Real Time with Bill Maher - Overtime – Episode #587: Ira Glasser, Fiona Hill, Matt Welch

Episode Date: January 29, 2022

Bill Maher and his guests answer viewer questions after the show. (Originally aired 1/28/22) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Saving those children is how we all go home. From binge all episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus. Welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO late-night series, Real Time with Bill Maher. Sorry. I have a correction. I did make a mistake. It was Sonia Sotomayor on the Supreme Court who asked Gorsuch to wear a mask.

I said it was Stephen Breyer. Stephen Breyer, I said he, no, it was, but same difference. If you're around, my point was if you're around an 83-year-old. That's what my grandchildren say to me. They don't want to visit me anymore because they're afraid of infecting me. Right. But you look healthy as a horse. I'm much healthier than they are.

Exactly. You know, I didn't get to this in the show. But one of the things in David Leonhardt's article I read about this week that I thought was so sad was that he made the point that older people are the ones who should be more scared of the virus. And it's the reverse. It's younger people. They have so scared the kids. they've raised them, they've coddled them,

they've helicopter parented them, they've bulldozed parented them, to the point where they're afraid of their own shadow. They have like a minuscule possibility, unless you're having some, yes, people with comorbidities do, but mostly, I mean, you've got the good immune system. To read these statistics about a quarter of the 18 to 34-year-old being very worried.

Very worried? Oh, fuck, grow a pair. If they go to college on the East or West Coast, They have booster requirements. They have incredible restrictions. I mean, imagine anyone in this country between the ages of 16 and 23 who've had to go through this. Like the normal stuff of adolescence and youth,

you've just had it really shut down. When my parents died, especially my mother, I was very happy that she never knew what I was doing in the streets in Brooklyn when I was growing up. Right. Because the fundamental rule of playing in the streets was that you should never have.

have adults around. Right. And, you know, now they want you to come watch them play. And the parents can be very destructive watching their own kids play.

And, you know, what I used to love about growing up in the 40s in Brooklyn was that we went out and we came back when it was dark and it was time to have dinner. And if my mother ever knew what I was doing, and I didn't do anything

terribly dangerous. I'm not talking about doing anything that was really but we were out in the empty lots, we climbed on garage roofs, we... Sure. You know, we were... I mean, that's what... And, and...

You know, there was this wonderful book that was written in the, I think, in the late 50s called, Where Did You Go? Out. What did you do? Nothing. And it was... And it was about... You know...

It was about kids. Brilliant. They don't want to be required reading. Now, you know, when my kids grew up, you took them to the playgrounds. And you didn't leave them, let them play. You sat there on the benches. And if one kid got into a scrap with another kid,

the mothers jumped up and mediated the dispute. Sometimes also have ordinances. It's actually illegal for your kids under a certain age to walk to school on their own. I mean, it's literally that bad. I mean, I used to walk to school from age five. We all did. And you would be arrested for it today.

I mean, if they see a kid walking alone, it's like a crisis. Crisis. Well, you know, when I was a kid, they were afraid of... They were afraid of abductions. But the fact is that most abductions of children are by their relatives and custody disputes. They imagine that every kid is being followed by a clown with his dick out.

I mean... You know, I mean... I mean, I was always kind of, I mean, I wasn't the perfect time, but I was kind of proud. You weren't? No. It wasn't bad, but I was kind of proud that I always protected my parents, like from the stuff you're talking about. And I did things a little worse. I mean, when I started in comedy, you know, I was living in New York.

I had a shitbox apartment, but it wasn't cheap. Nothing is in New York. And they never really asked me. They must have known there's no money in comedy at the beginning. They never asked me, and I didn't tell, and I didn't ask them for money, but I was selling pod. You know, that's how I live. It's a good thing not to tell your parents. No, and I just, right, it was like, don't ask, don't tell, and that was...

Well, you know, it was like cursing. It was like cursing. Everybody was afraid their parents found out that they cursed when they were out in the street. Oh, fuck yeah. And I always knew that... earlier, I figured out what the rule was. The rule was, is that your parents could curse, and you could curse, but you must never curse

in the presence of each other. That was the rule. I never heard it express that. You're so right. You should hang out with me more. I would love to hang out with you more. I told you, you're a hero of mine. But you're right. I'm sure my parents,

we just didn't do it in front of each other. That's right. And if you did, everybody would be mortified. Like, oh, my God. he's learning about these words. Learning about these words. I used to, you know, I was a language. It was a separate language for us.

Everybody knew those words. The best, most honest discussion I'd ever had with my father was when I was in college and I was home for like the summer or something and I'd come in late, being stoned, and he'd had three martinis. And then we'd kind of talk, you know? Okay.

Well, I got stones on earth, so I wouldn't know. I guess we're going to encourage you the question. Now. What does it say, Matt, about Gen X that the most likely candidates for 2024 are two guys over the age of 75? I guess they mean Biden and Trump? Is Biden going to run again? Let's get to that one first. If they wheel him out, I suppose. He's supposed to.

Both of them, both of them, be clear. A lot of wheeling needs to happen with... They'll be in gurneys, both of them. They will. No, I think to the questioner's point, and it's a good one, is that it's yet another reason why Gen X rules is because we never really liked politics to begin with, never got into it overly much. And the most Gen X politician out there is a guy

who started off interesting but is serially embarrassed himself, Beto O'Rourke, like with every skateboard run to losing whatever his latest position is in Texas. We're on to other things. I think that's great. But let's not be agist about this. It's not right to judge

people. There are people 100 in this world who are still working the fields. Look at this. How old are you? I give up how old am I? I don't know. I'm almost 84. 84, okay?

I mean, and you don't want to play one-on-one basketball with me. Oh, I would say that to you. I'll play one-on-one with you. Absolutely. You won't last, I guarantee. Really? Let's fucking do it.

All right. On television, we can do it. Right. And I just get to punch it. And even the applause, I find patronizing. Like, oh. You're still here. It's like, fuck you.

Well, you know, when I was a kid, nobody lived past 62. I didn't know anybody. I mean, if you said you were 85, that was like, now I open up the old bits every day in the Times. Right. And I'm, you know, I'm glad that I'm not there. But everybody is older than I am. Okay.

But, I mean, there's something about, it's like the way you talk, the way you move, your energy. your acumen. Nothing about you suggests a specific age other than you're obviously a mature man. But, I mean, I don't know why you couldn't be president. I don't need it. Right. It's a prejudice.

But I know why my dad, who is your age, shouldn't be president, for example. But that's your dad. It's a case-by-case basis. And with the case of Biden and the case of Trump? Right. Well, Trump was crazy before he was old. Yeah. Okay. I mean, he has so many things. Old is the least of his problem. I agree. No, it is. He does not, I mean,

that is one of Trump's great weapons that he has going for him is he doesn't come across his old. He's a robust tenure the eighth kind of, you know, just strutting and, you just, you know, you see him and you don't think, oh, you think nuts and, oh, a man who

became a platinum blonde in his 70s, like that's cuckoo. Are you eating that hamburger? Right, you don't think, as he has two portions of ice cream, everybody else gets one. That kind of shit. Fiona, you started working as a young, the great segue is here,

as a young teenager to, like me, selling pot, no. As a young teenager to help support your family. What do you think is the best way to instill a strong work ethic among young people today? Well, definitely getting a job when you're 11. Honestly, right? You had one, right? You had one, right? Yeah, we all have one, right?

Yeah. Wow. I mean, the problem actually, you know, right now is, of course, gets back to all of your rules and regulations. I guess that's what, you know, back in the day, we tried to stop people from working at 11, 12, 13, 14. Well, that we should do, yes. Yeah, we did, yeah.

But definitely having a job early on is a great thing to do. I think, unfortunately with COVID, all the jobs that kids have have dried up. I mean, well, delivering newspapers is also hard when you're getting in them on your phone. I did them all. That's a bit difficult to kind of make sure people's phones and apps across the

mowing lawns, mowing lawns, shoveling driveways. That's what my parents thought I was living on when I was selling pot. That lawnmower money really stressed a lot.

Where did you get the pot to sell? Let's talk about that over basketball. Thank you for money. Catch all new episodes of real time with Bill Maher every Friday night at 10 or watch them any time on HBO on demand. For more information, log on to

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