The latest episode of Real Time With Bill Maher began with a very Californian piece of news: the return of water restrictions. To the show’s host, that didn’t matter much; “The plants I care about grow mostly indoors,” Maher said. He then asked the audience if anyone was old enough to remember that this weekend was the 30th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots, and segued from there to jokes about Will Smith and Amber Heard. And yes, the topical humor continued, with a joke about Hunter Biden following quickly on from there.
Maher then turned the subject to national politics. “Sometimes you think the Democrats are tanking on purpose to get a better draft pick next year,” he said — though he also had more than a few jokes at the expense of Madison Cawthorn and Matt Gaetz, as one does.
That was followed by a conversation with Fran Lebowitz, continuing the recent run of Maher talking with people with whom he’s had a long professional relationship. She was recently returned from Europe, where she shared observations — from men wearing pants in airports to a heightened level of concern about the situation in Ukraine. One down side? “I’m at the mercy of the airlines,” she said.
That discussion of touring led to the two of them debating the relative merits of Indianapolis. Lebowitz brought up the massive “Hell Is Real” billboard on the road there, which does seem like an alarming thing to see on the road.. Maher asked if Lebowitz felt inspired to write again. “Would you rather be at the Seattle airport for nine hours, or sitting at home writing?” she said — and argued that she’d rather be writing. Her rejoinder to Maher? “Have you ever thought about being a career counselor?” The two had a warm but thorny dynamic, and it showed a side of Maher that doesn’t usually come to the foreground on the show.
CNN host Ali Velshi and former Senator Doug Jones comprised the evening’s panel. There, the first topic was Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, and what it might all mean. “Everyone needs to get over the fact that the First Amendment does not apply to Twitter,” Velshi said. For him, Twitter was at the center of a different issue — the responsibility of Twitter (and Facebook) to deliver “a more informed electorate.”
“Russian bots do not have a First Amendment privilege,” Jones added. Maher brought up a few cases of Twitter turning off various accounts, including that of The Babylon Bee. (Though it’s notable that the example that Maher brought up was a satirical video and not the transphobic tweet that the publication in question posted in March.) And this led, more broadly, to a discussion of what should and should not be regulated.
