That's right, God of Emperor of Turn Mountain Will Weldon is back in the hosting chair (it's my wife's desk chair, which she will probably want back once she's back at work) to talk about the season 24 premiere of Real Time with Bill Maher. My guest this week? Writer, Comedian, and... pottist? Potterist? Pottery maker? Eliza Skinner. Eliza is immediately displeased with me for having her watch a modern episode, and then we are immediately confronted with the sub-punchlines of a monologue that mostly just feel like a guy saying stuff. But what of the actual political content of the show, you ask? Well, he sort of manages to be displeased with ICE, but his both sides obsession immediately takes over and, I'll admit it even just here in the episode discussion, I think the lack of acknowledgement of the bravery and patience and fortitude of the people of Minnesota fighting an illegal government paramilitary group sent to terrorize them is genuinely outrageous and offensive. God this guy's a fucking prick! Also, Eliza comes in hot with a new take on Bill Maher's sexuality.

In all sincerity, thanks so much for the kind words from everyone about the birth of my child, who has already been cast in the freaking sequel to It's Alive, folks!!!!! Also, thank you to all the guest hosts for helping me out, they all did even better than I'd hoped and I would've gone insane without them.

Primary Photo Credit for the episode art: Ben Hovland | MPR (Minnesota Public Radio)

Go buy some pottery from Eliza

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Unable to find a guest, fill-in host John Hastings flies solo and just rips one out for 51 straight minutes. He really brings out the specific resentments that only Canadians who lived in England for a while have, and then he combines that with the rage and shame that former Canadian young conservatives have. Then he has a go at the Kennedys. Honestly, I think the only person or people that come up who he doesn't have a grudge against is Willie Nelson. I listened to all of these at 1.5 speed before posting them and I think this one made me enter the Speed Force.

Check out John's multitude is specials here

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I continue to say "Hello baby" because I'm on paternity leave and babies need to be greeted, so writer and past guest Ella Dawson stepped in to cover my pathetic ass, and she brought fellow writer TJ Alexander with her! I could give a brief overview of the things they had to watch, but really I'll just warn people that PJ O'Rourke was on the panel and he's extremely fucking annoying.

Check out TJ's newest book, A Lady for All Seasons, here

Well well well, it would seem Ella ALSO has a book

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PATERNITY LEAVE HAS BEGUN! Special guest host Vera Drew ("The People's Joker") welcomes Nate Faustyn and David Allen from the Loose Lips podcast to talk Real Time season 9, episode 6. Vera wanted this specific episode for a reason she reveals once they get to it, and it's very funny to me, but before they all get there they have to sit through an ass kissing interview with Matt Taibbi, some bizarre prop comedy, and a SPECTACULARLY failed riff. PLUS a great example of why the producers of this show eventually gave up on taping it live.

I'm pretty sure this is the story Bill Maher references about the Muslim TV producer and then some follow up reporting from a a couple weeks later

Listen to Loose Lips here

If you haven't already, watch The People's Joker on Tubi on January 21st

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I ended up exposing myself to a lot of harmful Maher content over the year 2025, here is some of the stuff that has poisoned my brain the most. See you in 2026.

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00:00: Intro

01:47: Creep Shit

19:56: Failed Humor Attempts

26:51: Baffling Moments

36:52: Embarrassing Moments

48:30: Guest Moments

1:07:02: Petty Bitching

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Due to big time life stuff, I am unlocking this formerly Patreon exclusive episode which is about a piece of media that I think is kind of a foundational thing for I Hate Bill Maher: Bill Maher on "2 Angry Men", defending his dinner at the White House, and his subsequent monologue about it on the following episode of Real Time. He took the reaction to said monologue so poorly that he's still talking about it EVERY SINGLE WEEK, to this very day! However, this is him at his most freshly wounded, and thus he is truly unhinged in his response. That's right, this is the origin of "I should be a hero!" I don't even know if the actual podcast episode is that good outside of the clips, but the clips are genuinely really incredible. They're insane! "I should be a hero"!!! And he gets really fucking pissed when someone (barely) interrupts him. I'm getting myself worked up about it all over again just writing out this description!

For real, I think it's worth watching the full video of the 2 Angry Men episode

Support I Hate Bill Maher on Patreon, where there is plenty of other sicko shit like this just waiting

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I know that some of the more perverse listeners of the podcast prefer an episode that's like a rip roarin' 180 minutes long or whatever, but I have to admit that a one hour and fifteen minute episode about a fairly innocuous 60 minute television show was like, really good for me at this particular moment. The real downside is that internet sick-o Stefan Heck (streamer/podcaster) really deserved worse than this, but he also seemed authentically traumatized by having to watch Bella Thorne on Club Random a few months ago, so maybe that would've been too much, I don't know. He did have to sit through a lot of whining from Bill Maher, Joe Scarborough, and some freak from the AEI, but then he also got to enjoy watching a lone conservative truly get the absolute hell beaten out of him, to such a degree that I created a new award to give to him. I'm such a giving fucking person...

Check out Go Off Kings, listen to Blocked Party

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Comedian Jono Zalay joins the podcast just in time to experience something I was absolutely dreading: the hurricane Katrina episodes. That's right, one of the great tragedies and disasters in American history has arrived. While it's maybe not the best thing for the podcast, it's definitely easier on my brain that at least for now Bill Maher is extremely angry about it, and for the right reasons reasons and at the right people, but that doesn't mean there wasn't some weird and/or annoying shit at work here, especially on just a basic hosting skill level.

Listen to Jono's Album "Beat Life to Death" here

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A terrifying vision of a horrible alternate reality.

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