Real Time with Bill Maher - Overtime – Episode #387 (Originally aired 05/06/16)

Episode Date: May 7, 2016

Overtime – Episode #387 (Originally aired 05/06/16)- Bill and his roundtable guests Richard Taite, Bryan Cranston, Ann Coulter, Nick Gillespie and Dan Savage answer fan questions from the latest show. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO late-night series, Real Time with Bill Maugh. Okay, all right, here we are. Richard, did you rejoin us? Oh, great. Are pharmaceutical companies to blame for the increased prescription drug overdoses?

Sure, let's blame them. Partly. Yeah, I mean, they're in it for the money, right? I mean, that's... Exactly. That's what people don't... Yeah, they're in it to save... No, they're in it for the money.

Right? But it's more... like our president and the drugs are, Botticelli, right? Their souls are good, I think. I think they're good people who want to do a good job for the American people. And over here you have these heads of pharmaceutical companies, and they feel like quarter over quarter year over year, their bottom line is like air that they need to breathe.

So if you have somebody who wants to do a good job for the country versus someone who wants to survive, you're not, it's not working. Wait, let's be, I think we should be clear. The drugs are, is an awful person. It's an awful office that should not exist. Right. We have a drug policy. Yes.

And the entire legal infrastructure is set up to treat us as children. It gives pharmaceutical companies more power. It gives the FDA more. It makes it more difficult to come out as an addict or having a substance abuse problem. So the government is implicated here too. And I'm the, and you know what we need to do, we've grown up on many issues, I think, in the country, and we're starting to on drugs. And but it's the carcorial state that gets in the way of all of this type of stuff. Whether or not, that's an excellent, that's an excellent, decriminalized all drugs and drug abuse rates plummeted crime associated with drugs fell,

addiction rates fell. Instead of putting people in jail, we can have an open... Look, I understand, look, I'm not an advocate for jail, I'm an advocate for treatment. But, you know, whether or not the all of the all of the law, Office is something... I can't sit by and somebody say the drugs are as a good person. No, no, no, no, no. No, no.

Whether or not the office is something that should even exist is not something that I'm an expert on, and I don't pretend to talk about it. But I do think he's a good soul, and I do think... Well, you're running a drug treatment center. You might have an opinion on that. Wait a minute. It's not exactly from left field for you. He's a recovering addict.

Like you. That's right. So, you know, when you're in it and these are our people, you've got a vested interest in this thing. But this does affect your business. What part of it? Having a drug czar, having our policy the way it is in this country where we punish people instead of treat them, it's actually probably good for your business. The drugs are is good for my business? Well, I'm just saying if the government took over what you do, which they possibly should, yeah, it might be a better system.

I'm not saying they could do it better than you. they should probably hire you. Right. But we have a terrible system in this country where we criminalize people who should be... What's that? Do you eat at a lot of government restaurants? Well, no, if we spent a fraction... I don't get the analogy there from us.

What I'm saying is, like, let me tell you this. If the government takes over both providing drugs as well as treating drugs, it's going to suck. Well, they're not taking... That's what free markets are for, and they're very good at it. The government is providing drugs? No, I'm saying if, you know, if you want the government to get involved in... No, I'm with you on this one. I want to be criminal.

of drugs and socialized medicine. Well, not... Take the profit out of health. Absolutely. Why do you say... And take the action of what we spent punishing people and arresting people and prosecuting people and jailing people for drug crimes

and spend it on treatment. Socialized medicine does not innovate in medicine. The reason we're punishing people... The English national health system is circa in jails is because the jails are privatized and that's... No, that's true, too. Of course they are. What percentage of the American criminal

population. Listen, I just had some guy come to my office that wanted me to invest in a jail. So it's, don't, wait, we are the world's biggest jailer nation. Absolutely. And it isn't because of private corporations. 90% of prisoners are in, you know, state-owned prisons. We're locking people up. But it isn't the profit motive.

Well, it absolutely is the profit. The prison guard union. It's a very powerful union. And it lobbies for things like three strikes you're out. And they're against private prison. are customers. So don't tell me that it's not the profit motive of business. Don't say it's private prisons.

Well, it is partly private businesses. Absolutely. Brian Cranston. I know him. What can we expect to learn from your forthcoming memoir? Ah. You're writing a memoir. I wrote a memoir, yeah.

It's called Life in Parts. So I have to look back on my life because it's over soon, right? No, no, no. It was just, you know, it's short stories that are autobiographical. And I had a very challenging childhood. And in retrospect, yeah, challenging. Didn't have a father around. There was a lot of alcoholism and drug abuse and abandonment.

And, you know, you're left to your own devices at a very young age and you grow up too fast. But that helps you as an actor. It does. In a way, it helps you as an actor. Because they have something to draw on when you have to, like, be emotional. Yes. my dad was mean. Oh, my God.

He's drawing on it now. Oh, wow. I said he was a great lesbian. Lesbian. What of it. Dan Savage, in the years you've been writing a sex advice column, have people's problems changed much? No.

Thanks to abstinence education, I have a non-stop supply of sexually miseducated idiots who are getting themselves in trouble as a generalist. And how can Donald Trump win the election after alienating Hispanics a key demographic? And women, let's be honest.

Hispanics love him. Didn't you see the Taco Bowl? That was fantastic. I love Hispanics. I don't think this is funny because Donald Trump's campaign began with a big lie about the people who are coming here legally or illegally,

accusing them of Mexico, sending their rapists, sending them murderers, some of them, maybe nice people. And that's just a big demagogic lie that was like a shot of adrenaline right into the worst of our body politic. It just inflamed... What do you mean it's a lie? You're claiming illegal aliens don't commit murders and raids?

That isn't what he was saying. At no higher rate, at a lesser rate. It's a demagogic lie because you're likely to be raped in this country for capital. People were born in this country First of all, it's not true, but second of all, even if it's egg, still talking here, even if it were true, these aren't people who we have to have you.

We already have our own rapists and murders. We don't need to be bringing in more. Wow. So you're saying that they are rapists and lawyers? So is that what you're saying? But to point to a small, to a racial minority, marginalized community, vulnerable people, and accused them of being the rapists. He didn't he accused Mexico of not sending their best people and they're not sending their best people?

We need a derogic lie. That's a lie to begin. Absolutely not true. That is not true. Really, the Mexican government. So Donald Trump wants to build a wall to protect us from the people who aren't raping us. He just said something that wasn't true. They were handing out first aid kits and maps for how to get to America.

Who was? The government? To the poorest areas in Mexico. And we found them and we had them. Yes, they are not sending their neuroscientists. We need more. We need more. We need more.

Immigrants, not fewer. Well, yes, because you guys want your gardening. No, you know what? Fine, you can have as many evidence as you want. But I want to I want them competing with me and you

and those of us at this table and not competing with our landscapers and maids. And you know what? People who are here and are not documented are paid the same thing that people are documented

so you're buying. Richard Tate is marijuana a gateway drug? I hope so because I need some right now. No. No, it's not. Let me just tell you, I get about five to ten people a year calling me to get their kids or their loved ones off marijuana. Out of how many?

Well, I get 90 a day. So five or ten a year? Yeah. But I get 90 a day for prescription opiates, which gives you the balance. Yes. And this has been a canard for decades. But I will say, and you're probably not going to be happy about this. Okay?

You know, we keep getting better as a society, and the science shows now that your brain stops developing between the ages of 23 and 25. So if that's true, I'd like to see a 25-year-old age limit. For pot? Yeah. Oh. Most doctors do.

I'm not invited back. Yeah. No, no, no. No, I'm always for the truth first and facts first. I never heard that one. I'm glad I started late. I wasn't 25, but I was 19. That's a lot.

I mean, that's not 12. I was 12. I was 12. I was 12. I was 36 the first time I smoked pot. See, you're good. How did you start at 12? I took it for my father.

Oh, my God. It's like the ad. You two should. I learned it. Yeah. He should hook up. Wow. Wow.

Yeah. He could teach you to cry about it. Anyway. I've cried about it in therapy. Nick, will you welcome longtime Republicans like Mary Matlin to your party? Well, it's not my party. I'm not a member of the Libertarian Party,

but the Republican Party's not. You're not? You're so libertarian, you wouldn't even join the Libertarian party. I would not have been amazing party. That's really libertarian. What she said actually was... He's in the Fuck Y'all party.

But she said that's the party that expresses what I think the government should do, which is, you know, you know, a kind of basic social safety net and defense, and that's about it. And I think more Republicans, the ones who say that they're for limited government, they really are full of shit for the most part. Okay. Thank you, everybody.

Thank you. Audience. Thank you, panel. Thank you, too. Catch all new episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher every Friday night at 10. Or watch them anytime on HBO on demand. For more information, log on to HBO.com.