Bill Maher Pondered Political Conventions and the Youth Vote

It’s only been a month since the last time a new episode of Real Time With Bill Maher aired, and yet it feels like the changes to the 2024 election have been far more seismic. Obviously, that has to do with the change at the top of the Democratic ticket — and in the wake of the DNC, Maher had both major parties’ recent conventions in mind.

That included a swing at this year’s RNC, about which Maher expressed his surprise at the lack of former presidents and nominees speaking. “I’ve never seen a convention where the party just disowned its complete past like that,” he said.

For the episode’s lead interview, Maher spoke with CNN host Kaitlan Collins, who was on the scene for both the Democratic and Republican conventions. “I’ve never shaken so many hands,” she said of the DNC, and she and Maher both spoke glowingly of the experience of being on the floor as the event played out.

Maher asked Collins for her take on the two events: “Who won?”

“What’s your measurement?” she responded. Eventually, she stated that both were “well-produced.” But that praise came with some criticism as well. “Conventions are never surprising any more,” she said. “You didn’t know what the outcome was going to be.”

Maher went on to raise one criticism of the Democratic nominee — namely, that Harris hasn’t spoken to the media very much. Collins took a more philosophical stance at first, saying, “I don’t know if it’s worse than denigrating the press on a daily basis.” But ultimately, she did agree that she’d like to see Harris do more interviews: “I think anyone who wants to have access to the nuclear codes should be willing to sit down and take questions.”

That eventually led to the Vice President’s association with a certain Charli XCX song. “Somehow, Kamala got to be ‘brat,’” Maher said.

“Are you jealous?” Collins replied, and went on to state that she saw this as one approach to getting out the youth vote. She went on to compare that to former President Trump’s appearance on “a lot of podcasts — people that, maybe, most people haven’t heard of.”

By the end of the interview, Maher and Collins had engaged in lyrical analysis of the single in question — and Maher made his case that the lyrics applied far more to another candidate in the race. “You think Trump is brat?” Collins said. “I think he’s very brat,” Maher replied.

Unmarried, Childless Women Are Happiest, According to an Expert

Men, on the other hand, actually benefit more from marriage

Some other notable moments from the episode:

Maher on the Democrats nominating Kamala Harris: “It’s like a romcom! You were there all along…”
For this episode’s panel, Maher was joined by two guys with very different politics: Democratic strategist James Carville and Republican House member Dan Crenshaw. This led to a few two-way and even three-way disputes on policies and metrics.
Crenshaw repeatedly referred to the Democratic Party as the “Democrat Party,” which finally prompted a rebuke from Carville.
Carville on RFK Jr.: “There’s nothing wrong with being weird. That boy ain’t right.”
Maher on contrasting technological achievements with the tendency to abandon broken furniture: “We can replicate the power of the sun in a lab, but if a spring pops on a barcalounger — fuck it! Leave it on the sidewalk.”
New Rules found Maher riffing on Sen. JD Vance’s comments on childless people. “Thanks, Phyllis Schafly,” he quipped. “Let me check my beeper to see if 1993 called.”
As Maher pointed out, he’s been making the case for a lifetime spent being single for decades now. Or, as he phrased it, “I was barren before it was cool.”
That line of discussion also led to this memorable turn of phrase: “I think people who don’t smoke weed are missing out, but that doesn’t mean Woody Harrelson gets to vote twice.” And then he plugged the pot store that he and Harrelson are owners of.