‘I’m Surprised You Even Had Me On!’: Bill Maher Rips NPR as ‘Far Extreme of the Left’ to Interviewer’s Face

Bill Maher couldn’t believe NPR even wanted to interview him.

The host of HBO’s Real Time said he was stunned as NPR’s Steve Inskeep spoke to him on the Wednesday episode of the Newsmakers podcast, because he believes NPR’s audience is so hyper-leftist at this point that listeners would revolt against his appearance.

“Your audience is going to love this, by the way,” Maher told him. That came after he said many liberals have their priorities all out of whack — they’ll punish people over small #MeToo infractions but yelp “globalize the intifada” and cheer for Hamas against Israel, he said.

“The audience is a little more diverse than you might think,” Inskeep responded.

“Really? I’m surprised you even had me on!” Maher shot back.

Inskeep let out a hearty laugh at that.

Maher continued by saying he believed NPR is “so different than it used to be.”

He went on:

What I always want people to do but it’s so hard to get people to do these days is just engage with argument. You can hate me, whatever, for whatever your reasons — you know, I’m too old, whatever I am. Are you engaging with the argument? Tell me if I’m wrong about something. And then we’re gonna be cool.

But that’s not what either extreme does in this country anymore. And maybe I’m wrong, but I think of this place as the far extreme of the left.

Inskeep told him, “Maybe there’s a little more variety in who we talk to than you might’ve been told.”

Maher said “who you talk to” is different than what NPR’s audience likely believes.

The veteran comic’s remarks come after he has bashed Democrats and leftists numerous times over the past few years. Maher told CNN in 2024 he doesn’t think his liberal views have swayed much since he first started talking politics on TV in the 1990s.

Instead, the issue is “the left has changed” — and not for the better, Maher said.

More recently, Maher said the fact socialist candidates won Democratic primaries recently showed the party is well on its way to blowing the 2028 presidential election.

He told NPR on Wednesday that modern leftists only want to hear the “one true opinion” they’ve all agreed on, rather than hearing guys like him with differing viewpoints.

Watch above.

Jason Cohen contributed to this report.

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