Uh huh.
36:40 Bill Maher? Uh, white wealth. And parents tend to give their money when they die to their kids. That's why we have so many fucking nepo babies.
36:48 Speaker 01 Yeah.
36:49 Bill Maher? And people... I mean, this town is just... If you go out at night...
36:54 Speaker 01 No.
36:55 Bill Maher? No, but if you ever went to, like, a hotspot, first of all, they would lionize you. It's interesting, like, um, girls in their twenties, they don't know... They don't know a lot of celebrities. They all know you.
37:11 Bill Maher? They all idolatry.
37:12 Speaker 01 It's because I've been arrested a lot.
37:14 Bill Maher? You've been arrested.
37:15 Speaker 01 And I've spoken my mind.
37:17 Bill Maher? Yeah, you stayed relevant, you know, and you, I mean, that's, but that's to get that generation to go from your own generation down to that generation. That's not a lot of, something a lot of people can claim.
37:35 Speaker 01 Maybe, maybe it's okay because I don't think in those terms very much. I just live my life. And it turns out that young people care about the same issues I do. And so they like that I'm willing to put myself on the line for them. I think it's as simple as that.
37:54 Bill Maher? Yeah, because their complaint usually about people our ages, what do you care? You're not going to be here.
38:01 Speaker 01 Right.
38:01 Bill Maher? After you wreck the planet.
38:02 Speaker 01 Yeah.
38:03 Bill Maher? So for someone like you to be willing to go to jail, which can't be fun.
38:08 Speaker 01 If you're white and famous, going to jail is nothing. Doesn't mean anything.
38:12 Bill Maher? Right.
38:13 Speaker 01 You know, I noticed during the four months that I was in DC, getting arrested every Friday with fire drill Fridays. Very few of our speakers of color joined me. And that's because it's, jail means one thing to people like us. And another thing, if you're black or Hispanic. And they said, no, thanks.
38:31 Bill Maher? Right.
38:31 Speaker 01 They spoke at the rallies, but they, they didn't want to engage in civil disobedience. I mean, it's different like in the South during the the amazing in the 50s and 60s when really brave black kids sat at lunch counters and got beaten. But that was their issue, you know? Climate isn't quite on a place where they're willing to get beaten up yet, I guess. But, um.
38:56 Bill Maher? Yeah, my friend, the.
38:58 Speaker 01 Young people really care about climate, though.
39:01 Bill Maher? Young people what?
39:02 Speaker 01 Really care about climate because it's their, they, it's their future that we're squandering and destroying and, and.
39:09 Bill Maher? Yeah.
39:10 Speaker 01 You know?
39:10 Bill Maher? I mean, again, we're talking about.
39:16 Bill Maher? I feel like a common goal, a common belief that it's really happening. But then, I mean, it is a reasonable debate, is it not? It's not cynical to argue about how do we get there? And I don't think it's like...
39:28 Speaker 01 No, that's not cynical.
39:29 Bill Maher? Okay, well, neither is, I think, being practical. Like, and being able to say, but this is never gonna really happen. I mean, as much as it should happen, and we want it to happen, and we can keep agitating for it to happen. I just don't think people are going to give up the quality of being selfish. And not being able to see... They wanna live in the present, not the future. When they struck in Paris a few years ago, the guy, the famous line was, the guy said, Macron, who was, you know, trying to get something done globally, he said, "He cares about the end of the world. I care about the end of the month."
40:05 Speaker 01 Right.
40:07 Speaker 01 But the real way to do it, that we may never learn, we may go extinct without ever learning it. But indigenous people know this. Seven generations. You have to always think, seven generations, what is this gonna mean? And we've lost.
40:25 Bill Maher? Have you been on TikTok? They can't think for seven seconds.
40:28 Speaker 01 Yeah, I know, that's the problem with TikTok.
40:31 Bill Maher? Well, you mean...
40:32 Speaker 01 The problem is, we have been alienated from nature. We don't understand that we are nature. We just have bigger brains and thumbs, so we can destroy nature. But we are nature. If we destroy, or continue in this transactional way with nature, we're gonna... It's like, how... If there is a civilization in the future to look back on this, they're gonna look at us and think, how stupid could people have been? To know what's happening and not rise up and do something about it.
41:03 Bill Maher? Well, there are those who believe they may already be among us, studying us. And, you know, then there's the scene where Keanu Reeves comes in and says, "Look, I'm a nice guy, you're nice people, but you're gonna have to go because you're fucking everything up." You're... And we are. I mean, humans are serial killers. Like, you ever read that book, Sapiens?
41:25 Speaker 01 No.
41:26 Bill Maher? Oh, it's great, you'll love it.
41:27 Speaker 01 Who wrote it?
41:28 Bill Maher? Yuval Hari. And, you know, it's a... One of the points he makes is that wherever in the fossil record we see humans go, like a thousand years after that, all the large animals are extinct.
41:44 Bill Maher? And there used to be a number of human species, not just Homo sapiens. We killed Neanderthals, you know, we killed all of them.
41:54 Speaker 01 Well, we don't know, we killed them, they died off for various reasons.
41:57 Bill Maher? No, we killed them. Homo, definitely, Homo sapiens killed all those things. They killed all the big animals. Now they're killing, you know, all the fish. They, we just kill everything. The only thing left is each other, which is certainly possible. I mean, it's amazing that we've lived since 1945 with nuclear weapon. Or since 49, when more than one country had them and haven't done that yet. To me, that's like the scariest of all. I mean, the pollution, yes, the global warming, it is a slow killer.
42:38 Bill Maher? But the other thing could happen, even if just India and Pakistan exchanged their nuclear weapons, that's the end of the earth.
42:52 Speaker 01 They're, they're trying to bring back nuclear, saying that it's the solution to climate crisis.
42:58 Bill Maher? But it is clean.
43:00 Speaker 01 No nuclear reactor has ever been built in less than 10 years, and most are 20 years. That takes it off the table in terms of a solution to the climate crisis. I mean, we're in a burning house. There's a hose lying at our feet and we're talking about, let's spend $34 billion. In 10, 20 years, we'll have a nuclear plant and they'll pick up the frigging hose.
43:26 Bill Maher? But.
43:27 Speaker 01 Solar and wind in particular are becoming so inexpensive and so available that they're, they're irresistible for the market. These are going to become the reality.
43:41 Speaker 01 And if we can just stop digging and fracking and mining, it can do it for us if we do it fast. Oh, I saw Maria last night.
43:49 Bill Maher? Maria?
43:50 Speaker 01 It's the movie about Callas, Maria Callas.
43:52 Bill Maher? Oh, okay, yes.
43:53 Speaker 01 Great opera singer.
43:54 Bill Maher? And played by Angelina Jolie.
43:55 Speaker 01 Angelina Jolie.
43:56 Bill Maher? Wow.
43:57 Speaker 01 She's fabulous.
43:58 Bill Maher? I'm sure. Oh, yeah. Well, of course.
44:01 Speaker 01 Because she's so talented.
44:03 Bill Maher? She is very talented.
44:04 Speaker 01 She's really, really talented. But she hasn't had a chance like this since Girl Interrupted.
44:08 Bill Maher? Really? Since that far back?
44:09 Speaker 01 I don't, I mean.
44:11 Bill Maher? Yeah.
44:12 Speaker 01 That she owns, she owns Maria Callas. She is, she has Maria Callas in her. And I met Maria Callas and and Angelina captured it. The sadness and the playfulness at the same time.
44:27 Bill Maher? Angelina has some of you in her.
44:31 Bill Maher? I mean, she.
44:32 Speaker 01 I hope that would be.
44:33 Bill Maher? Well, she, well, yeah. I mean, she's done, first of all, she's done at least two movies that were really, I mean, I don't think any studio expected them to do that well.
44:43 Speaker 01 Girl Interrupted being one?
44:44 Bill Maher? No, no, no, no. I'm talking about movies that she directed.
44:47 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah.
44:48 Bill Maher? One was about.
44:48 Speaker 01 Yeah.
44:49 Bill Maher? Oh, I think Serbia, right. And one was about Cambodia.
44:54 Speaker 01 Well, yeah, I know, I know what you're talking about.
44:56 Bill Maher? And, you know.
44:57 Speaker 01 Totally.
44:57 Bill Maher? You, you gotta give it up to someone who will put their stock on the line.
45:01 Speaker 01 Yeah.
45:02 Bill Maher? To do a movie that, again, a lot of people are not going to be interested in. They're serious subjects and, but, you know, to draw attention to, yeah.
45:10 Speaker 01 And, I mean, Callas. Boy, does that take courage to step up for that.
45:16 Bill Maher? Educate me on Maria Callas, because I know very vaguely opera singer.
45:20 Speaker 01 She was a very, she, very poor girl in Greece.
45:24 Bill Maher? From Greece?
45:24 Speaker 01 Greece, she was Greek. And, um,
45:30 Speaker 01 she had a troubled, I'm not going to give away too much, a troubled, troubled childhood. But at any rate, she became. Arguably, the most brilliant opera singer that ever existed and remains that way. I mean, just extraordinary voice.
45:42 Bill Maher? What years are we talking about? The 40s, 50s?
45:44 Speaker 01 Well, let's see. When I, it was the, it was the mid 50s when I saw her and she was already with Onassis.
45:53 Bill Maher? She was with Onassis?
45:54 Speaker 01 Yes. He became her lover. He refused to let her sing when they were together. And he dumped her for Jackie Onassis.
46:04 Bill Maher? Oh, it was that close to when he was with Jackie?
46:06 Speaker 01 Yeah.
46:06 Bill Maher? Wow.
46:07 Speaker 01 You know, she had a
46:08 Bill Maher? Well, that's the 60s.
46:09 Speaker 01 She was, it was a difficult life, but she was adored. I mean, she was, you know, beyond palangeth.
46:17 Bill Maher? What do you think of Onassis? Is he that kind of guy that you could have gone for? Cause like, for Jackie Kennedy to find him interesting enough to get with.
46:28 Speaker 01 Um.
46:29 Bill Maher? Did you ever meet him?
46:30 Speaker 01 Onassis?
46:31 Bill Maher? Yeah.
46:31 Speaker 01 She, you know, in the movie, they, she was, Maria, played by Angelina Jolie, is asked why she loved Onassis. And she said, "He let me be a girl again." You know, it doesn't matter what I think about him or anything, but, um, it was, it was an interesting movie and she was extraordinary. She was so brave, really. It was really nice to see.
47:01 Bill Maher? I mean, I feel like I learned too late in life, not too late, but late, that you can love somebody, but they have to be right for you. You know? And I guess, I guess your guys were right for you at the time.
47:20 Speaker 01 Yeah.
47:22 Bill Maher? You know?
47:23 Speaker 01 I think probably, Bill, at some point in my long life, the right guy came.
47:32 Speaker 01 You know, he crossed my path, the right guy, and I fled in terror.
47:36 Bill Maher? Like you were thinking of somebody specific?
47:39 Speaker 01 No, I, um, cause I, I, I don't know who, who, who it was, but I'll bet. And, and, and, and I fled in terror. Right guy being someone really nice,
47:50 Speaker 01 capable of cherishing me, not being threatened by me,
47:56 Speaker 01 who would say, come on, change, whoa.
47:59 Speaker 01 Tell me what's really going on.
48:00 Bill Maher? It doesn't seem that hard. You're such a nurturer. I mean, the, the, the common thread that goes through all of your relationships.
48:07 Speaker 01 Never happened, okay? Because anybody who would have asked that of me, I would have said.
48:14 Bill Maher? What, ask what of you? Nurturing?
48:17 Speaker 01 Show up. Come on, really show up.
48:20 Bill Maher? I don't know what that means, show up.
48:24 Speaker 01 It means being in a real relationship. It means, uh, being attuned to not just the facts of what's happening, but the inner life that's going on and why it's going the way it is and talk to me, you know, I mean, really, um.
48:41 Bill Maher? And you never had that?
48:42 Speaker 01 Huh? No.
48:44 Bill Maher? Come on, none, with none of them?
48:45 Speaker 01 No.
48:46 Bill Maher? At all?
48:47 Speaker 01 No, no. People who don't do it for themselves aren't gonna ask you to do it with them. Do it, meaning being in a real, a real relationship.
48:58 Bill Maher? I don't know. This is another one of those places where we are on two different planets because I feel like my whole life, I, I've had girlfriends who, yes, that their complaint was sort of like, I want more of you. I wanna go deeper. And I'm like, this is it.
49:16 Bill Maher? I'm telling you, this is it. We're, we're under, we're on like level C of parking. There's no, there's no more, I, I, this all. And that's a very tough situation, so it is for a man to feel like, well, I, I wanna give somebody everything, but they think there's more and this is, this is as good as it gets. You know, I, I don't, I'm not holding anything back. I don't think I've ever been a, somebody who kept secrets. I never got married. I don't have to. Marriage is when you have to have secret. Married people are the ones with secret.
49:47 Speaker 01 Oh my goodness, I see the cynicism coming out now.
49:50 Bill Maher? It's just reality, you don't think that's real?
49:51 Speaker 01 No, not necessarily. I know people who have been together sixty, seventy years and actually love each other more.
50:02 Bill Maher? Of course, there's room for everything. But you have to admit, they are somewhat of a rarity. Somewhat of a rarity.
50:11 Speaker 01 I don't think they're the majority.
50:13 Bill Maher? They are not the majority. Right.
50:17 Speaker 01 It would be nice to try to have a society that allowed those kind of people to be the majority. You know, I think we, a lot of who we become as human beings has to do with the institutions that surround our lives.
50:34 Bill Maher? Marriage is an institution. And I don't want to live in an institution, no.
50:40 Speaker 01 You know, no, but marriage is really just simply a deeper commitment.
50:47 Bill Maher? Yeah. It certainly is, there's no denying that. It is a commitment. It's saying, I am throwing my lot in with state and federal law. You know, that part of it I never understood. Why you want to get your love life involved with lawyers? If it doesn't go right, you know?
51:10 Speaker 01 Because two people who are fully conjoined have to deal with things like insurance, healthcare, estate planning, all those kind of things.
51:20 Bill Maher? That's true, children.
51:21 Speaker 01 You know, it's just natural, especially if you have children.
51:24 Bill Maher? Yeah.
51:25 Speaker 01 And it doesn't seem like, I mean, I've been through it with three different men. It never feels like it's an imposition from the dark state or something like that. It's just this is what you do when you commit to each other. And then you undo it when you uncommit. Which I've done.
51:44 Bill Maher? It's not too late for you to find that guy.
51:48 Speaker 01 No, I've closed up shop.
51:53 Bill Maher? Well, I mean, relationships take on many forms. You know.
51:59 Speaker 01 I'm so happy being single.
52:01 Bill Maher? Yeah, me too. I mean, why are we arguing about it?
52:05 Speaker 01 Yeah, we're not arguing about it.
52:06 Bill Maher? Right. And also, I must say, maybe this will sound cynical to you, but I'm sorry. The longer people know each other, the more they lie.
52:18 Bill Maher? People are honest at the beginning because there's no place easier to be honest than on a first date. Yes, and as people are, you know, gilding the lily so they look more attractive. But you also can be honest because there's nothing to protect. You don't have to... There's nothing ventured, nothing gained. So if a woman says, you know, "Do you like children?", you can go, "No, I really don't." Let's get that out in the open. It's not a... But if you're in a relationship for a year and a woman says, "Do you like children?", you better not say, "No." You better be like, "Yeah, I do." Maybe not in the next few years, but yeah.
52:55 Bill Maher? You're always protecting more the deeper you are in a relationship. You know. Do you find that woman attractive? No. There's no other attractive woman but you. That's something you say in a relationship. What? Too cynical?
53:11 Speaker 01 I don't know. I don't... That doesn't resonate at all with me.
53:17 Bill Maher? Come on, you must know what I'm talking about.
53:19 Speaker 01 I don't relate to it. No, I don't really.
53:21 Bill Maher? So there was no jealousy at all in an Hebrew marriage?
53:23 Speaker 01 Oh, God, yes, it was jealousy. But the thing about that, you always tell the truth in the beginning and then you'd start lying later on.
53:30 Bill Maher? More, yes. More. You lie at the beginning, too. But just more later on because you're more walking on eggshells. You know, you've had fights about...
53:41 Speaker 01 That is true. That's... Yeah. Because...
53:44 Bill Maher? You've had fights...
53:45 Speaker 01 You realize that this isn't going to work and you have to leave, but you don't say it right away because you have to think about it more. So, yeah.
53:53 Bill Maher? Yeah. The leaving is usually the part that's a relief. It's that last period when it's not working.
54:03 Bill Maher? It's hard because you've put down roots to break off, but you kind of both know it's not trending in the right direction. So you take steps to, you know...
54:15 Bill Maher? Get back on track, but as long as you're just taking steps, it's already over. If it doesn't come free and natural, I feel like.
54:24 Speaker 01 I always know when the end is nigh. Because I always have the same fantasies.
54:34 Bill Maher? Yeah.
54:35 Speaker 01 He dies.
54:40 Speaker 01 I have arranged in my head more funerals. For my friends and husbands.
54:46 Bill Maher? How do they die?
54:49 Speaker 01 Well, it's falling from a cliff, a balcony.
54:55 Bill Maher? Something natural.
54:57 Speaker 01 Yeah.
54:58 Bill Maher? Something Putin-esque.
54:59 Speaker 01 I don't really think about how it happened. I just think about, well, I don't have to worry about that anymore.
55:04 Bill Maher? Right.
55:04 Speaker 01 Yeah. Isn't that awful?
55:06 Bill Maher? Well, it's not awful.
55:07 Speaker 01 And yet I remain friends with all my exes.
55:10 Bill Maher? It's very common because somebody was arguing with me recently about relationships. What do you know, you've never been married? I said, no, I've never been married. But I bet you have something very key in common with all married people, which is that there are times in the relationship when your partner is, you know, they're about to get on a plane. You're not with them and.
55:35 Bill Maher? Exactly.
55:36 Speaker 01 Yeah.
55:39 Bill Maher? And when I think that, I feel very guilty about the other 200 people on the plane who will have to die so that I can be happy again. But I'm sorry, that's the way it's gonna be. But yeah, that would solve a lot of problems if the plane went down. And that's when you know, maybe this relationship.
55:57 Speaker 01 Maybe it's over, yeah.
55:58 Bill Maher? Maybe it's over. Well, I.
56:01 Speaker 01 Speaking of over.
56:02 Bill Maher? Yeah.
56:03 Speaker 01 I have to go to, I'm going to a Rufus Wainwright concert.
56:07 Bill Maher? Oh, my God. You are so, you are so badass. You're going to a Rufus Wainwright concert now.
56:16 Speaker 01 And I don't know what time it is in this man's cave that where we are.
56:20 Bill Maher? Yeah, it's 6:45. What time you have to be?
56:23 Speaker 01 I have to go now.
56:24 Bill Maher? Okay. Well, they won't hold you another second. But I got you these flowers. I've never gotten flowers for anybody on this show.
56:34 Speaker 01 Thank you.
56:34 Bill Maher? Or do anything, but um.
56:37 Speaker 01 That's, I am really, give me your hand.
56:40 Bill Maher? Yeah, I was hoping, I really wanted a bouquet like I was gonna give you like you my.
56:46 Speaker 01 Maria Callas.
56:47 Bill Maher? But this is what they got, so.
56:49 Speaker 01 It's beautiful.
56:50 Bill Maher? So many of your minions will carry it for me.
56:52 Speaker 01 And I will treasure it. I'm living in a hotel.
56:55 Bill Maher? Why?
56:56 Speaker 01 Because there's mold in my house.
56:57 Bill Maher? Oh.
56:58 Speaker 01 I've been there since June.
56:59 Bill Maher? That's so important.
57:00 Speaker 01 And I probably won't move in until January. I will have spent more than a, almost a year in a hotel. This is gonna be great.
57:07 Bill Maher? Okay.
57:09 Speaker 01 This is gonna brighten up my hotel room.
57:11 Bill Maher? I like a hotel room, I gotta say. It's not the worst thing in the world.
57:13 Speaker 01 It's not, no.
57:14 Bill Maher? I mean, I'm sure it's not the Motel 6.
57:17 Speaker 01 No, it's, it's, it's, you can walk to everywhere. I'm smack dab, you know, it's good.
57:22 Bill Maher? Just give me the key.
57:26 Bill Maher? Remember in the old hotel and they would, you know, have the guy come up to the room and they would give the key? Now they don't have keys. All right, Jane, I will leave you, release you back into the wild.
57:45 Speaker 01 Look at your shoes.
57:47 Bill Maher? Yeah, those are cool, right?
57:48 Speaker 01 Yeah, they're very cool.
57:49 Bill Maher? I know.
57:50 Speaker 01 No, you're, and you've got.
57:51 Bill Maher? Yeah, you too.
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