Bill Maher is outspoken in every medium he's explored, and he's certainly explored a lot of them. He tours the country as a stand-up comedian. He's written a novel (True Story) and a series of humor books—the latest is 2005's New Rules: Polite Musings From A Timid Observer. He's had a series of small roles in films from Cannibal Women In The Avocado Jungle Of Death to The Aristocrats. He has a political blog at The Huffington Post. And he just finished a "summer job" hosting an Internet-only Amazon.com talk show called Amazon Fishbowl. But he's best known as the host of the defunct talk show Politically Incorrect and HBO's current series Real Time With Bill Maher; both have served as a public forum for his opinions on politics, society, law, religion and all the many fallacies thereof.
Maher's views and his forthright, knowledgeable, caustically humorous way of expressing them have sometimes gotten him into trouble—most notably, Politically Incorrect's eight-year run ended after Maher angered critics by saying that George W. Bush was wrong to call the 9/11 terrorists "cowardly." But he's also earned a dedicated fan following. As Real Time was preparing for the late-August launch of its fifth season, The A.V. Club spoke with Maher about impeaching Bush, acquiring pot, getting fired, and ruffling feathers.
The A.V. Club: On last season's Real Time finale, you joked about George W. Bush being impeached for lying about a fish he caught, and today at The Huffington Post, you called more seriously for impeachment over the wiretapping scandal. Do you think there's any chance of Bush actually being impeached?
Bill Maher: Well, it really depends on what happens with the elections in November, and what happens to the makeup of Congress, doesn't it? I mean, the Republicans are certainly never going to impeach Bush. Which is sort of hilarious, if you look at how little it took by comparison to get Bill Clinton impeached. If America wants it done, they're going to have to elect people who'll do it. Not that I think that should be that much of a priority in this election, given what a lame duck Bush is.
AVC: Rolling Stone's website recently republished a 1999 interview with you where you said Bill Clinton's acquittal proved America is getting over its little-old-lady morality. Are you still optimistic about that happening?
BM: Well, I think we still are getting over it, we're still moving forward. I go out on the road a lot, and I talk to people—what we're seeing in the administration, in the government today, doesn't necessarily reflect what people in America are actually like, or what they believe. I think people are more tolerant, more grown-up about morality than you'd know from watching what the administration does. Especially young people, but it's hard to get them to vote, to make their views known. Puffy said "Vote or die," and I guess the kids probably took it literally, thought he was going to kill them. But maybe they think they don't need to vote to change things. Take marijuana. Nobody in America who wants pot has any trouble getting it, so maybe that's why we aren't seeing support for legalization. People don't think it's necessary to legalize it, because it's so easy to get it.
AVC: Isn't that kind of easy to say as a wealthy celebrity?
BM: You think people have trouble getting pot? You're wrong about that. It's actually harder for me. It's not like I can just walk down to Washington Square and cop off the first guy I see, you know?
AVC: You've been very public about your drug use—
BM: Not drugs. Pot.
AVC: Your pot use and your support for legalization. In the wake of Tommy Chong's arrest and conviction, are you concerned at all that someone might try to make an example of you?
BM: Well, as truly ridiculous as that bust was, it was a different situation. He was actually selling things, paraphernalia and such, and it was clear what he was doing. Whereas in my case, I joke about it more than I actually do it, so no, I'm not all that worried.
AVC: You're about to go out on tour again—
BM: I'm touring all the time. I'm out doing stand-up all the time. I never really stop.
AVC: You're doing live stand-up, and writing books, and blogging, and doing the talk show. How do you avoid repeating yourself? How concerned are you about overlap from one medium to another?
BM: Well, I actually keep really careful track of where I've been, and when I've been there. I always try to emphasize when I do an interview with the local paper, or whatever, "Don't worry, I'm not going to be telling the jokes I told last time I was in Albuquerque." Because I know that the last time I was in Albuquerque, it was November 9, 2004, and I was doing this act, so now I'm doing this other one. I actually titled them. It's not quite like a Madonna performance. [Laughs.] Where she puts on a whole new show every time she goes on tour. But that's how I try to think of it. That was the I'm Swiss tour. Before that was the Be More Cynical tour. I do try to keep track of where I've been and what I've said. Is there some overlap? Of course. Sometimes something is in my stand-up act because I said it on Real Time. But usually, if I'm doing it in the stand-up act, it's because I've fleshed that idea out a lot more since the show.
AVC: How do you go about preparing for an average episode of Real Time?
BM: It's tough. This show takes a lot out of me. I'm glad that our seasons are only 12 or 13 weeks long, because I'm really fried at the end of it. It takes all week, because there's so many elements to the show, even though it's only one hour. There's a panel of three people, and we talk about six or seven issues with them. So you have to prepare for six or seven issues with the panel. Then there's two satellite guests. You have to prepare for those guests. And then there's written material. We do an editorial that ends the show. That usually takes quite a bit to get right. The "New Rules" pieces. We do a cold open, and we do a desk piece in the middle. A little comedy desk piece. All these elements—I wind up staying in almost every night. I happen to work late hours, which is not good for you, but I can't seem to stop it. I go to the office in the afternoon and have meetings with the writers and the producers and the bookers, and then I go home, and I'm usually at my computer from about 8 o'clock at night to about 3 in the morning.
AVC: Does your prep process or time depend upon who's going to be on the show, or is it roughly the same week to week?
BM: It's pretty much the same week to week. For this show, we try to book three people on the panel who are going to be up to speed, to say the least, on what's going on in the world. Once in a while, I'm sure we've had a guest who didn't fulfill that obligation. For example, for the season opener on Friday night, we have Christopher Hitchens. Obviously he knows what's up. Former Senator Max Cleland. Obviously he knows what's up. And this gentlemen Vali Nasr who's written this book, The Shia Revival, who's an expert on the Middle East. So these are people—I don't have to worry about whether they'll bring their game. I just got to worry about presenting them with interesting stuff that they can get their teeth into.
AVC: Do you anticipate any significant changes coming along this season?
BM: No, I think we like the format that we're doing. It's a mistake to try to reinvent the wheel with talk shows. It's almost always about the execution. You can play around with format, but what people really care about is the content. A good discussion and stuff that'll make them laugh.
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