“If you like authoritarianism, it’s been a good week for you.” So said Bill Maher early in this week’s episode of Real Time, which made for something of an emotional rollercoaster. There was the righteous anger that’s shown up on a number of recent episodes, but there was also a trip into comedy history that made for a much lighter interview segment to kick things off.
Maher’s first guest was SNL alum and podcast host Dana Carvey, who showed up and rapidly demonstrated his skill at impressions. Over the course of the segment, the audience got to hear Carvey channel the likes of Joe Biden, Johnny Carson, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., John F. Kennedy, Paul McCartney and George H.W. Bush. “This is why hosts feel so superfluous when you’re on,” Maher said to Carvey at one point.
Perhaps the most emblematic section came when Carvey recalled a moment when he’d reprised his Church Lady character for an onstage event with Bill Gates. Carvey not only channeled one of his most famous creations; he also performed spot-on impressions of both Gates and Gollum.
The conversation resembled nothing quite so much as Martin Short’s in-character interview of Maher last year. Maher was clearly having a blast, and Carvey got a few memorable quips in, at one point saying of his own podcast that “it ain’t no Club Random.”
Maher also spent some time discussing the art of comedy, another recurring theme of his on the show. Of Carvey’s impressions, Maher observed that “you got at the essence” of the different celebrities and politicians he’d channeled over the years. “You’ve got to take the piss out of the powerful,” he added.
The comedy discussion stopped when Ezra Klein and Andrew Sullivan took to the stage to talk politics. (“We’re the serious people now,” Maher said.) Sullivan quickly made a heated defense of due process.
“I’m an immigrant to this country!” he said. “That’s why I came here — because this is a country of freedom! And [Trump’s] telling us that it isn’t.”
The three men also discussed the Democratic Party’s current struggles. “Donald Trump wins people who don’t like to think about politics,” Klein observed.
In the episode’s final segment, Maher turned his attention on DOGE, noting that military cuts have largely been off the table — even though internal reports on overcharging there have found plenty of evidence.
“I may not know how to code like Elon’s nerd brigade, but I can read a fucking pie chart,” Maher said — before segueing into a thorough critique of the Department of Homeland Security for good measure.
Other notable moments this week:
- Apparently Steve Bannon will be a guest on an upcoming episode. That should be interesting.
- As will Gavin Newsom.
- Maher on California’s high-speed rail project: “Who the hell wants to go from Bakersfield to Merced?”
- Klein: argued that “regulation” should be replaced by “rules.” “You have to be outcomes-focused,” he added.
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
