Despite speculation late last year that he “might quit before Trump takes office again,” “Now” host Bill Maher told CNN he would not be quitting his show.
Maher told CNN anchor Jake Tapper on Friday that while he may be quitting the stand-up comedy tour, he won’t be quitting his popular Friday night show. No matter what, he had to be forced out.
“I don’t know where it all started, that I was going to get off ‘The Instant’. I – they were going to have to pull me off that show,” he said.
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“Now” host Bill Maher told CNN he will not quit the HBO show because President-elect Trump is re-elected to the White House. (Screenshot/CNN)
Maher, who has hosted the HBO show since 2003, reportedly earns $10 million a year.
Last December, during an episode of Maher’s “Club Random” podcast, the humorous and outspoken Trump critic told guest Jane Fonda that he “probably quit” because he didn’t want to compete with President-elect Trump Another term for Trump in the White House.
“I’d probably resign because I didn’t want to do the second thing. I did Trump. I did all the Trump stuff before anyone else. I called him a liar before anyone else. I did it.
On CNN’s “The Lead” Friday night, Tapper asked Maher what that meant, assuming he meant quitting the show. “But you spread rumors that you might be quitting the HBO show –” the host said.
“No,” the HBO host interjected. Tapper continued, “Well, you said something to Jane Fonda about thinking about this. Where are you at in your career? You still have a lot of great stand-up, a lot of great jokes, right? “Like – tell us – what happens next? “
Maher admitted that he planned to quit stand-up comedy because he was tired of touring and had too many other things to do.
“Okay. I’m not doing stand-up anymore, 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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Bill Maher on his podcast “Club Random.” (Screenshot/Club Random Media)
After comparing stand-up training to training to become a boxer, he said, “I’ve been training for 40 years. I needed a break. And I’m tired of traveling. I’m tired of dragging my feet.” — In Me After a hard week of working on Real Time, I get up on Saturday morning and go somewhere.
He then clarified what he said to Fonda on the show — that he just didn’t want to cover Trump anymore.
“What I’m saying is, I don’t want to do another Trump term. Not just because I think it’s probably not going to be a great moment for America. Maybe again, I don’t hate anything in advance, but It’s because I’ve told all my Donald Trump jokes.
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Maher added: “I don’t know what else to say about the guy. But, of course, he’s going to give us a lot of new material. I’ll get into it, but I hope to see that in the TV series.” That’s America, I hope there are some new characters.
