A New “Real Time With Bill Maher” Had Plenty of Diagnoses

Earlier this year, at a time when he was still in the midst of an independent campaign for the presidency, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. appeared on Real Time With Bill Maher. The resulting episode included some unexpected moments, including Maher — not always a big vaccine advocate — critiquing Kennedy’s position on the issue.

It’s now almost seven months later and Kennedy could be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy’s prominence — and what the next Cabinet might look like — provided an overarching structure for this week’s episode. First up? An interview with Casey Means, co-author of Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health.

Means has spoken of the need for healthcare to take a more holistic view; she and her brother (and co-author) Calley have had a growing amount of political cachet as of late. Isabella Cueto wrote in an October article for STAT that the Meanses are “now buzzing in the same orbit as Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and even former President Donald Trump.”

Maher brought up the fact that he, Means and Kennedy had in common a critique of the existing health care system. And while Means spoke approvingly of Kennedy and the Trump campaign, many of her points — including taking issue with ultra-processed foods, pesticides, factory farming and plastic — didn’t feel overly partisan. She also pointed to health care spending and life expectancy in the U.S. ”We are the sickest of the top 11 high-income countries in the world,” she told Maher.

As was the case when Kennedy appeared on Real Time, Maher was skeptical of some of Means’s pronouncements. He also offered a partial defense of Kennedy, but also observed that “he’s certainly said some crazy shit.” (Means probably didn’t help when she pointed out Kennedy’s penchant for speaking to ravens.)

“I want there to be antibiotics in the world,” Maher said. “I just don’t want to ever need them.”

The idea of diagnosing ills — whether physical or political — continued during the panel, when Mary Katherine Ham and Chris Cuomo came on stage. Maher brought up the discrepancy between Democrats and Republicans with respect to the peaceful transfer of power. “One side accepts election losses and one side doesn’t,” he said. “This asymmetry cannot continue.”

Later, his language about politics got specifically medical. “This country is like a compacted colon,” Maher said. Ham, meanwhile, observed that “[a] Trump transition is like taking an edible.” There were a few interesting moments throughout the night, including Cuomo and Maher discussing the difference between a kakistocracy and a plutocracy. But the moments where panelists cited well-trod talking points (Ham on the Pennsylvania Senate race) or made arguments they’ve made countless times (Maher on Democrats and “wokeness”) were more representative.

Maybe some of that came from this episode coming up late in the current season. It’s the penultimate Real Time of 2024, and Maher had an interesting announcement to make about another part of his career. Declaring that “you have two more shots in this lifetime” to see him do stand-up, Maher told the audience that has no onstage appearances scheduled for 2025. We’ll see if that changes.

Bill Maher Defended Vaccines on This Week’s “Real Time”

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was among the evening’s guests

Other notable moments from the episode:

Maher on president-elect Trump’s Cabinet picks: “Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, because Diddy was not available.”
Apparently Chris Cuomo voted for his brother for president.
Number of Gulliver’s Travels references this episode: one.
Not a fan of Maher making jokes at the expense of trans athletes, which happened this week.
Cuomo used the phrase “a conflict check up the wazoo” to describe Elon Musk potentially heading a government initiative with the acronym DOGE.