Bill Maher dismisses speculation of quitting HBO show: 'Have to drag me off'
Despite speculating late last year that he "may quit" ahead of another Trump administration, "Real Time" host Bill Maher told CNN that he’s not quitting his program.
Maher told CNN anchor Jake Tapper on Friday that although he’s probably going to retire from doing stand-up tours, he’s not stepping down from his popular Friday night show. If anything, he’ll have to be forced out.
"I don’t know where this started about I’m getting rid of ‘Real Time.’ I — they’re going to have to drag me off of that show," he said.
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Maher reportedly earns $10 million per year for his HBO show that he has been hosting since 2003.
During an episode of Maher’s "Club Random" podcast last December, the comic and outspoken Trump critic told guest Jane Fonda he "may quit" because he doesn’t want to do material about another term with President-elect Trump in the White House.
"I may quit because I don't want to do another. I did Trump. I did all the Trump stuff before anybody. I called him a con man before anybody. I did. He's a mafia boss. I was the one who said he wasn't going to concede the election. I've done it."
During Friday night’s episode of CNN’s "The Lead," Tapper asked Maher about the quote, assuming he meant quitting his show. The anchor said, "But there’s talk promulgated by you about maybe you quitting the HBO show–"
"No," the HBO host interjected. Tapper followed-up, adding, "Well, you said something to Jane Fonda about — about thinking about that. Where are you in your career? You still got a lot of good stand-up, a lot of good jokes in you, right? Like what — tell us what — what’s next?"
Maher admitted that he’s planning on quitting stand-up because he’s tired of touring and has too many other things going on.
"OK. I am stopping doing stand-up, just because I’m tired of touring, just because I’ve been doing it for 40 years. I love it," he said.
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After comparing training for stand-up to training to be a boxer, he said, "I’ve been in training for 40 years. I need a break. And I’m tired of the travel. I’m tired of dragging my a-- out of bed on Saturday morning to go to someplace after I worked so hard on ‘Real Time’ all week."
He then clarified what he said to Fonda during his show – that he simply doesn’t want to cover Trump again.
"What I was saying was that I didn’t want to do another Trump term. Not just because I don’t think it’s going to be possibly a great time for America. Maybe again, not going to pre-hate anything, but because I’ve already done all the jokes about Donald Trump."
Maher added, "I don’t know what else to say about the guy. But of course, he will provide us with a lot of new material. And I’ll get into it, but I was hoping that in the episodic television show that is America, I was hoping for some new characters."