Bill Maher at MGM Grand: ‘I’m going to antagonize both sides’

Bill Maher refers to the period when he debuted on the Strip as “the dead ball era of Las Vegas.” That would make him … Tris Speaker, maybe?

Look it up. But Maher’s reference is to the days in the major leagues, more than a century ago, when the balls had no pop. Their livelier design sparked the era of higher home run totals, batting averages and scoring.

Comparatively, the 67-year-old Maher originally took the stage in Las Vegas in 1982. The host of HBO’s “Real Time,” headlining 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the David Copperfield Theater at the MGM Grand, remembers those days. Our phone chat this week starts there:

Johnny Kats: The dead ball era, that’s funny. Why that reference?

Bill Maher: I was opening for Diana Ross in 1982, and that was a rough gig because that was before Vegas had reinvented itself as a place where young people might enjoy going. It was the twilight of the Rat Pack era, so all the big acts were sort of, shall we say, octogenarian, or almost. You had Frank Sinatra, who was legendary, but you know, it was just not a fun town for young people, and I was 26 years old, working in front of the biggest star in the world.

This was at Caesars? At Circus Maximus?

Yeah, classic showroom, and the audience certainly was not there to see me. But Vegas just got better. Every time I would go back, I would be older and the audience would know me better. It just wasn’t a hip place for a long time.

I’m remembering how Las Vegas was presented in those days. It was a lot of Joe Piscopo’s satire of Sinatra and Billy Crystal as Sammy Davis Jr. The city was really parodied in those days.

Right. And today, Billy Crystal, of course, would be totally canceled for doing that act. Half the acts on the Strip in that era would be canceled today for the things they said. You know, Shecky Greene and Buddy Hackett were some of the others working in those days when I was a young comic.

You worked the Riviera then, too, right?

I was there with Frankie Valli for two weeks. That was a great gig, because Frankie got “Vegas throat,” like, for half the shows (laughs). I didn’t have to work.

Whoopi Goldberg didn’t like talking politics when she was at Treasure Island a few years ago, because she talked politics all day on “The View.” Are you going to be the Bill Maher on your show, or are you going to antagonize half your audience?

I’m going to antagonize both sides, which is what I’ve always done, which is what I think they want me to do, and what I enjoy doing. It’s actually more fun than ever for me, because there was a time — I would say, like the Obama years — when there was very little to make fun of on the left. I am generally center-left, but center-left in that I am an old-school liberal. Well, then wokeness came along, which became a giant eye roll because of some of the insanity that is associated with it.

You make a real effort to point out insanity from both sides, right?

Yeah, and there’s lots of fun to be made on the right, of course. I mean, come on, Trump? Not believing in Democracy? Ha-ha-ha! But there’s also craziness on the left, and I get people from both sides now, which is great. I think that’s what this country needs, is for us to be able to laugh at ourselves.

Whose idea was it to move the “Overtime” segment from “Real Time” to CNN?

It was theirs. CNN is going through a big transformation, as I’m sure you’re aware, and they’re trying to become more balanced, more centrist, which is what they always were. I mean, for years, we had Fox on the right and MSNBC on the left. And then if you wanted something right down the middle, that was as close to apolitical as you could get, you went to CNN. And that all went out the window when Trump became president, which I don’t blame them for, totally. It was very hard to be neutral about Donald Trump, because he was crazy, and he was an authoritarian.

This is the window where CNN can move back to the center, as you say?

Now Trump’s gone and he’s been gone for a while — and in my view, we should keep him gone, but we’ll see how that turns out — I think CNN would like to reclaim that place in the middle. I would love to see that. I’m one of those people who wants a CNN, where I don’t feel like they’re pushing a certain agenda or a certain point of view. Just give me the facts.

Would you take your show, or yourself, to CNN, full time?

Oh, God, no. I mean, first of all, it’s such an HBO show, I could never bring it to CNN. I’d need to clean up the language — I slipped this week and said a bad word when we were doing “Overtime.” But it’s more than that, because I could go a week without saying a bad word. Our show is so real and raw, and CNN is, is just a different sensibility.

“Real Time’s” structure is as an entertainment show, first, yes?

I’m doing a comedy show. I’m using news as my fodder. Of course, when we do a panel discussion there are serious points being made, and even when I’m doing comedy I’m making serious points. But I’m doing it in a way that would just be completely inappropriate for CNN. We’re very happy where we are. CNN is a completely different animal.

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John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.