Friday night marked the finale of Bill Maher’s 20th season of Real-timeOn HBO, the host concluded by inviting a special Friend.
Matthew Perry is best known for his role as Chandler Bing in the hit sitcom FriendsTo promote his book, he is on the talk-show circuit. Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing: Memoir, which is doing so well, it’s beating Bono’s Surrender Ireland
Bill Maher was impressed at that last fact. He compared Perry to “the Taylor Swift of writing.”Perry later said Perry was the Joe DiMaggio for drug abuse. Perry freely admits this in his book which is full of details about Perry’s debauchery using substances.
“A lot did have you in the dead pool,”Maher acknowledged Perry’s looks, but he did not agree with his assessment. “amazing,”You look rested and have a beautiful tan.
Perry, as he is throughout his book, was open about his experiences. He was placed on a hospital machine that’s usually used as a Hail Mary to keep someone alive, had his colon explode from opioid abuses, suffered impotence in high school, went to open houses for real estate and stole from people’s medicine cabinets. Even though he was on TV, he struggled. FriendsThe film was a huge success and cultural landmark.
How did Perry manage to make it out the other end? He kidded Maher about the host’s atheism, and admitted, “I believe there is a higher power,”He has added “a very close relationship with him.”
Maher spoke on behalf of many and said that “Everyone is on your side. Everyone is glad you’re here.”
Later, Maher mused about the resilience of the human body. Maher boasted, “I feel very luck that I can do drugs.”
Perry made a quick comeback with his humor. “You don’t have any on you, do you?”
Maher closed on an upbeat note, saying he believed Perry’s acting work over the next 20 years will be his finest.
Perry didn’t argue. “A couple of good friends said, ‘Your best work is to come.’”
The panel discussion included Laura Coates, a CNN anchor and host of SiriusXM’s “The Laura Coates Show,” and social psychologist at NYU’s Stern School of Business and coauthor of The Coddling of America’s Mind: How good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure.Jonathan Haidt.
The conversation covered the special prosecutor appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, the collapse of crypto firm FTX, and wound up with a critique of social media and its impact on today’s youth. While Coates said she’s taking a hard line with her young children regarding social media, Haidt suggested something stronger – banning social media before high school in order to preserve the minds of youth.
For Maher’s “New Rules”Editorial: He wrapped up his 20th Season by running down the “Scorn of Plenty,”We give thanks to Donald Trump, the former President, and all his fellow travelers. “scared some sense into Americans on Election Day.”
“The deniers lost and the defiers won,”Maher crowed. He proclaimed it a victory for America. “reports of our death were slightly exaggerated.”He continued, “Maybe we’re not as crazy as we look.”
Maher said that the country should seize this moment and continue to carry it on. “Let’s rally the normies, which we now realize are still most of us.”
Don’t stay silent about insanity, Maher said, adding that we need to do some trade-offs between conservatives and liberals.
They include conservatives dropping claims people vote twice. “You admit that, and liberals will admit getting a Photo ID is not (onerous),”Maher said. “Stop flirting with authoritarianism, and we’ll stop flirting with communism.”
He continued, “Stop saying Democrats eat babies, and we’ll stop saying men can have them. Stop denying ice caps are melting, and we’ll stop saying ‘Disband ICE.’ Stop saying there’s a war on Christmas, and we’ll admit Kwanzaa is completely made up.”
Finally, “Keep a lid on the Proud Boys, and we’ll see what we can do about Kanye.”
Maher and Real-TimeThey are on winter break through January 20.