1. William Maher is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host.
104 Facts About Bill Maher
1. 2.
Bill Maher is popularly 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 best known for his political satire and sociopolitical commentary.
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Bill Maher is a supporter of animal rights, having served on the board of PETA since 1997.
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In 2005, Bill Maher ranked at No 38 on Comedy Central's 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time.
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Bill Maher received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2010.
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Bill Maher has earned 41 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and a win for his work as executive producer for Vice in 2014.
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Bill Maher has received nominations for two Grammy Awards and a Tony Award.
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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 made limited television appearances including on Sara, Max Headroom, Murder, She Wrote, and Charlie Hoover.
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Bill Maher later appeared in Ratboy, House II: The Second Story, Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death, Newhart, hosted the talk show Midnight Hour on CBS and Pizza Man.
16.
The group would discuss topical issues selected by Bill Maher, who participated in the discussions.
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Bill Maher earned numerous award nominations for his producing, writing, and hosting of Politically Incorrect, including ten Emmy nominations, two TV Guide nominations, and two Writers Guild nominations.
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On June 22,2002, six days after the cancellation of Politically Incorrect, Bill Maher received the Los Angeles Press Club president's award.
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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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Bill Maher is a frequent commentator on various cable news networks, including CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and HLN.
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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.
22.
Bill Maher has appeared as a guest on HLN's The Joy Behar Show.
23.
Bill Maher hosted the January 13,2006, edition of Larry King Live, on which he was a frequent guest.
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Bill Maher appeared as a special guest on the June 29,2010, edition of the show, on which CNN anchor Larry King announced his retirement.
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Bill Maher co-emceed the final show of Larry King Live on December 16,2010, with Ryan Seacrest.
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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 Christian-run hell houses.
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In 2013, Bill Maher became one of the executive producers for the HBO newsmagazine series Vice.
28.
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 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.
30.
On March 21,2022, Bill Maher launched a podcast titled Club Random, a series hosting one-on-one interviews with guests, recorded in his bar at home, where he discusses everything except politics.
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In February 2024, Bill Maher revealed that he decided not to release a two-hour interview with Kanye West recorded for Club Random because of the rapper's recent antisemitic comments.
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In March 2024, Bill Maher announced that he was starting a podcast network with Chris Casey and Chuck LaBella called Club Random Studios.
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In May 2024, Bill Maher told Jerry Seinfeld on the Club Random podcast that "after this year, I'm going to stop doing [stand-up]".
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Bill Maher often eschews political labels, referring to himself as "practical"; however, he has generally held moderately liberal views over the years.
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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.
38.
Bill Maher considers himself to be at odds with both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.
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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 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, "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 January 2022, Bill Maher declined to run in the 2024 United States presidential election following speculation by Dana Perino that he might be called on to do so.
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In July 2024, he called on Joe Biden to decline the Democratic party's nomination in order to have an open convention at the Democratic Convention; Bill Maher expressed his support for Gavin Newsom to replace Biden as the party's nominee.
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In February 2025, Bill Maher endorsed Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman for the 2028 Democratic Party presidential primaries and praised his strong support of Israel and stance against "woke".
47.
On June 7,2013, Bill Maher expressed on his show limited support for the NSA's PRISM intelligence data collection from private phone calls and the Internet, saying that the threat of terrorists obtaining and using nuclear weapons was the tipping point for him.
48.
Bill Maher opposed Trump's Executive Order 13769, which banned entry into the US of citizens from five majority-Muslim countries, and has hosted multiple guests, including Sam Harris and Jim Jefferies, on his show who have opposed the order.
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In 2022, Bill Maher criticized the Biden administration's Disinformation Governance Board and agreed with the comparison that the board was similar to the Ministry of Truth from George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
50.
Bill Maher favors having a strong military, but has said he is disenchanted with the size of the American military and defense spending.
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However, Bill Maher has defended Israel's military actions against Palestinians amid criticism over civilian deaths and disproportionate casualty count between Israelis and Palestinians during the 2014 Gaza war.
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Bill Maher argues that Israel is still showing restraint, and he finds it ironic that the same people who were incredulous over how the Jews in World War II were led "to their slaughter" cannot understand why they are defending themselves now.
53.
In June 2017, Bill Maher came under criticism for saying in an off-the-cuff joke "I'm a house nigger" in response to guest Senator Ben Sasse offering Bill Maher to work on the fields in his home state 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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In 2021, Bill Maher opposed the NFL's decision to play the "Black national anthem" before games, considering it a form of segregation.
56.
In 2022, Bill Maher criticized the Democratic Party for "checking boxes" in regard to candidates of different identity groups, including race.
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Bill Maher has spoken out against critical race theory but supports teaching the history of racism.
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In November 2015, Bill Maher expressed opposition to the United States accepting Syrian refugees.
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Bill Maher cited cases in the UK where Muslim immigrants had carried out female genital mutilation and honor killings.
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In 2021, after the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, Bill Maher urged America to take in Afghan refugees.
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Bill Maher has criticized Donald Trump's opposition to immigration, including his proposed border wall, and accused him of hypocrisy, having himself married two immigrants.
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Bill Maher endorsed a 2014 Maine referendum to ban the use of bait, traps and dogs to hunt bears in Maine.
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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 is a gun owner, and explained in his February 12,2013, appearance on the late-night TV talk show Conan that he owns guns for personal home protection.
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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 has questioned the need to own large arsenals of guns.
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Bill Maher believes the Second Amendment is "bullshit" and said that bipartisan background check legislation proposed by Pat Toomey and Joe Manchin was "so marginal".
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In 2022, Bill Maher blamed mass shooting in part due to Hollywood romanticization of gun violence in movies.
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However Bill Maher has said that despite him not liking guns he is glad that they exist saying it "levels the playing field".
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Bill Maher is highly critical of 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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In 2023, while still being critical of religion, Bill Maher discussed some of his spiritual queries and interests with long-time friend and new age guru, Deepak Chopra.
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Bill Maher has stated that the American Medical Association is a powerful lobbying group and was 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 was the result of poor diet and lack of exercise, and that medicine was 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.
80.
Infectious diseases expert Paul Offit wrote that misinformation about vaccines from celebrities like Bill Maher has put children at unnecessary risk.
81.
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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In January 2021, Bill Maher promoted the COVID-19 lab leak theory.
83.
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 is a member of the advisory boards for both the NORML and Marijuana Policy Project, organizations that support regulated legalization of cannabis.
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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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In 2015, Bill Maher called on then President Barack Obama to pardon people incarcerated for marijuana offenses and later praised President Joe Biden for pardoning citizens convicted of marijuana offenses.
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Bill Maher has been called "one of the brightest torches for sensible marijuana policy" and "a contemporary cannabis statesman".
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Bill Maher has spoken out against QAnon and the conspiracy theories they have promoted.
89.
Bill Maher has referred to arguments against same-sex marriage as "bankrupt".
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In May 2022, on why more people are identifying as LGBT, Bill Maher said "Yes, part of the rise in LGBT numbers is from people feeling free enough to tell it to a pollster, and that's all good, but some of it is [because] it's trendy".
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Bill Maher referred to puberty blockers and other transgender health care for trans youth as "literally experimenting on children".
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Bill Maher has claimed that Democrats will "lose every election" without changing their positions on trans issues and banning "gender-affirming care" for minors.
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In March 2022, Maher rebuked liberals for their opposition to the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act and defended Republicans for pushing the bill.
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Bill Maher criticized the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike on his Club Random podcast.
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Bill Maher stated his wish to have Governor Gavin Newsom help end the strike.
96.
On September 13,2023, Bill Maher released a statement on Twitter announcing his plans to restart a version of his HBO show.
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Bill Maher has received 41 Primetime Emmy Award nominations winning for Outstanding Informational Series or Special for Vice in 2015.
98.
Bill Maher received two Grammy Award nominations and various Producers Guild of America Award and Writers Guild of America Award nominations.
99.
In 2003 he was nominated at the 57th Tony Awards for the Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event for Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home.
100.
Bill Maher was honored by High Times as "Top Pot Comic in 2006" and Real Time won a Stony Award in 2006 for "Best Cable News Show".
101.
Bill Maher has said his comedic influences include Lenny Bruce, Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, Robert Klein, and George Carlin.
102.
Comedians who have said they were influenced by Bill Maher include Chris Rock.
103.
In 2005, Bill Maher began dating Karrine Steffans, author and former hip hop model.
104.
In 2012, Bill Maher purchased a minority ownership interest in the New York Mets.