Category: comedy

Bill Maher on “The Moocher Nation”

October 24, 2026 • 9:15 am

Yes, yes, a Caturday felid post is coming. . .

In this week’s “Real Time” segment, Bill Maher, pointing to the unrest in France, dons his curmudgeon’s mantle to discuss socialism—or rather, the socialism of the aged, and that includes both French and Americans.  He explains why socialism is so popular with the young: “They see the government paying older folks to sit around all day and they say, ‘Hey! Where’s my monthly check for doing dick?’.” In other words, American young are socialists because older people have it (Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid) but the youngsters don’t. As Maher says, “If you’re a senior citizen, you’re already living like Mamdani is President.” Where are my subsidized groceries and free public transportation?

But Maher adds that both France and America are overpaying the elderly, redistributing income to a group of senior citizens that was much smaller in 1940 than now.  On the other hand, far more young people are now living with their parents, claiming a portion of that redistributed income.

The solution is curmudgeonly: we need to put more money back into circulation by stopping paying “moochers” who get money by, says Maher, claiming disabilities.  This kind of mooching is, he says, rife in the U.K. and making its way to the U.S. Of course not all of that is “mooching”, as there are lots of people who can’t work or can’t find jobs, but Maher argues that many of those who claim mental disabilities are just defeated by “what we call ‘Life’.”

The panelists you see are: Steve Hilton (author and Republican candidate for California’s Governor) and Andy Beshear, Democratic Governor of Kentucky. Not shown is the panelist, former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and I can’t find the discussion with her. However, both Variety and The Daily Beast have attacked Maher for cozying up to and “fawning” over Leavitt, though in an earlier show he “brutally humiliated” her.

This is a bit more ranty than most of Maher’s bits, and his solution to the problem seems poorly formulated, though we’re gonna have to do something when Social Security runs out of dough in six years.

Bill Maher on the uselessness of the Greeks (sororities and fraternities)

October 11, 2026 • 9:45 am

Starting with the recent accusations of gang rape against 7 denizens of a fraternity at Cornell University, Bill Maher’s latest real-time episode takes out after the Greek houses, including sororities. (Maher went to Cornell, with a double major in literature and history).  I agree with Maher: when I went to William & Mary, I participated in fraternity rush, but gave up after visiting two houses and seeing the “brothers” making cryptic notes on the freshmen. I’d prefer to find brothers using my own criteria rather than theirs, and many of the friends I made, most not in fraternities, are still friends today.

While he doesn’t conclude anything about whether there was a rape or not, but he does think that fraternities, with their hazing, drinking, and rowdiness, don’t conform to their mission to produce “gentlemen.”  I’ve never heard of the “elephant walk” he describes as a bonding event. but Grok (below) affirms that it has been a real thing.

The guests you see on the panel are U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Sara Eisen (financial reporter for CNBC). 

The “elephant walk” described by Grok (my quesiton in bold). I’ve left out the links.

Do fraternities really practice the “elephant walk”?

Yes, some fraternities have practiced the “elephant walk” as a hazing ritual, though it is not universal, is often illegal, and has become less common (or more underground) due to bans, lawsuits, and scrutiny.

The ritual typically involves pledges (new members) forming a single-file line or circle, frequently while nude or partially clothed. Each person holds the genitals of the person in front of or behind them and walks together. Variations include inserting a thumb into the anus of the person ahead (sometimes with a rule that if it slips out, the thumb goes in the mouth). The posture is said to resemble elephants linked trunk-to-tail. It is framed by participants as a bonding or loyalty test through shared humiliation.

Documentation and evidence

  • It is treated as a known practice in academic work. Folklorists Alan Dundes and Lauren Dundes analyzed it in their 2002 essay “The Elephant Walk and Other Amazing Hazing: Male Fraternity Initiation through Infantilization and Feminization,” placing it in the broader context of humiliating initiation rites.
  • Dictionaries and references record the slang meaning explicitly (e.g., Wiktionary).
  • News coverage has referenced it as an established form of hazing. A prominent 2019 case involved Sacramento State’s Delta Chi chapter: an anonymous tip with a photo of a “simulation” (clothed men holding objects) triggered an investigation. Participants described it as an educational skit about hazing rather than the real thing; the university treated the allegation seriously amid other Greek life issues. Other reports and student accounts mention similar incidents or rumors at various schools.

I still have trouble believing this!

Bill Maher on the surveillance state and “Generation TMZ”

October 4, 2026 • 10:00 am

“TMZ” of course, is an entertainment news network, including a TV show and a website. The reference is to kids of this generation being filmed and photographed all the time, which is said to cause anxiety and paranoia.  One example is his reference to the Wall Street Journal article, “Suddenly everyone is scared to dance at concerts and clubs.” But the whole culture has turned voyeuristic, making everybody afraid to be themselves.

This is not a particularly good episode, as the point is not that earthshaking, but I post it for the record.

The guests this week were author Malcolm Gladwell, journalist Fareed Zakaria, and journalist Anand Giridharadas, but you don’t see any of them in this segment.

Bill Maher on accidental bipartisanship

October 2, 2026 • 8:15 am

This week Bill Maher’s comedy/news bit on “Real Time” mourns the lack of bipartisanship in American politics—something that was once admired but now is denigrated. His two examples of how both parties contributed to improving society involve drugs—the dramatic decrease of death from street drugs like fentanyl as well as the price drops in widely-used prescription drugs. Maher argues that this wasn’t due to deliberate collaboration between the Dems and GOP, but was “accidental bipartisanship”:each party independently did things that contributed to the overall welfare.

People aren’t going to be happy with Maher saying that the GOP did anything worthwhile, though.

The guests you see on the panel are the journalists Jonathan Swan and James Kirchick. 

Bill Maher on the economic apocalypse

September 19, 2026 • 8:30 am

This week’s “New Rule” bit on Bill Maher’s Real Time show is about the financial apocalypse that might result from the American national debt now being $40 trillion.  And despite that, Trump keeps increasing it, despite his promises to cut it. He also says that he’ll give every American $5,000, which will add another trillion to the debt.

And the Left, as exemplified by the Democratic Socialists of America (but also “progressives”), tells us that in the future the government will pay for everyone’s housing, health insurance, food, daycare, medicine, and transportation. (Maher says the DSA promises will cost the government between $72 trillion and $212 trillion.) On top of this we have a growing rate of unemployment, defined as “people who are looking for work but can’t find it.” Maher’s conclusion about what this assumes: “Money is free (to be given away) and consequences don’t exist.”

And he’s right—we do have a problem. Although the problem will not afflict my generation so much, it will squeeze future generations: raising interest rates, reducing government benefits, increasing inflation, and reducing purchasing power.

The panel guests  are Democratic political strategist Jessica Tarlov and conservative political activist Christopher Rufo x

Bill Maher schools the young and the anti-Israel Democrats

September 13, 2026 • 8:15 am

At the end of September I posted about the BBC’s refusal to use the word “terrorist” when referring to Hamas. They could use it when quoting other people, but you can’t call a terrorist a terrorist when it applies to Palestinians who kill civilians for political, ideological, or religious aims. This also applies to other media outlets, as you can see in Bill Maher’s latest “Real Time” segment below. 

A reader sent me a link to the 9-minute comedy-and-news bit, which this week was more news than comedy. And the reader noted that this was one of “his best ever” and that it “should be required viewing for every incoming college freshman in America.” It is indeed, as Maher calls out the young generation for coddling terrorism, valorizing Luigi Mangione, and touting America as the worst country ever. 

The moral confusion afflicting the young and the “progressives” is most pervasive when discussing Israel’s response to terrorism emanating from Gaza, which, Maher emphasizes, is NOT a genocide but a “counterattack in a war. . . that’s been waged by Israel since 1948”.  And he quotes a poll saying that 20% of Gen Z members have a “positive view of Osama bin Laden.” Seriously?

The genocide canard is the most infuriating lie told by progressives, even though it’s easily dispelled by citing the many things Israel did to protect Palestinian civilians from harm during its counterattack. But that doesn’t matter; the chuckleheads waving the “genocide” banner ignore both vocabulary and history, so eager are they to smear Israel. (You never hear them accusing Hamas of genocide.) As Maher says, that Big Lie is not only wrong, but also promotes antisemitism:

“Gaza equals genocide is a lie—an easily provable lie.  And the fact that so many prominent Democrats get along with it is to me, the party’s worst moment since they ended Reconstruction after the Civil War.”

“This is where antisemitism is coming from.  . . because if you really think someone is committing genocide, of course you have full permission to hate them.  And history shows, for whatever reason, when it comes to hating the Jews, people don’t need a lot of permission.”

The guest whose faces and applause appear in this segment are Max Brooks, an author, actor, and historian, and Sarah Longwell:. a conservative publisher and political strategist. 

I should add that I tweeted this segment yesterday, and the antisemites came out in droves. It’s scary, but also evidence that Jew hatred is more pervasive than we—or at least I—know. Have a look at the comments on this tweet (click on it):

Sometimes I feel that these people wouldn’t be happy unless either Israel never fought back against terrorism, or in fact disappeared from the face of the Earth.

Bill Maher’s “new rule”: the young are puppeteering the lunatrocracy

August 29, 2026 • 11:15 am

In yesterday’s “Real Time” comedy-and-politics bit, Bill Maher calls attention to the fact that much of the real work in Congress isn’t done by the older Senators and Representatives, but rather by their staff, who may be “too young.”

In other words, the 20-somethings are writing the bills, and, as Maher said, “the kids are not all right.”  In Maher’s view, these kids , whatever their politics, grew up on social media, and on the Left they’re too woke and on the Right they’re too conservative and racist (40% of Republican staffers are fans of Nick Fuentes!). Neither side, he maintains, understands the art of compromise and of rational analysis aimed at producing solution.  The Democrats, though, seem to get most of Maher’s flak.  At the end he says, “The problem isn’t just the old farts; maybe it’s also the new little shits.”

Maher’s guests on this segment include Byron Donalds, a Republican Congressman from Florida, and Molly Jong-Fast, author and host of the Fast Politics podcast (as well as the daughter of Erica Jong).