Bill Maher stopped doing stand-up out of fear of getting shot
Bill Maher says that, sure, ticket sales are declining and his audience isn't eager to leave the house, but he retired from stand-up because he "could get shot by the left or the right."
(Photo by Lars Niki/Corbis via Getty Images)
Despite Elon Musk, the world’s funniest boyfriend to an AI chatbot, announcing comedy was legal again only 10 months ago, Bill Maher is exiting the comedic haven Musk built for him. Less than a year removed from the release of his latest HBO stand-up special, Is Anyone Else Seeing This, Maher told his Club Random guest Patton Oswalt (to which we ask, Patton, what the hell are you doing?) that he’s grown fearful of the mic. Don’t get him wrong. Maher misses stand-up—well, not the travel, “obviously.” He’s just afraid he’ll be shot for speaking his radical truths. “I feel like it was a great choice because I don’t want to be out there in this country in this political atmosphere,” Maher said from the safety of Club Random‘s plush armchairs and emotional support blunts. “I could get shot by the left or the right. I mean, it’s just—it’s a good time to not be out there.”
The possibility of assassination wasn’t the only factor influencing Maher’s decision. It’s also declining ticket sales. Maher surmises that “because I’m on TV every week,” he’s not the draw he used to be, particularly for his aging fanbase. He’s also aware that he’s getting outflanked by younger comedians who are selling out arenas and “just got tired of being twice as funny as people who were selling twice as many tickets as me.”
