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Real Time with Bill Maher has been on HBO since 2003. I admit that I watched with some regularity in those first years. I was young, then, and enjoyed the fact that for some reason his face visually reminded me of Sylvester the Cat. Mainly I tuned in for the New Rules segment at the end. My favorites were the absurdist, non-political throw away ones he’d mix in, like “new rule: cornbread isn’t bread, it’s cake!” and then he’d move onto the next with no further explanation. During his twenty-year tenure, Maher has offered a veritable cornucopia of reasons to be fired. Yet stubbornly, he remains. Let’s see how he fairs with his latest stunt, which is bringing back his show without his writers, during the ongoing strike. I guess he saw how well it was going for Drew Barrymore and wanted in on that glowing PR. Some words on the strike from Bill the Scab:

“Real Time is coming back, unfortunately, sans writers or writing. It has been five months, and it is time to bring people back to work,” Maher said Wednesday on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The WGA strike started in May and was swiftly joined by striking actors in the union known as SAG-AFTRA, which began their strike in July. Writers have asked the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers, which is made up of studios and executives, to provide them with better pay and residuals, bigger writers’ rooms and protections against artificial intelligence.

“The writers have important issues that I sympathize with, and hope they are addressed to their satisfaction. But they are not the only people with issues, problems, and concerns,” Maher continued on X. “Despite some assistance from me, much of the staff is struggling mightily. We all were hopeful this would come to an end after Labor Day, but that day has come and gone, and there still seems to be nothing happening. I love my writers, I am one of them, but I’m not prepared to lose an entire year and see so many below-the-line people suffer so much.”

Maher says that he will “honor the spirit of the strike” by not showing any written pieces.

“And I’ll say it upfront to the audience: the show I will be doing without my writers will not be as good as our normal show, full stop. But the heart of the show is an off-the-cuff panel discussion that aims to cut through the bullsh-t and predictable partisanship, and that will continue. The show will not disappoint,” he added.

Earlier this month, Maher criticized the WGA strike on his “Club Random” podcast.

“They’re asking for a lot of things that are, like, kooky,” Maher told stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan on the podcast. “What I find objectionable about the philosophy of the strike [is] it seems to be, they have really morphed a long way from 2007’s strike, where they kind of believe that you’re owed a living as a writer, and you’re not. This is show business. This is the make-or-miss league.”

[From HuffPost]

Yeah, those goofy demands of writers to be able to, you know, get healthcare and pay rent! To borrow my grandmother’s Yiddish, what a schmuck. This line also really leapt out at me: “We were all hopeful this would come to an end after Labor Day, but that day has come and gone, and there still seems to be nothing happening.” File that away for future reference, union members — Summer holiday strikes are ok, but anything longer and you’re on your own. I don’t mean to minimize the struggle of below-the-line crew, because they are all out of work too right now, and not getting the same attention and recognition. But there are other ways to support them. And I doubt that fat cat Bill has even scratched the surface of his resources with the “assistance” he says he’s provided. I will agree with him on one point though: the show will not disappoint, but only because it hasn’t been good for years.

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