Bill Maher had a feeling that his Sunday was going to go the way it did.
On the latest episode of his Club Random podcast, recorded before the Golden Globes this past weekend, Maher complained about never winning one of Hollywood’s elite awards.
“Sweetheart, I’ve been nominated for 33 Emmys, and they would never give it to me,” Maher told his guest, actor Joel Edgerton. “That’s not a gag number. It’s a real number,” he continued.
Maher has actually been Emmy-nominated 42 times. He won just once in 2014 for executive producing HBO’s Vice.
“It’s crazy, right? For Politically Incorrect, for Real Time, for my stand-up specials, for producing, for writing, for performance,” Maher complained. “Obviously, it’s something I said. Well, it’s everything I said, because I speak freely, and this woke town f---ing hates that. And that’s OK. I made my peace with that. But so, I know how this goes.”
Maher did indeed lose the Golden Globe race for Best Performance in Stand‑Up Comedy on Television to Ricky Gervais on Sunday, but it was Wanda Sykes’ roast that he was much less likely to expect.
While presenting the TV stand-up award, Sykes roasted each nominee. Maher, she began, “gives us so much,” before she added the burn, “But I would love a little less. Just try a little less.”
Maher was visibly displeased at the jab before finding out he’d lost out on the award once again. Sykes reserved her deepest burn for the category’s winner, Ricky Gervais, whom the comedian dedicated on his behalf to “God and the trans community,” following a string of jokes Gervais has made at that community’s expense.
The comments aimed at Maher, who frequently rails against “cancel culture” and “political correctness,” as he courts “both sides” of the political aisle, likely left a bad taste in the Real Time host’s mouth.
Sykes’ request for “less” from Maher came just days after HBO announced it had renewed Maher’s late-night show for two more seasons, as the Trump administration is reviewing HBO parent company Warner Bros.’ proposed merger with Netflix.
The announcement was circulated by the network with a teaser for the upcoming season, in which Maher and his guests argue that, “We don’t talk enough to people who disagree with us.” It also promotes Maher’s sit-downs with Steve Bannon and Gavin Newsom to illustrate the point.
Maher said on Monday’s pre-recorded episode that being snubbed is par for the course for a rare, non-pandering fellow such as himself.
“I have good standing, if I win this—by some miracle—to go, what people always say, ‘I can’t believe this. I’m shocked,’” he noted. “I really should be shocked if I win this.”
As predicted, Maher didn’t get that chance.
