I saw Maher at Constitution Hall DC before the pandemic. He was just okay. There was a good crowd, he may have sold out, but again this was before the pandemic and his open skepticism about vaccines and masks and his agnosticism on hydrochloroquine and ivermectin and the rest, is when I believe he lost many progressive fans. At one point he started hollering at an audience member for being on their phone, which was not funny and cringy.

The jokes were mostly anti-Trump (this was DC) but he was reading his jokes off of blue sheets on a music stand.

It was the epitome of mailing it in.

I agree with your assessment of “Club Random.”

Man is he a grouchy old man, broken record, Johnny One Note.

Not only does he talk too much, but he’s a horrible listener.

One of his handlers should force him to rewatch these episodes and work on his interview technique.

It’s embarrassing for someone who’s been on air as long as he has.

Brilliant guy; I could watch him be a guest any day (when he would do Larry King Live, it was gold) that’s when he’s at his best.

But I can understand why his traveling standup routine is not attracting audiences. The world has passed him by, which dovetails with his opinion of his politics: he hasn’t changed, the Democrats have. Well that applies to his comedic persona too.

-Emory Damron, Alexandria VA.

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I’ve been a big fan of Bill Maher since I was a teenager in the mid 90s and that has only increased over time. I rarely miss an episode of Real Time and I regularly enjoy the podcast as well. You can chalk part of that up to my now being a middle aged Dad who doesn’t get out much on Fridays anymore but here’s the thing: for the first time since I was much younger, I went to see him perform at a theatre in Philly about a year ago and was disappointed. He didn’t suck, he wasn’t off his game… it was just that I already knew most of the material! And this was over a year after his last HBO special had aired. But it wasn’t just jokes and commentary from that special – it was from everything he does.

On the way home I was scratching my head…  it’s not like he’s a rising star attracting new, curious and unfamiliar crowds…so did he owe more “new” to us true loyal fans who paid and made the effort to get there? Was this somehow my fault and had I shown up with too much prior exposure to the performer? The audience (it was full or close to a full house, older crowd) was clearly enjoying it but they did not get raucous even at the best moments. Maybe that’s an age thing but I suspected many were having a similar experience to me. Long live Bill and everything he does, but I’m not in a hurry to catch him live again soon – even if he meant what he said about retiring from the road.

Matt Robertson

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Most of the time Club Random is weird and uncomfortable. Almost no one gets high with him or even has a drink, maybe a beer. And he does make it about himself but the worst was with Cameron Crowe! Bill needed to show him how much he knew about music. His take on the Beatles was dead wrong but Cameron was a real pro and just let him talk through the entire show.

Ron Maiorino

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He might think he’s a comedian, but to much of the world he’s a political pundit. That’s why he can’t fill seats – he’s spent three decades alienating half the potential audience.

Chris Beytes

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You are correct.  I will watch clips of Bill Maher’s Real Time, but I’m not going out of my house to see him.

I think for a lot of folks he is too politically one-sided.  How many pro-left or pro-right comics fill up stadiums?  I don’t think too many.  Bill may criticize the left but he lets the audience know he is still firmly with one team. So when folks go out to a show they usually go with someone, and even if it is your long time spouse you may not share the same political views, so who wants to be uncomfortable for a couple of hours.

And he is not really that funny, so there’s that…

Thanks,

Edmund J. Kelly

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My kids are 12 and 14 and could care less about what couch cushion has swallowed the remote. They don’t know that stress. All they care about is when their favorite Youtube creator is about to drop a new episode. So many choices out there.

-Brent Grunow

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Bill Maher is funny and trenchant. And he’s 68 maybe he’s had enough of touring.

Hannah Gadsby is maybe quirky but she isn’t funny. Sorry.

Mitch Tenzer

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Bill Maher is the one TV show I get excited for every week. Don’t like his podcast nearly as much. But I am a religious real time watcher. It’s the only appointment TV in my life.

Greg McLoughlin

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Interesting thing about the Brady roast: when it went out live — not the version now up on Netflix — one could really see who killed and who was just ok, as opposed to the edited versions of the roasts we usually see that makes everyone’s set look equally great. For my money, Nikki Glaser was by far the standout. She killed. Her standup act distilled down to that couple of minutes was fabulous and harsh and cutting and everything you want from a roast. And she destroyed the men. No one did it better. I’m a fan of hers generally, she’s bawdy, smart and sexy and transgressive, and her delivery is usually top notch. I was generally happy for her and the reaction in the room and the huge zeitgeist’sbump she got from that command performance. It reminded me of that old definition of luck, it’s when preparation meets opportunity, and Ms. Glaser saw her moment and seized it. It was a beautiful thing.

P.S. but then I saw her new standup special on Max and it was dreck. Just terrible. Everything about it sucked and was the opposite of the lightning in a bottle thing she created at the roast. From the fake opening shot, to the weird dress and stupidly high heels (whomever was responsible for those atrocious choices should be flogged), to the ham fisted, bush league, pull up cutaways and bullsh*t sound editing “laughter enhancement, (I’d like to add whomever directed this steaming pile of sh*t to the flogging line up) to the unbelievably long, boring and icky gang bang ‘metaphor’ at the end. And damn none of it was sexy. Au contraire. I still can’t wrap my mind around the ying and the yang of both in one week.

Steve Jones

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Brady roast was AWESOME. I grew up in foxboro, ma. Brady is a hero. They all were. Was great to see them all get down and dirty. One of the funniest things in a long time on tv.

Tim Lefebvre

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I watch Bill Maher’s show on HBO pretty much every week but I saw him in Vegas a few years ago and he’s just not that funny.

He came off as arrogant but not funny at all.

Robert Pisaneschi

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Bill Maher can’t sell out one show after three decades on TV yet Sebastian Maniscalco sold out five shows at MSG for September.  People will leave their homes if you’re funny! -t

Tony D’Amelio

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Bill Maher used to be interesting and occasionally funny. Now he is neither.

Best wishes,
Adrian Day

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“But people don’t want to leave their houses to see Bill live”.

No ….more like maybe people don’t want to pay to see or listen to blowhards.

Dante

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Maher can’t sell tickets because he’s out of touch.  And he’s smug, too; so self-absorbed in his belief that he knows better than everyone that he is oblivious to how he’s become the kind of elitist he used to rail against.  He’s also the worst kind of moral equivocator; everything is either/or with him: If you support trans rights, then you don’t believe in biology.  All college students are indoctrinated fools.  Criticizing the policies of the Israeli government automatically makes you a supporter of Hamas.  If you wear a mask in public, you’re a hysterical hypochondriac.  It’s so tiresome, his constant both-sidesing of every issue like this, especially when both sides are obviously not the same.  One is complaining about pronouns.  The other tried to overthrow the government.  The two are not comparable.

 

But this is unsurprising, given that Maher’s mostly Boomer audience tends to see the world in black and white terms.  So you could say he’s just pandering to his audience.  But I say that with friends like this, what the hell do we need the Republicans for?

 

Take care,

Wes R. Benash

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I think you’re missing something about Bill Maher’s drop in selling tickets:  he has become nasty and insufferable, especially since the pandemic. It’s no fun watching him anymore. Whereas his antipathy to Trump and his correct reading of the dangers of the Republican agenda and takeover have never been unwavering, his attacks on basically anything on the democratic side, anything progressive, diverse or “woke” and the especially cruel assessment of the campus protests have turned many of his fans against him. He gives a platform to many of the rightwing voices without challenging them and is dismissive of anyone’s opinion that doesn’t support his. Clearly, he was miserable during the pandemic, unable to go out and reach the crowds and adulation he clearly needs so much, but that has morphed into an unending attack on decisions that were made during the pandemic, decisions designed to protect vulnerable members of OUR society. While I am in agreement with his assessment of one’s responsibility for one’s own health, especially in terms of eating choices (I am myself a vegan) his attacks on overweight people are cruel and dismissive. Let’s not even get into his attacks on Muslims, a classic and terrible case of othering.

Who hurt him?

Bill Megalos
Venice

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Bill Maher Is a complete crank and a pompous ass. Has-been.

And Bill Burr put him in his place.

Bill Seipel

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I promote him. I watch him religiously. But he’s lost his base. He’s left, center and right. There’s no audience for that. I’m a big fan but I’m certainly not capable of giving him advice. Actually I’m afraid to.

By the way, the comedians, of which Bill isn’t as he’s a political commentator, that are selling out tell jokes. Not a fair comparison.