Bill Maher doesn’t have any plans to hit the road again for more stand-up comedy shows due to the current intense political divide in the United States.
The comedian and host of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher recently chatted with Patton Oswalt on his Club Random podcast, where he opened up about why he’s decided to stop doing live comedy shows.
“I feel like it was a great choice because I don’t want to be out there in this country in this political atmosphere. I could get shot by the left or the right,” he said. “It’s a good time to not be out there.”
In addition to getting “tired of the travel,” Maher said he also “got tired of being twice as funny as people who were selling twice as many tickets as me.”
“That’s, you know, partly because I’m on TV every week,” he continued. “And not that I didn’t sell a lot of tickets and do great theaters, but I didn’t sell arenas, and some people did who frankly are not that great. But, you know, when the audience is 35 to 45, they don’t want to see somebody 70. I want to see my generation, and it’s OK. I still have my show. I have this. I didn’t need it. I miss it, but that’s part of what it is.”
Maher, who has been outspoken about his moderately democratic views for years, describing himself as “an old-school liberal,” has faced backlash from both sides of the political aisle.
While he’s regularly criticized Donald Trump and other conservative figures, in April, the comedian shared his new perspective on the president following their meeting at the White House. Maher concluded that Trump was actually “gracious and measured,” and not like the “person who plays a crazy person on TV,” drawing criticism from some, such as Marc Maron.
Maher’s most recent comedy special, Bill Maher: Is Anyone Else Seeing This?, premiered earlier this year on HBO.
