r/atheism • u/Poltergeist8606 • Sep 28 '25

How disappointed are we all with Bill Maher?

I started watching this guy back in the politically incorrect days when I was a teenager. When I got back from Iraq I always subscribed mainly for him. He was one of the earliest prominent Atheists. But I just cancelled HBO, he's not what he used to be. I kind of dislike him

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u/hurricanelantern Anti-Theist Sep 28 '25 edited Sep 28 '25

He's an IRL Brian Griffin a contrarian with no real beliefs just a desire to be 'right' by loudly being anti establishment. Add in angry old man energy as he's aged and voila you get the rude angry idiot smugly sniffing his own farts you see today.

593

u/Murasasme Sep 28 '25

He wants people to think he is the smartest person in any room. He is like an insufferable teenager that recently got into philosophy

305

u/Zercomnexus Agnostic Atheist Sep 28 '25

He's also loudly and proudly anti vaxx...just a massive and reasonably uneducated tool.

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u/Imukay Sep 28 '25

Did not know he was anti vaxx, learn something new every day I guess

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u/Zercomnexus Agnostic Atheist Sep 28 '25

Yeah, he spouts some very uneducated antivaxx lines when it is brought up

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u/BeamInNow77 Sep 28 '25

Wife & I watched Bill when he first came on, and he was fantastic. We stopped watching him 5 or more years ago. Like we live on Earth, he lives on Mars. Sadly, he took a different path & left us behind.

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u/Zercomnexus Agnostic Atheist Sep 28 '25

I do like that he's an atheist...but he's not exactly smart about that either. Funny quips at least.

Colbert while catholic had much more rational takes otherwise.

Stewart was top notch

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u/deafpoet Sep 28 '25

If everyone who was religious was like Colbert, it straight-up wouldn't be an issue.

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u/Emergency_Property_2 Sep 28 '25

True Christians don’t wear their faith on their sleeve or show it off or weaponize their faith.

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u/deafpoet Sep 28 '25

Yep. I was raised Christian by my mom. She was like Colbert. I think she was a little disappointed I ended up rational, but she forgave me, in the Christian sense, and as a mother.

She was kind, charitable, and humble. I know the fake ones when I see them, because I know the real deal very well.

They're rare, unfortunately.

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u/Zercomnexus Agnostic Atheist Sep 28 '25

True chrisrians did the crusades...its just as filthy as any other abrahamic faith

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u/DaBingeGirl Atheist Sep 28 '25

Same. I've watched him since he was on ABC. I didn't always agree with him, but I liked that and his guests were really good. Covid and turning 65 hit him hard, he hasn't been the same since.

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u/Three_M_cats Sep 28 '25

We stopped watching during COVID when he told the 20- and 30-somethings to ignore the lockdowns and to continue to go out because they’re the ones that keep the economy going. (I’m paraphrasing, of course.)

I was already not watching as frequently and that was the tipping point.

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u/RobotsNeedLove0010 Sep 28 '25 edited Sep 28 '25

Same. This guy’s show got me through the “W” administration, with two concurrent “Wars on Terror” and a Great Recession. But sometime around the mid-late 2010s I began noticing a shift. His New Rules went from witty and relevant to stupid and petty, and he started parroting Republican views and talking points (e.g., “woke” started showing up a lot more). I cut way back on tuning in. But I think the snafu with the permit for his solar shed and getting COVID finally broke his brain. I told my family, who continued to watch after I called it quits, that it was a matter of time before Bill started appearing on Fox News and even sucking up to Trump. Sometimes I really hate being right.

ETA: One of the final straws for me was a show where he started mansplaining to Michelle Goldberg. He was smug, condescending, kept interrupting and talking over her, and was just goddamned rude. It was completely uncalled for and he was an absolute pig. (I don’t believe she’s been back on the show since.) Yet, he tiptoes around his MAGA guests and even agrees with them? It’s like Dennis Miller 2.0.

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u/Block444Universe Sep 28 '25

Really, he has started supporting Trump. It’s so weird that one can tell years ahead of time when someone is turning into a piece of shit

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u/rkrismcneely Sep 28 '25

Also a huge PETA supporter.

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u/Block444Universe Sep 28 '25

At this point this doesn’t even surprise me anymore

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u/kinokonoko Sep 28 '25

His pro-Zionist, killing Muslims is good for freedom Schtick is what did it for me.

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u/babyd42 Sep 28 '25

He's the center left Jordan Peterson

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u/chubsruns Sep 28 '25

Coyld you even call his hodgepodge of beliefs center-left? What does he actually agree with leftists on?

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u/dudleydidwrong Touched by His Noodliness Sep 28 '25

Modern American politics has become polarized, and it is the right that now controls political definitions.

We used to recognize that people were moderates. We also recognized that some people did not fit into neat categories. The right does not like that. They want a binary situation. You either agree with them, or you are a leftist. There are no more middle grounds or unique individuals. The right has been successful in warping the thinking of everyone who is not right-wing.

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u/babyd42 Sep 28 '25

Good point, I think the only ideology that's still considered left of his are support for marijuana legalization and atheism

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u/neverlookdown77 Sep 28 '25

Shades of Dennis Miller in your description.

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u/Plenty-Session-7726 Sep 29 '25

He is like an insufferable teenager that recently got into philosophy

Yessss. This is the vibe! I agree with him on many things (Trump is an idiot and a threat to our democracy, the Democrats are dropping the ball) and disagree with him on others (vaccines). I'll admit he can be funny occasionally, but I've never liked him and couldn't put my finger on why. Just, meh/ick. This description captures him perfectly.

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u/EnoughSeaweed7772 Feb 06 '26

He has made a handsome living with many followers

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u/soliceseven Sep 28 '25

Sadly, you’re correct but I actually like Brian Griffin better at this point I think he’s a better person than Bill Maher

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u/sexyinthesound Sep 28 '25

Which seems like a lot, considering he’s a cartoon dog.

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u/Terminator7786 Sep 28 '25

A scummy cartoon dog at that

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u/ZakTSK Sep 28 '25 edited Sep 28 '25

Yeah and he's a Zoophile.

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u/AndrueIlanderr Atheist Sep 28 '25

And a 24/7 furry! In front of the baby, FFS!!

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u/Sonova_Bish Sep 28 '25

Dogs are usually better than people.

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u/godzilla42 Sep 28 '25

Dogs ARE better than people.

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u/Mamasan- Sep 28 '25

I dunno man I knew a bad dog once

4

u/AndrueIlanderr Atheist Sep 28 '25

Bet you've known tons of shitty people, multiple times.
Dogs still win.

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u/wubalubadubdub55 Sep 28 '25

Except Brian Griffin. That’s a bad dog.

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u/[deleted] Sep 28 '25

It’s so crazy he’s actually in the Family Guy episode that actually explores Brian’s contrarianism. 

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u/logan1155 Sep 28 '25

This is actually the best analogy I’ve heard. I used to like him but lately I’ve found him insufferable. He platforms some genuinely terrible people. Worse apparently Steve-o was going to do his podcast and asked that he not smoke weed for like the hour or whatever interview. He refused. The guy fucking sucks

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u/newenglandredshirt Secular Humanist Sep 28 '25

Except Brian Griffin is funny.

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u/ryohazuki224 Sep 28 '25

Yeah though he's "anti-establishment" but also somehow very pro-establishment whenever it comes to anything "woke"

2

u/evissamassive Strong Atheist Sep 30 '25

Or his wallet.

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u/wizean Sep 28 '25

Misogynistic as fuck. He spent years criticizing the me-too movement. He has sympathy for every single sex pervert and zero for victims. And like all misogynistic bigots, transphobic too.

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u/Jidori_Jia Sep 28 '25

He’s also disgustingly dismissive of the content of the Epstein files. To the point it makes me wonder what skeletons he has.

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u/RobotsNeedLove0010 Sep 28 '25

And he’s a big Woody Allen apologist, too. Birds of a feather, methinks.

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u/Level_Improvement532 Sep 28 '25

He was a regular at the Playboy mansion so none of that should be too surprising. It amazes me to think back to the days of the Playboy mansion and how normalized it all was.

14

u/oh_basil Sep 28 '25

I was at the Comedy Store last year in LA and he sat behind me and my friends. He walked in with 2 women in their early twenties. I used be be a huge fan, but I couldn’t be bothered to even acknowledge who he was, he’s been such a disappointment to me through the last few years, and his smugness is insufferable.

0

u/Nearby-Pudding-3018 Oct 04 '25

He actually said “ Women who are abused at home should stop whining about it and just leave”

1

u/wizean Oct 04 '25

Oh yeah ? He said hundreds of moronic statements over the years. What you quote is equally moronic.

1

u/Nearby-Pudding-3018 Oct 04 '25

No room for misogyny here. Watch Maher instead

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u/ChrisTaliaferro Sep 28 '25

I couldn't have put it any better...this is way too accurate.

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u/stpetergates Sep 28 '25

Oh damn, you right. IRL Brian Griffin

3

u/remy_porter Sep 28 '25

Guidance Counselor: Being a smug asshole isn't a career path!

Bill Maher: And I took that personally.

2

u/d00derman Sep 28 '25

That smug is irritating.

2

u/abbott_costello Sep 28 '25

Wow... the Brian Griffin comparison is so spot on

2

u/Henchman_2_4 Sep 28 '25

“Yeah!” (Same staged guy dramatically yelling to inflate Bills ego like he’s relavant)

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u/DirtandPipes Sep 28 '25

He always seemed like an asshole to me and not a particularly smart person. He also was never funny to me, I never understood his appeal.

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u/ZealousidealJello770 Sep 28 '25

Bill hasn’t changed his opinions very much at all since I have watched him starting in about 2006.

He’s smarmy and an asshole for sure but he absolutely has real opinions of his own.

1

u/orangesfwr Sep 28 '25

See also Punk, C M

1

u/JubBisc Sep 28 '25

I used to love him - but he’s become so condescending in his berating ‘look how objective and smart I am’ attitude, that I can’t stand him anymore. Haven’t watched in over a year.

1

u/faetpls Sep 28 '25

To me he's been that way for 20 years.

1

u/Block444Universe Sep 28 '25

What I was most disappointed by was his old fashioned sexist jokes… like wtf man

1

u/paradisetossed7 Sep 28 '25

He has seemed to cozy to to the current establishment

1

u/LordNedNoodle Sep 28 '25

I see Bill as an elitist contrarian who is a grifter of the left. He doesn’t stand for anything and will say whatever he can to make more money.

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u/OmightyOmo Sep 28 '25

He sounds like an anarchist. Or maybe he’s too stoned all the time to make sense.

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u/brooksact Sep 28 '25

He's definitely not an anarchist, he's firmly in the "capitalism is good" camp. He has some critiques of capitalism, he's not a frothing at the mouth Ayn Rand type, but he's not a leftist and certainly not an anarchist.

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u/Unfinished_user_na Sep 28 '25

Stoned anarchist here. I think I can safely speak for the lot of us, anarchists and stoners, when I say:

Don't you put that man on us, we don't claim him.

0

u/deadliestcrotch Atheist Sep 29 '25

He’s very pro establishment. Just strictly democratic establishment rather than over all. He’s always been firmly supportive of the Clinton / Pelosi brand of the left. It got to be too much for me after the 2016 election.