William Bill Maher is an American comedian, actor, political commentator, and television host.
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William Bill Maher is an American comedian, actor, political commentator, and television host.
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Bill Maher is known for the HBO political talk show Real Time with Bill Maher and the similar late-night show called Politically Incorrect, originally on Comedy Central and later on ABC.
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Bill Maher is known for his political satire and sociopolitical commentary.
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In 2005, Bill Maher ranked at number 38 on Comedy Central's 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time.
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In 2014, Bill Maher won a Primetime Emmy Award for his work as executive producer for Vice.
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Bill Maher was raised in his Irish-American father's Roman Catholic religion.
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Bill Maher was raised in River Vale, New Jersey and graduated from Pascack Hills High School in Montvale in 1974.
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Bill Maher then attended Cornell University, where he double-majored in English and history, and graduated in 1978.
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Bill Maher was host of the New York City comedy club Catch a Rising Star in 1979.
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Bill Maher began appearing on Johnny Carson's and David Letterman's shows in 1982.
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Bill Maher holds the record for the most Emmy nominations without a win, having been nominated on 22 occasions and not winning once.
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In late May 2005, Alabama Congressman Spencer Bachus sent a letter to Time Warner's board of directors requesting Real Time be canceled after remarks Bill Maher made after noting the military had missed its recruiting goals by 42 percent.
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Bill Maher stated his highest regard and support for the troops and asked why the congressman criticized him instead of doing something about the recruitment problem.
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In February 2017, Bill Maher invited Milo Yiannopoulos to be interviewed on Real Time.
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Bill Maher apologized on his show and had a discussion with Michael Eric Dyson, Ice Cube, and Symone Sanders about the controversy.
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Bill Maher has regularly appeared on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and has been a frequent guest on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, The Rachel Maddow Show, and Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
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In 2004, Bill Maher appeared on stage as Satan in The Steve Allen Theater production of "Hollywood Hell House", a spoof of the Christian-run hell houses.
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In 2013, Bill Maher became one of the executive producers for the HBO newsmagazine series Vice.
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Also in 2013, Bill Maher appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and offered to pay $5 million to a charity if Donald Trump would produce his birth certificate to prove that Trump's mother had not mated with an orangutan.
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Bill Maher said this reportedly in response to Trump having previously challenged President Barack Obama to produce his birth certificate, and having offered $5 million payable to a charity of Obama's choice if Obama would produce his college applications, transcripts, and passport records.
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Bill Maher often eschews political labels, referring to himself as "practical".
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Bill Maher identifies as liberal and stands against political correctness.
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Bill Maher is a member of the advisory boards for both the NORML and Marijuana Policy Project, organizations that support regulated legalization of cannabis, and has been called "one of the brightest torches for sensible marijuana policy" and "a contemporary cannabis statesman".
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Bill Maher describes himself as an environmentalist, and he has spoken in favor of the Kyoto treaty on global warming on his show Real Time.
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Bill Maher often criticizes industry figures involved in environmental pollution.
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Bill Maher is a board member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
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However, Bill Maher has defended Israel's military actions against Palestinian militants amid criticism over civilian deaths and disproportionate casualty count between Israelis and Palestinians during the 2014 Gaza war.
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Bill Maher has stated that statistics showing that gun owners are more likely to harm a member of their household are caused by irresponsible gun owners, and believes that tragedies such as school shootings will not lead to a fundamental change in gun laws because both Democrats and Republicans favor guns.
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Bill Maher's audience was asked to select one "terrible, entrenched" member of Congress in a close election race—"the loserest loser of all"—to remove from office.
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Bill Maher aimed to help oust that representative by shining a "national spotlight" on the politician during segments of his show and stand-up comedy appearances in that member's district during the Fall election.
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Bill Maher ultimately selected Republican Representative John Kline from Minnesota's 2nd congressional district, but he failed to prevent him from winning against his Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party opponent Mike Obermueller.
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Bill Maher specifically criticized the use of bait, referring to its use as "nothing but an execution".
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Bill Maher later announced his support for Hillary Clinton after Clinton won the nomination from the Democratic Party primary elections in June 2016.
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Bill Maher predicted there would be violence by armed Trump supporters attempting to keep Trump in power and criticized Democratic Party politicians for not taking the threat seriously:.
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Bill Maher asserted that, "I got no help from the New York Times, Washington Post, [or] CNN", adding that the media "should have amplified" the severity of Trump's threats that he would refuse to concede or commit to a peaceful transition of power.
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In March 2021, Bill Maher criticized China's treatment of Uyghur minority in Xinjiang.
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In January 2022, Bill Maher declined to run in the 2024 United States presidential election following speculation by Dana Perino that he may be called on to do so.
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Bill Maher is highly critical of all religion and views it as highly destructive.
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Bill Maher has been described, or self-identified, variously as an agnostic, atheist, and apatheist, while objecting to having his views defined by a single label.
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Bill Maher has described Christianity and Islam as more "warlike", and has asserted that, like historic Christianity, present-day Islam needs to undergo its own reformation and enlightenment.
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Bill Maher has criticized liberals as hypocritical for defending these core liberal values and ideals only at home, while not condemning the oppression of these values and groups in Muslim culture.
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Bill Maher received the 2009 Richard Dawkins Award from Atheist Alliance International.
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Bill Maher was an advisory board member of author Sam Harris's Project Reason, a foundation that promotes scientific knowledge and secular values within society.
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Bill Maher has stated that the American Medical Association is a powerful lobbying group and one of the primary reasons why the United States had failed to enact health care reform in the decades prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act.
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Bill Maher has expressed the view that a lot of illness is the result of poor diet and lack of exercise, and that medicine is often not the most appropriate way of addressing illness.
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Bill Maher maintains that mass consumption of high-fructose corn syrup is a contributor to the rise in frequency of obesity in the United States.
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Skeptics, including magician and popular science writer Martin Gardner, neurologist Steven Novella, and magician Jamy Ian Swiss have strongly rebuked Bill Maher, characterizing him as anti-science, uninformed and potentially endangering the health of fans who take his "non-medical" advice.
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Bill Maher, who has a California medical marijuana card, openly and publicly uses cannabis and has been a visible supporter of cannabis law reform.
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Bill Maher has been on the advisory board both of NORML and the Marijuana Policy Project.
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Bill Maher sold cannabis while in college at Cornell and credits it for making his college and the beginning of his career as a comic possible.
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Bill Maher has said his influences include Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, Robert Klein, and George Carlin.
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Bill Maher has received 41 Primetime Emmy Award nominations winning for Outstanding Informational Series or Special for Vice in 2015.
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Bill Maher received two Grammy Award nominations and various Producers Guild of America Award and Writers Guild of America Award nominations.
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In 2005, Bill Maher began dating Karrine Steffans, author and former hip hop model.
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In 2012, Bill Maher purchased a minority ownership interest in the New York Mets.
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