Why ‘old-school liberal’ Bill Maher relishes red-state audiences and hates ‘wokeism’

When you have dished topical, political humor on a weekly basis for 30 years, having it suddenly stripped away can be maddening.

“Like a caged animal,” said comedian Bill Maher, the longtime host of HBO’s “Real Time.”

Maher is a political animal thanks to era-defining shows such as “Politically Incorrect” and “Real Time,” which debuted on HBO in February 2003.

But he was first a standup comic, something he has continued to do between episodes. His stop at Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Prairie on Sept. 2 follows a show in Austin. For Maher, the standup dates are something of a respite. The Writers Guild of America went on strike on May 2. The Screen Actors Guild joined the strike in July, effectively shutting down all Hollywood productions.

Maher spoke with the Star-Telegram by phone in advance of his Texas shows.

You’re always playing dates between “Real Time” episodes, but this seems like an actual tour.

I haven’t been able to do my show since April because of the strike so I’m like a caged animal who got loose. I hadn’t been on the road since June. I was in Charlotte and Columbia, South Carolina, [on Aug. 19 and 20] and had the time of my life because it’s like you let out the beast. I felt like the shows were on fire. So I’m thrilled to be coming to Texas and to be back on the road and have an outlet to vent because there is an awful lot going on. Everywhere I go it’s nice that people say, ‘Hey, we miss you. We need you back on the air. We don’t have anybody who is keeping it honest out there.’ And that’s what I’m always trying to do: Keep it honest.

You’ve often said how much you like playing Texas. Why is that? What is it exactly that you’re referring to?

It’s all the red states. Whenever you play a city, of course, you’re in a blue area within a red state and it’s kind of the perfect combination. Because in a blue city in a blue state, you’re kind of risking having people be a little too politically correct. We’re all so politicized these days, we’re all so partisan, in our own bubbles and in our silos. You play some of these places — I don’t want to mention names — but like San Francisco, perhaps, could be a little problematic, in the sense that the audience only wants to hear what they already think they know and what they already agree with and nothing that makes fun of their side, or their team. Although I must say, I played San Francisco in March and it was actually great because I get a different crowd these days. I get a much more politically mixed audience which is fantastic because both sides need to hear it.

The secret to your success is you have been equally loved and hated by both sides, right?

It’s fantastic that I can do a show and the conservatives and Republicans and even the Trump people in the audience, they can laugh at the Trump jokes, and they’re going to have to. And the liberals in the audience are going to laugh at all of the stuff that I make fun of with their woke nonsense. I consider myself an old-school liberal which is not the same thing as woke. There is a lot of nonsense that goes on on the left and we can both laugh at both things and sit there together and not break into fights and there’s no hate. We’re sort of feeding that hunger, I believe, that’s out there for some common sense centrism.

Do you think Trump’s legal issues have hurt him or helped him?

I still think he would have won the nomination no matter what happened. But the indictments have only made him stronger because the Republicans see him a little like any revolutionary who goes to jail. They look at him like a rapper and street cred. It’s the ultimate street cred.

Where are we politically as a nation at the moment? I think we have four basic tribes in America. Old-school conservatives and old-school liberals, people who used to work together, by the way, and get things done.

And then on each fringe, you have the ‘Trumpers’ and then you have the ‘Woke People’ who I think are crazy in their own way. They’re both afraid of each other. I would never vote for Trump, but I get it why people do. Their point is, ‘Yes, he’s crazy, and we don’t really like him either, we’re not blind to his flaws, but he’s the thing that stands between us and the insanity of the left.’

When I say the insanity of the left I’m talking about the ridiculous amounts of identity politics and victimhood and over-sensitivity and cancel culture and forced conformity and hostility to free speech and pointless white self-loathing and forcing complex ideas about race and gender on children. And if I notice all of this stuff, it doesn’t make me a Republican just because I won’t get on the train to Crazy Town with you people.

Transgender athletes competing in high-level athletics is an example of the far left going off the rails, right?

Liberalism is different than woke-ism. Yes, of course, liberals understand there is such a thing as trans, that sometimes people are, for the lack of a better phrase, born into the wrong body. We get that. And those people should be respected and protected. But it’s also somewhat trendy now. And it’s a little embarrassing for liberals because the liberal countries of Europe that we always have looked to as the paradigm of liberalism, they are not doing this stuff to kids anymore. They’ve all pulled back on puberty blockers and operating on children. Some of this is just trendy. Some of this is just a TikTok Challenge that got out of hand.

Do the rash of book bans at school libraries concern you?

Of course, from both sides. Like so many of our issues, it could be settled if people would just put down their partisan sabers and agree on a common sense solution in the middle. The left is canceling or rewriting Agatha Christie because she wrote something in the 1920s and yes, there are some words we don’t use anymore, some ethnic slurs. But OK, here’s how we know she wasn’t writing in the modern era, her name is Agatha. The left seems to cancel books slowly while the right will just burn them in a big pile. Some of the things [Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron] DeSantis is doing are crazy. You can teach about Rosa Parks but you can’t mention it was a racial incident? She’s just some ... lady who couldn’t find a seat.

It’s like teaching about Martin Luther King and just saying ‘He’s a guy who likes to walk across bridges. We’re going to leave it at that.’ Both sides are doing nutty things in this battle and what’s really sad is they’re using children as fodder in their culture wars. That’s something we never used to do.

You have a podcast called Club Random. It seems like something you could have started 10 years ago. Why did it take you so long?

You’re completely right. I was stupid, is what I was. I’m always late on technology. I didn’t get email until 2003 or something. Everything technology with me is like doing something left-handed.

I remember asking 10 or 12 years ago when friends of mine, and other comedians were starting them, ‘Maybe I should get a podcast?’ I remember my agent and manager were in my dressing room and they said to me, ‘Bill, the people who have podcasts are trying to get what you have, a show on HBO. What do you want a podcast for?’

There is some truth to that …Yes, but it was a lot truer 10 years ago. That conversation stayed in my mind longer than it should have and I finally woke up. So many people were saying to me, like at a dinner [party], you should have a podcast because you have so many things to say about stuff that isn’t political, and most of “Real Time” is politics. There are a million things you could talk about.

Your podcast is very different than the political nature of “Real Time.” That was by design? [“Real Time” is also available as a podcast.]

When I finally decided to jump in, I did say I wanted to do it differently than any podcast that’s on and we have done that. I spent a fortune building cameras into the walls. It looks different than other podcasts. It looks cool, it’s the only podcast that looks like it has a nighttime feel and nobody else is in the room.

[Most other podcasts] are basically talk shows by amateurs. You have a big, giant ... microphone in front of your face, you’re wearing the big headphones, and there are people in the room. Some dude is looking stuff up on his computer. It’s not intimate, it’s bright, it’s glary. There is no production value, and it doesn’t look like a fun place.

What has the reaction from fans been like?

People say to me, ‘I can hear the ice clinking in the glass, I can hear you taking a drag on a joint. I had this funky little room on my property that was perfect for this. If you can get a drink in them, and if they smoke, they smoke, you can get them to a level of relaxation and intimacy and just talking to me exactly the way it would happen in real life. And that’s always been my goal. Can I get the kind of conversation that I have in real life on the air? We’ve had some conversations here that I do not see anywhere. There are some [new episodes] coming up that are also pretty amazing.

And you’re able to talk to fellow comedians and other celebrities who might not be appropriate for “Real Time,” right?

We purposely did this because there are so many celebrities, big stars, who are not right for “Real Time” because most people don’t follow politics and they certainly couldn’t handle talking about it on a panel. “Real Time” is for the political pros. This is different. I’m never looking to talk politics on this show, it comes up sometimes, but I don’t prepare one second for this show. This is just me getting high with somebody I want to talk to. And if it goes to politics, it goes there. I don’t have a list of questions. This is not an interview. This is a conversation.

Have you ever had a bad experience with weed?

Oh, yes. My last standup special, the concluding hunk was about the two times I did have a bad experience with pot. One was when I ate it before the dispensaries [existed] so I didn’t know how strong it was. And another time, I got too high before doing standup. I like to get high before the show, but it never made me bad, it made me better. For some reason, one night I was just too high and I walked out there and knew I was just hanging on by my fingernails. I knew I was in trouble because I remember saying Obama and then thinking, ‘Is that his name?’ I was just out of it.