Bill Burr is drawing high praise for absolutely roasting HBO late-night host Bill Maher during a recent exchange about the Israel-Hamas War and college protests, prompting observers to applaud the acid-tongued comic for “shutting down an incredibly self-important” Maher.
During a recent appearance on Maher’s podcast Club Random, in which the 68-year-old Real Time star smokes weed and drinks while whining about “woke” liberals with his guests, Burr stunned the host by declaring cancel culture “over” and that “no one cares anymore” about it.
“That’s so not true, either one of us could get canceled in the next two minutes,” Maher exclaimed.
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“No. For what? If you’re not doing anything, it’s just like, you did this joke about this group of people or that group of people,” Burr retorted. “I feel like I’m going back two years of my life. I don’t even think about it anymore.”
That moment, however, wasn’t the only time the two veteran comics didn’t see eye to eye.
Complaining (once again) about the pro-Palestinian demonstrations and encampments on college campuses, Maher grumbled that the demonstrators “are in with the terrorists,” leading Burr to respond that they were actually “for the Palestinians.” Maher, meanwhile, claimed that “it’s sort of the same cause” before wondering if his guest supported the anti-war protests.
“I’m on the side of the kids,” Burr said, resulting in Maher derisively telling him, “That’s easy to say” because “no one wants to see dead kids.”
Burr snidely replied that it “was very brave” of Maher to say that, only for the former Politically Incorrect star to insist he’s “the one who’s actually brave on” the subject.
“Oh, pat yourself on the back,” Burr snarked back.
Maher went on to assert that while it’s “easy to say” you’re against dead children, “it comes down to hard-nosed decisions,” giving Burr the opening to call into question Maher’s supposed expertise on the matter.
“Oh, stop talking like you’re a general!” Burr quipped, causing Maher to lay out how he would resolve the war in Gaza.
“They’re the only country in the world that, they get attacked, and then as soon as they counterattack, it’s like, well, we gotta stop this shit now. ‘Don’t attack them’ is a very simple solution to all these problems in the Middle East. Stop attacking Israel,” Maher declared.
“You just solved it,” Burr sarcastically fired back.
From there, the Old Dads director continued to make fun of Maher, asking him to give his “hard-nosed decision” on solving the war in Ukraine while wondering "how is war still legal with all this shit that’s been canceled?” Maher took this as an opportunity to lecture Burr with the “real answer” on why war isn’t illegal and what needed to happen to stop Vladimir Putin.
“Sit down and talk it out? Why can’t Putin do a podcast with the head guy? Like you just solved the Middle East on a podcast,” an incredulous Burr reacted. “Why can’t they solve what they’re doing on a podcast?!”
This only spurred Maher to smugly tell Burr that this is “why this is not your thing” but is Maher’s “thing,” prompting Burr to read him for filth.
“It isn’t your thing. It isn’t,” Burr fired back. “You’re like that guy that has a fantasy football team and thinks he’s a fucking GM. That’s exactly what it is. Like, why am I fucking listening to you like you like you’ve done something?! What have you done in Washington? Nothing.”
Burr completely waylaying Maher on his own podcast became instantly viral on social media, especially among critics of the Real Time host and his fervent embrace of Joe Rogan-esque contrarianism and anti-wokeness.
It also wasn't lost on many observers, which included comics, authors, and journalists, that Burr himself is known for the type of edgy comedy and anti-PC attitude that the so-called Intellectual Dark Web and heterodox free-thinkers have long warned is under attack by the left.
“Bill Burr gets invited on podcasts by burnt out hacks who just assume he’ll agree with their boring, morally empty takes because he’s white and has a Boston accent, and they keep being shocked that he still has a mind that works,” former The Late Show with David Letterman writer Kevin McCaffery tweeted. “I’ll never tire of these clips.”
Film critic Jake Cole, for his part, said he enjoyed “this phase of Bill Burr’s career where all his right wing peers have him on their shows bc he’s a loudmouth with no filter but then he just ends up calling them morons to their faces.”
Sharing a clip of the exchange on X, journalist Marcus Baram noted that Burr “skewers” Maher like no one else has.
Oscar-nominated screenwriter Josh Olson added that Burr has shown “how to beat a man to death without leaving your chair” and that “Maher insisting that ‘this is my thing’ is the first thing he's said that got a laugh out of me in over a decade.”
Others, meanwhile, praised Burr’s positions on the Gaza war and protests and suggested they probably align with the majority of Americans.
“I think Bill Burr has a majoritarian position, a commonsense defense of Palestinian civilians, and Bill Maher sounds like a lunatic,” The Nation’s president Bhaskar Sunkara tweeted. “I wish the president agreed.”
Writer Luke O’Neil further asserted that Burr “is the Median Boston Guy because, while he might say some questionable things here and there, his heart is in the right place and he can smell bullshit when he hears it and will call it out.” And despite Burr’s own comedic potshots at “wokeness,” artist Rob Israel insisted that he’s “possibly the most truly Woke comedian” working today.
“He understands the modern zeitgeist better than his Chud comedian peers,” Israel continued. “He uses their language so it completely disarm[s] them to the point that they can’t really say anything in response.”
In the end, though, it appears many were just happy that Burr put Maher in his place.
“I couldn’t love/respect/appreciate Bill Burr more,” television host Coy Jandreau proclaimed, while standup comic Corey Ryan Forrester simply noted: “Bill Burr displaying once again that he’s that dude.”
For more, listen to Bill Burr on The Last Laugh podcast.
