Bill Maher on free speech, comedy, and his haters

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Politics, News, News Commentary, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.5 • 11.1K Ratings

🗓️ 16 August 2021

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Vox's Sean Illing talks with comedian Bill Maher about the risks and challenges of political comedy today, free speech, and whether ideology undermines humor. They discuss how Maher — who's been out front on issues like animal rights and climate change — has become such a lightning rod for a certain species of progressive. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), Interviews Writer, Vox Guest: Bill Maher (@billmaher), comedian; host of Real Time with Bill Maher References: Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO and Youtube Bill Maher: stand-up tour schedule "10 Percent of Twitter users create 80 percent of tweets, study finds" by Ren LaForme (Poynter; Apr. 24, 2019) "Americans and 'Cancel Culture': Where Some See Calls for Accountability, Others See Censorship, Punishment" by Emily A. Vogels et al. (Pew Research; May 19) Enjoyed this episode? Rate Vox Conversations ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of Vox Conversations by subscribing in your favorite podcast app. Support Vox Conversations by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by: Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska VP, Vox Audio: Liz Kelly Nelson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:26.6	2023 Lyric orders our full C dealer for 2024 availability details.
0:33.4	What happened to political comedy?
0:38.6	I'm Sean Elling and I'm your host for Vox Conversations.
0:50.2	I cover politics for a living and I also love stand-up comedy.
0:55.0	Don't get me wrong, a comic can be political and funny.
0:59.4	There are tons of examples of that.
1:01.4	But most partisan comics have always bored me to death.
1:06.0	For me, the best comedy is reflective and honest.
1:10.6	It spares no one and nothing.
1:12.6	In this episode, I talked to Bill Maher, a great stand-up and the long-time host
1:18.2	of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.
1:20.6	Maher is a political comic, but I've always enjoyed his work.
1:24.2	And I think that's because I've never really considered him a partisan comedian,
1:29.0	even though conservatives are the butt of most of his jokes.
1:32.9	Maher is clearly a liberal. We all know that, and he'll tell you that.
	...

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