Bill Maher brings his biting humor to the Las Vegas Strip

Bill Maher became aware he was funny at an early age. Like a lot of kids discovering an emerging talent, he dreamed of becoming famous. He couldn’t have imagined a future in which, at age 69, he’d helm a digitally distributed platform for which he’d interview his idols Cheech & Chong or give career advice to viral stars such as Hawk Tuah Girl, but he likely envisioned himself being politically incorrect.

Politics became his lane, his stand-up driven by pragmaticism and blunt outspokenness. Maher was there first, with Politically Incorrect giving him a platform on Comedy Central beginning in 1993. While that show ended in 2002, Maher’s legacy of no-nonsense hilarity has endured for more than three decades.

His current HBO program Real Time with Bill Maher is in its 22nd season. He’s completed more than 140 episodes of in-conversation vlogcast Club Random since its 2022 debut and has a high-enough profile to make the tabloids when he goes out to dinner with Al Pacino’s ex.

Maher’s mojo for success had enough magic left to give him staying power and stamina. He’s been consistent in his beliefs, unapologetic about a lifestyle that includes staying single and smoking pot, doesn’t suffer fools gladly and shares his thoughts freely. That latter tendency resulted in his one career setback, that of Politically Incorrect’s cancellation shortly after 9/11, but the end result was a resurrection of the same format on HBO.

The lesson for Maher was to stick to his guns, re-analyze his positions occasionally but stand firm on his core beliefs. He doesn’t toe the line for Republicans or Democrats and has fun with contemporary terminology such as “presentism,” the concept that history should be judged according to contemporary standards. Sometimes he invents a new word, such as the title of his 2008 documentary Religulous.

He’s probably best known for the “New Rules” segments that close Real Time, but Club Random is where the real Bill Maher seems to emerge. He indulges himself and his guests with sips and smoke, sits back and has a conversation that can wander anywhere.

That Bill Maher wears a Cavalli suit to his interview with Cheech & Chong and gushes like a fanboy while crediting them as influences. That Bill Maher seeks to find common ground with a range of guests that has of late included Fabio, Quentin Tarantino, Jordan Peterson and Hawk Tuah Girl.

Maher is hardly the first comedian to get on the podcasting train, but he seems more at home than many of them, like it’s more of a relief than a career obligation. Real Time requires an active mind and applied courage. He’s been frank about who he believes will win the presidential election, slams wokeness and jingoism with equal aplomb, and remains stubbornly independent.

At the end of the day, he seeks truth, justice and an American way to respectfully present differences in order to find common ground in policy and common sense in society, as well as the freedom to unwind any way he wishes as long it doesn’t affect anyone else.

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