Bill Maher is celebrating that his Golden Globes nomination, according to him, is a sign of the end of “wokeness.”
Maher whined on the latest episode of his Club Random podcast that he “used to get nominated for everything, and then the wokeness came in.”
The comedian was nominated for Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television at the Globes on Jan. 5, which he notably lost to Ricky Gervais, a comic even better known for his stance against political correctness than he is. Gervais also won the award in 2024.
Still, Maher insisted, “This is the first time in a while I’ve been nominated for something, which I think shows a little bit that we are coming out of the wokeness.”
After all, he said, in the awards’ first year with a podcast category, “They only nominated the super woke stuff.” Amy Poehler took home the statue for her podcast, Good Hang. Other nominees included Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy, The Mel Robbins Podcast, SmartLess with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett, and NPR’s Up First.
Before the comedy category’s winner was announced, presenter Wanda Sykes joked from the stage that she’d like to see “a little less” of Maher, which he didn’t seem to take well at the time, based on his facial expression. His topical show, which caters to “both sides” of the political spectrum, was renewed by HBO for two additional seasons just days before. Maher has yet to comment on Sykes’ joke.
Contrary to Maher’s point about anti-woke comics never winning at the awards show, Sykes also joked that Gervais wanted to thank “God and trans people” as she accepted the award on his behalf, following several jokes he made about the population while hosting the Globes. Gervais eschews the ant trans label but has stood behind the jabs over the years.
When “the wokeness came in,” Maher said, “then I was considered conservative, which is ridiculous. So they…I was what I call soft-canceled,” he went on.
Later in the episode, he echoed conservative pundit Megyn Kelly, who complained that Poehler didn’t deserve the best podcast award. “It was glaring that Joe Rogan was not nominated,” Maher said, since Rogan’s podcast is “popular, and it is known.”
“So, you’re going to have an inaugural podcast category, maybe… it just speaks to living in the Bluesky bubble,” he remarked.
As for his own loss, Maher said the fact that the “super woke” acknowledged his TV special with a nomination is a turning point.
“I take it as a victory that they were not able to ignore how good that special was,” he said. “I’m not going to lie. It’s just a really good special,” he said of his own work. “But, you know, it’s not one that the woke can watch and not throw up because I call their s--t out.”
“The fact that people are laughing shows that it’s funny. When you do stupid things, it’s funny,” Maher continued. “And the left did a lot more stupid things in the last five to 10 years. And I’m a comedian. I go where the gold is.”
