This is the audience Q&A part of an evening with Bill Maher in conversation with Larry Wilmore at Live Talks Los Angeles discussing his book, "What This Comedian Said Will Shock You." This event was taped on June 4, 2024.
The host of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher has written his funniest and most opinionated book ever—a brilliantly astute and acerbically funny vivisection of American life, politics, and culture.
Bill Maher has hosted Real Time on HBO for the last twenty-one years. Before that Maher created and hosted Politically Incorrect on ABC. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
“Whether you agree or disagree with him—and I do both—Bill Maher had proven himself to be an illuminating force in a world that values heat over light. His is a vital voice, keeping the left honest and calling the right to account for itself before the bar of reason and of decency. I’d say ‘thank God for Bill,’ but he doesn’t believe in God. So I’ll just say thanks.”—Jon Meacham
In What This Comedian Said Will Shock You, Maher has collected and revised a decade of his direct-to-camera sermons about culture, politics and what’s happening in the world.
Free speech, cops, drugs, race, religion, the generations, cancel culture, the parties, the media, show biz, romance, health—Maher covers it all. The result is a hugely entertaining work of commentary about American culture in the tradition of Mark Twain, Will Rogers, and H. L. Mencken.
Larry Wilmore has been a television producer, actor, comedian, and writer for more than 25 years. He can currently be heard as host of Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air on The Ringer Podcast Network. The show features Wilmore’s unique mix of humor and wit as he weighs in on the issues of the week and interviews guests in the worlds of politics, entertainment, culture, sports, and beyond. Filmo and TV credit include: Jerry and Margo Go Large, alongside Bryan Cranston and Annette Benning on Paramount+; Reasonable Doubt for Hulu’s Onyx Collective; Amend: The Fight for America on Netflix; The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore on Comedy Central; Insecure on HBO; Black-ish on ABC; The Daily Show with Jon Stewart; In Living Color, The Office and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He also served as creator, writer, and executive producer of The Bernie Mac Show, which earned him a 2002 Emmy Award for “Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series” and a 2001 Peabody Award.
