YMMV / Real Time with Bill Maher

• Broken Base:
  • Many of Maher's fans heavily criticized his decision to have infamous troll and alt-right poster boy Milo Yiannopoulos as his interview guest for his February 17, 2017 show, saying that it gave him a national platform to spout "racist, transphobic, and homophobic" views. Other fans loyal to Bill defended his decision, saying that liberals would look like cowards if they refused to challenge opposing views, similar to how Maher defended his actions by arguing that "sunlight is the best disinfectant."
  • Some liberals/left-wingers claim that he is unfair to them as well as Muslims. Others, however, say that his criticisms of these groups are valid and need to be said. A third camp says that he makes good points, but still focuses too much on pointing out (what he considers) negative traits on these groups.
• Confirmation Bias: Maher attempts to subvert this, but generally if you agree with him you will like it, if you disagree with him you will hate it.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • From the May 8th, 2009 episode: "New Rule: The Supreme Court is a deliberative body, not a sausage party. We need a court that looks like America, not like a hundred-year reunion of the Whiffenpoofs. That's why Obama needs to find a non-lawyer, single parent with disabilities who is also a bi-curious black woman. [slide of Michael Jackson] Michael Jackson, your comeback starts now!" He died a month later.
  • In March 2012, after the Trayvon Martin shooting, Bill did a New Rule criticizing President Obama and the Democratic party for not fighting for stronger and more sensible gun laws, saying "Stand Your Ground, guns in bars, guns in church, guns in the classroom... Where does it end? Why not guns in the delivery room? What if my fetus is armed and comes out firing?". In April 2013, Texas Congressman Steve Stockman said in all seriousness "If babies had guns, they wouldn't be aborted.".
  • In the aftermath of the September 2008 recession, Bill tells his guests he found footage of someone on his show who saw it coming and tried to warn everyone. Who was it? Bill himself, in a 2005 episode.
  • In February 2016, he complained about the Supreme Court of the United States striking down an EPA rule, and asked how anything can be done in America if it 'has to be run by Antonin Scalia first.' Literally that night, Scalia died. Two weeks after that, he mentioned Nancy Reagan, and she died two days later. On the third week, he admitted that something spooky was going on with his show, and then namedropped Dick Cheney.
  • In 2010 he did a segment on how British conservatives are better than their American counterparts. This was before Brexit, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and their severe austerity program started.
  • Just a week after Bill spoke at a mock funeral for Donald Trump in the "Here Lies Donald Trump" segment, Trump's younger brother Robert died from injuries he sustained in a fall.
  • In 2019, Bill discussed the differences between the two major American political parties, noting that Al Gore conceded for the good of the country after a tumultuous election, and asked if Donald Trump would do the same. After the 2020 election, we learned that the answer was a resounding "No", with Trump refusing to concede and making baseless claims that the election was "stolen", leading to his supporters forcibly storming the US Capitol in the January 6th uprising in an attempt to prevent Joe Biden from taking office.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: In April 2011, Bill delivered the New Rule "Charlie Don't Serf", in which he urged Americans to stand up to the corporations who have been abusing the American socioeconomic system. In September that same year, the first Occupy Wall Street rally took place, which managed to influence American politics, coining terms like "The 1%", and has made people pay more attention to the increasing disparity between rich and poor people.
• He Panned It, Now He Sucks!: For whatever reason (besides maybe Hype Aversion), he's always had a stick up his ass about comics, especially with the popularity of its film adaptations after the MCU, with a tirade intended to be Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids! that somehow related comic book films with Donald Trump getting elected that instead made him get mocked as "Old Man Yells At Cloud", and a second one at bringing it up again shortly after Stan Lee's death, with people further calling bullshit when he claimed he was taken out of context and that was (somehow) proving his point.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In the last show of his halfway point in the 2013 season, Bill remarked that "I get why Republicans don't want to come on my show, but I couldn't get Obama when he was a senator, Biden won't come on, Pelosi won't. Am I just the pot-smoking potty-mouthed talk show host to most Democrats?" Nancy Pelosi was his very first guest when the show came back from break (supposedly she saw said line and asked to come on). He didn't get the Obama visit until late 2016, at the tail end of Obama's presidency.
  • One segment criticizing cryptocurrencies had Bill expressing his puzzlement at Elon Musk accepting them at his Tesla company, noting how cryptocurrency mining has been noted for having massive energy consumption that contributes to pollution (especially puzzling since Tesla is an electric vehicle and clean energy company), and overall being skeptical of the stability of cryptocurrencies. Sure enough, mere days after the segment aired, Musk announced that Tesla would stop accepting cryptocurrencies, specifically citing its pollution as a reason, and his announcement alone cause the stock of Bitcoin and Dogecoin to drop 16%, which critics of cryptocurrencies claimed proved their volatility.
• Periphery Demographic: Despite being an outspoken Democrat, Maher has a surprising number of right-wing viewers, who appreciate his willingness to call out his own side from time to time and being by far the most politically moderate of the major late night comedy hosts.
• The Scrappy: One of Bill's most frequent guests, economics writer Stephen Moore, is widely hated for being seen as a near-cartoonish conservative strawman. (Ironically, he's one of Bill's closer friends.)

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