Bill Maher says in his new comedy special, Bill Maher: Is Anyone Else Seeing This?, that Donald Trump got the White House again but won’t get Maher’s mind. And the comedian elaborated on that point on CNN on Friday, January 10, saying that his show Real Time With Bill Maher will cover Trump’s second presidency differently than it did Trump’s first.
“I’m not going to chase every rabbit down the hole like I did the first term. That’s what I mean [by] he’s not going to get my mind,” Maher told Jake Tapper during Friday’s episode of The Lead. “He’s a kooky guy who says a lot of kooky things, and I’m just not going to pre-hate anything.”
Instead, Maher added, he’s going to “hope for the best” and save his commentary on the HBO show for anything serious that happens. “Otherwise, I have new rules and [the] monologue as a place in the show every week to talk about invading Greenland and annexing Canada and other stuff that’s perfect for comedy, but I’m not going to take it seriously,” he said.
Maher also explained why he didn’t want to cover another Trump presidency in the first place. “I didn’t want to do another Trump term, not just because I don’t think it’s going to be, possibly, a great time for America, maybe — again, not gonna pre-hate anything — but because I’ve already done all the jokes about Donald Trump,” he said. “I don’t know what else to say about the guy. But, of course, he’ll provide us with a lot of new material, and I’ll get into it.”
He quipped: “I was hoping that in the episodic television show that is America, I was hoping for some new characters. It’s like they rebooted Matlock, but instead of getting Kathy Bates, they put Andy Griffith back in there.”
Real Time returns with its 23rd season on Friday, January 17, but Maher will be back on HBO with Is Anyone Else Seeing This? a week earlier in the same time slot.
“With his signature sardonic wit and unfiltered approach to discussing controversial issues, the comedian offers up his scathing commentary on the hypocrisies of both conservative and liberal politics, as well as trends in modern parenting, sex and dating, and religion,” HBO says in a synopsis of what stands as Maher’s 13th comedy special on the premium cable channel.
Bill Maher: Is Anyone Else Seeing This?, Friday, January 10, 10/9c, HBO
Real Time With Bill Maher, Season 23 Premiere, Friday, January 17, 10/9c, HBO
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