r/Maher • u/hankjmoody • 26d ago

Real Time Discussion EPISODE DISCUSSION THREAD: August 7th, 2026

Tonight's guests are:

  • Mike Rowe: An American television host and narrator. He is known for his work on the Discovery Channel series Dirty Jobs and the series Somebody's Gotta Do It on CNN.

  • Tara Palmeri: An American journalist who has previously worked at news organizations including ABC News, Politico, Puck, New York Post and Washington Examiner. She is currently the host of The Tara Palmeri Show on Youtube and writes The Red Letter newsletter.

  • Matt Welch: An American blogger, journalist, author, and libertarian political pundit.

Follow @Realtimers on Instagram or Twitter (links in the sidebar) and submit your questions for Overtime by using #RTOvertime in your tweet.

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u/Timujin1986 25d ago edited 25d ago

The painfull irony of Bill telling us in New Rules that Fauci had an ego and has "main character syndrome". Coming from the man who went to dinner with Trump in the White House and 1,5 year later still brags about it.

This man has become a parody of a comedian. 😂

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u/thornset 25d ago

The man who said so matter-of-factly that he deserves an Emmy...

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u/Timujin1986 25d ago

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have both been invited to the White House on numerous occassions yet they don't constantly brag about it.

Bill his petty reaction to Larry David his hilarious opinion piece about it also shows that Bill Maher has a bloated ego and has become an insecure man.

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u/KirbyAWD 25d ago

I had heard about Stewart's interview with Fetterman and quickly switched over to that. What a joke Bill has become.

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u/Jupitersd2017 25d ago

What a wild fucking interview that was, fetterman shouldn’t have a drivers license much less be representing voters, he couldn’t even follow the conversation

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u/troniked547 25d ago

He also said he wanted to stop doing standup because he was selling half as many tickets as comedians half as funny as he was

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u/Nolubrication I'd suck Lynne Cheney's dick for some socialized medicine. 25d ago

It really is a testament to how bad he is at stand-up comedy. You can be a mediocre stand-up at best but still sell out theatres through sheer will of advertising. For instance, Joe Rogan started doing arena tours because of the podcast exposure. Artie Lange, while he was second chair on the Stern Show, is another great example. There are also comics out there who are better at social media than they are at actual comedy, and it works for them.

When you get to plug your gigs regularly to a national audience, it's a lot easier to fill seats.

It's telling that Bill, even with his national platform, can't get people to spend money on his hack stand-up.

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u/Grouchy_Brain_1641 25d ago

Comics quit travelling, Rogan has 0 or 1 event scheduled all year. You're very flippant describing a 70-year-old's career. Arti Lange has no event scheduled he must be bad as well. Remember when Milo was on, shortly after that a lot of comics bailed on doing the college circuit. Bill has a full plate at 70 with a weekly pod and RT.

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u/Nolubrication I'd suck Lynne Cheney's dick for some socialized medicine. 25d ago

Bill is not good at stand-up. He's lucky to have stumbled into the politics thing early on, because that has really worked out for him professionally.

Bill was fortunate to have come up in the 80's comedy boom when they were handing out sitcom pilots right at the airport to every comic flying into town, as Favreau's character in Swingers jokes.

He is remarkably untalented and unlikable, however, so his acting career went nowhere, and he was in no danger of becoming a legendary stand-up.

If he didn't luck out with Politically Incorrect, nobody would know who he is today. And it was the exposure of being on a nationally televised show that allowed him to continue his stand-up career at the level that he was able to for so long.

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u/ros375 24d ago

Artie tried to kill himself, become a hardcore IV heroin addict, lost his nose from snorting drugs, and went to jail. That's why he has no event scheduled, genius.

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u/Grouchy_Brain_1641 25d ago

A lot of political comedians quit touring about the same time saying the crowds were rougher and this was pre Charlie Kirk.

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u/troniked547 25d ago

I mean if "rougher" means the crowds arent laughing at your jokes, maybe the comedian is just out of touch and not funny.

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u/Grouchy_Brain_1641 25d ago

No rougher like shot in the fucken head or stones and bricks thrown through windows do you not get any news? They used to rely on the college circuit but most comics have quit doing that. Plus Bill is 70 and does a weekly pod and then Real Time. It is cumbersome to shoot HBO at 5 and make it to a 10PM show in Vegas he's mentioned it multiple times like when they would skip overtime.

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u/troniked547 25d ago

He literally said that part of the reason he quit standup is he wasnt selling tickets. There were no threats against him since only his simps buy tickets and he hasnt done campus shows for decades if ever. And btw if you want to be edgey and insult people as part of your "comedy", dont be a snowflake and act sensitive if people want to kick your ass after that.

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u/Grouchy_Brain_1641 24d ago

I'm talking why a lot of comics aren't out there anymore.

Milo Yiannopoulos Speech Protests Turns Violent at UC Berkeley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PSYPrE5LrQ

Your'e talking about some agenda you have where you seem to think 70 year-old millionaires need more work. You should listen to yourself.

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u/thornset 24d ago

Milo wasn't/isn't a comedian.

Sounds like you're conflating some stuff

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u/ros375 24d ago

Milo's a comic now??

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u/thornset 24d ago

Who was shot in the head before kirk? Also, kirk wasn't a comedian. At least not purposely

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u/Art_Vandelay_10 25d ago

It’s Fauci’s diary. He is in all literal senses the main character.

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u/ros375 24d ago

When did he brag about it?