Bill Maher Threatened To Quit ‘Real Time’, But HBO Late-Night Chief Is Not Worried: “He Was Joking Around”

Peter White
·2-min read

Fans of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher shouldn’t be worried about the comedian quitting his weekly show.

He was joking around, according to HBO exec Nina Rosenstein.

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On a recent episode of his Club Random podcast, Maher told guest Jane Fonda that he was “sh*tting his pants” over Donald Trump’s second, upcoming Presidency.

“It’s hard to believe,” he said. “I mean, 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.”

Asked whether she was worried that he might actually leave the show, Rosenstein, who is EVP, HBO Programming, Late Night and Specials, told Deadline, “So many people have asked that. He recorded that podcast right after the election and he was honestly joking around. He’ll always say his first love is Real Time.”

Fonda tried to encourage the comedian to “find a new thing to do and not do Trump,” but Maher replied the “show is the politics.” “There’s no other thing, and he’s going to dominate the news like he always does,” he added.

Rosenstein’s confidences comes after the network renewed Real Time for two more seasons, taking Maher through to the end of 2026. That would make it 23 years on the network.

Real Time with Bill Maher is exec produced by Maher, Sheila Griffiths, Marc Gurvitz, Dean Johnsen and Billy Martin. Chris Kelly is co-executive producer, Matt Wood is producer and Paul Casey is director.

Last month, Maher also revealed that he was doing another comedy special on HBO. He just taped Bill Maher: Is Anyone Else Seeing This? for a January premiere.

“I almost called this special You Won’t Feel Safe, because if you’re purely a team player in American politics, you won’t,” Maher said. “This one is for the 80% of Americans who want to see crazy called out no matter where it comes from. And the last twenty minutes on my sex life, that’s for everybody.”

Rosenstein said Maher’s “comedic commentary has been an extraordinary part” of HBO for over 20 years. “We truly value his steadfast commitment to honesty and humor, which we know will be front and center in his next special,” she added.

This special comes as HBO is celebrating scoring half of the nominations for a Golden Globe in the Best Performance In Stand-Up Comedy On Television category, going head-to-head with Netflix, which has the other three specials.

HBO has Nikki Glaser: Someday You’ll Die, Seth Meyers: Dad Man Walking and Ramy Youssef: More Feelings competing against Netflix’s Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was, Adam Sandler: Love You and Ali Wong: Single Lady.

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