Bill Maher has suggested he could quit his HBO talk show Real Time with Bill Maher after the re-election of Donald Trump.
The comedian, 68, has hosted the political chat show since 2003.
Speaking to guest Jane Fonda on his podcast Club Random, Maher said he already felt exhausted by the prospect of having to cover the Trump administration for another four years.
“I mean I may quit,” said Maher.
“I don’t want to do another… I did Trump. I did all the Trump stuff before anybody. I called him a con man before anybody. I did, ‘He’s a mafia boss.’ I was the one who said he wasn’t going to concede the election. I’ve done it. I’ve seen this f***ing...”
Fonda then interjected to ask: “Well then how come he’s so hostile to Jimmy Kimmel and not to you?”
Maher responded: “He’s very hostile to me. He tweets about me every week. Every week he accidentally watches my show and goes, ‘Low ratings loser!’ I’m bored with it.
“The show is the politics. There is no other thing. And he’s going to dominate the news like he always does.”
In September, Trump attacked Maher in a post on Truth Social, writing: “The ratings challenged Bill Maher, on his increasingly boring show on HBO, is really having a hard time coping with TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
The President-elect went on to describe Maher as a “befuddled, mess, sloppy and tired,” and added: “And every conversation, with B and C list guests, seems to start with, or revert back to, ME!”
After the presidential election in November, Maher had some harsh words for Democrats shocked that Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris.
“My message to the losers: losers look in the mirror,” said Maher.
“For months, Democrats have been saying ‘How is this even close?’ And they’re right. It wasn’t,” he continued.
Legacy media, political analysts and Democratic voters were not expecting Harris to lose by such a large margin. Pollsters predicted the election would be close but predicted the vice president would narrowly pull off a win.
Maher suggested that, had Democrats noticed the warning signs, perhaps the party could have altered its messaging in time.
“Losers look in the mirror,” he repeated.
In March, HBO renewed Real Time with Bill Maher for another two seasons to run until at least 2026. In a statement at the time, Maher said: “Two more years in the dream job of a lifetime, on the network so many dream of being on — I think that’s what we call a no-brainer.”
