Overtime – Episode #414 (Originally aired 2/10/17)

Running a business comes with a lot of what-ifs.

That's why you need Shopify.

They'll help you create a convenient, unified command center for whatever your business throws at you, whether you sell online, in-store, or both.

You can sell the way you want, attract the customers you need, and keep them coming back.

Turn those what-ifs into why-nots with Shopify.

Sign up for your $1 per month trial at shopify.com/slash special offer.

That's shopify.com/slash special offer.

If you used Babel, you would.

Babel's conversation-based techniques teach you useful words and phrases to get you speaking quickly about the things you actually talk about in the real world.

With lessons handcrafted by over 200 language experts and voiced by real native speakers, Babel is like having a private tutor in your pocket.

Start speaking with Babel today.

Get up to 55% off your Babel subscription right now at babel.com/slash Spotify.

Spelled B-A-B-B-E-L dot com slash Spotify.

Rules and restrictions may apply.

Welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO late night series, Real Time with Go.

Hey, here we are.

John Waters, do you think the TV and film are responsible for pushing the envelope when it comes to social issues like gay marriage and now transgender rights?

I don't know.

The movies today are like, I don't know, you go to the movie theater now and you have those horrible, insulting pre-shows where they say if a director says action, does that mean the film starts or stops?

And you have to sit there for an hour and be insulted by the time the real movie and then the trailers come on that reveal the entire plot.

So you don't have to see the movie.

By the time the movie comes on, you want to run out of the theater.

So I don't know if they have that power anymore.

I think TV does more than movies.

I think, unfortunately, it does.

The independent world I know is over.

I think it's easier to get

your product on.

TV and more people see it and you make more money, certainly, than it is to have a little independent film, even though I still do go to the movies.

And we have a lot more diversity now, right, with the awards ceremony?

Yeah, the Oscars is supposed to be a lot more diverse,

the most diverse that we've ever seen in a while.

And so there's been some great movies,

Hidden Figures, Fences.

Gosh, I can't even think of all of that.

L.

Did you see L?

Isabel Huber is so.

No, I did not see that.

Is some of that just liberals feeling guilty from last year and going,

I actually was thinking.

Shit, we got to vote for the black people this year.

But no, these movies are actually good, though.

Oh, yes.

They're great movies.

But award shows are never about justice.

No, no.

Hey, we've seen that.

Oh, this year.

Can you imagine what they're going to be like of the Oscars?

Like, there are going to be so many speeches today.

Oh, yeah, you know.

The actors for God's sake.

Right.

I couldn't agree more.

And also, like, La La Land, really.

Terrible.

I did not watch it.

Well, it's not terrible.

It was unwatchable.

Who watched La La Land?

I watched it.

I won't watch it.

It's not terrible.

The moment they were flying through the air, I was out of there.

Bang.

You have no sense of magic.

Just so narcissistic.

You know, another movie about movies, about us.

You know?

It was Hollywood making love to itself, wasn't it?

It was, it was.

Yeah.

But didn't Birdman win a couple of years ago?

It wasn't that, you know, like...

I didn't watch that either.

He directed it, right?

Yeah, I didn't like Birdman.

Is it the same director?

Oh, I like Birdman, but I mean, you know, I'm in the industry.

No, I hear you.

I hear you.

I understand why why you're saying that.

You're saying more diversity.

Yes.

Like, why do we get the same thing over and over again?

Okay.

Twitter announced new guidelines this week to combat bullying on their site.

Is there any way they might have to censor the president?

Well, isn't that his wife?

Stump the panel.

But isn't that his wife's pet project?

No bullying.

Cyberbullying, yeah.

Not even living there.

Can you imagine if Michelle Obama didn't live in the White House, how batshit they would have went

taxpayers' money for it?

I thought the same thing.

I always thought, like, I've been thinking, if

President Obama said

just one-tenth of what Donald Trump is saying, the Republicans would be apoplectic.

They would be screaming from the mountains.

Or if he had children with three different wives.

Exactly.

Or pushing Michelle Obama's clothing line.

Or tweeting.

Or tweeting Doria National.

pussy.

Go away on a sun.

First lady, imagine if Jackie had a sunglass line or like Katie Ford had near beer.

No.

Yes.

I mean, that was another gross story this week.

I know you can't talk about it because it's your paper, The Daily Mail, so we won't.

But Milani is suing because the Daily Mail, and they didn't even call her this, they were just quoting somebody else.

And I think they said it wasn't true, saying somebody said she was true.

I think the one guy did say it was true.

I don't don't blame her for suing for that in a way.

Okay, but not the blog, I mean the blogger who figured out.

But what she said was that

it's causing me a great opportunity

to cash in, basically.

I know.

Basically, to rake it in.

I mean, the Trump family is just so naked about we're using this to make money.

Yeah, they're not.

They're hairhoppers.

Yes, absolutely.

Okay.

Will statements from athletes like Steph Curry, who this week took issue with the CEO of Under Armour's support for Trump, affect how the sporting world engages with politics?

I don't know this story.

Yeah, it's in Baltimore.

Why don't they just play sport and why don't the actors just act?

And why don't they all just keep out of politics?

Okay,

that's a silly argument.

That's the under argument.

No, because why don't you just do things with a newspaper and don't talk about politics?

Why is me as a comedian?

Sorry, you want a newspaper to stop talking about politics.

But why should anyone, why should a plumber not be able to talk about politics?

No, they should all be able to talk about politics.

Who will still be able to do that?

You're saying that one side.

Who wants to go to the Oscars and watch a procession of lovey actors wandering up and ranting about Donald Trump?

You don't have to watch.

Thank you, mom and dad.

Thank your agent.

Say you love the movie industry and sit the fuck down.

Seriously.

Yeah, I'm kind of.

Am I wrong?

No, no, I don't think you're wrong about that.

And I don't think it helps either.

I think it makes Trump voters hate people.

Well, they hate him anyway.

Do you think any Trump voter saw a Meryl Street movie?

No, ever.

Well,

maybe so.

Which one?

I think they saw The River Wild and rooted for Kevin Bacon.

That's what it is.

Being so uptight about shopping at Nordstrom, you know, it's not like that a lot of Trump supporters shop there.

It's like them worrying if I go to Jiffy Lube.

It doesn't happen a lot.

Yeah.

John.

You go to Jiffy Lube.

John, I don't.

I don't even know how to pull in.

And you're one of the few guys that doesn't have to pull out either, so that's pretty good.

I knew that was coming.

John, do you have to...

I safely pull into Jimmy Lou.

This is Robinson.

This is getting funny.

John, do you think Americans are less easily shocked by crude movies and television than they used to be?

I think now Hollywood makes $100 million million gross-out movies that aren't funny.

I think now it's over.

You know, if you're trying too hard, it doesn't work.

And they do.

Right, they do.

And too much, you know what I mean?

That's why I went reverse.

I reshot Pink Flamingos for children for an art show I did called Kitty Flamingos, and I took all the dirty parts out so the parents watch and think, oh no, that kid's not going to talk about fucking a chicken, are they?

And then, but they don't.

They don't.

So the kids are innocent, but the parents are more perverse watching it.

So it worked, actually, in reverse.

It's better to learn about it in film and not in the schoolyard, really, isn't it?

I don't mind fucking a chicken, but...

Well, the actor ate it later, so it was comedically correct.

It wasn't a snuff movie.

Please.

That's how Tacoville's got those new shows.

Yeah.

Karim,

do you think that grassroots anti-Trump movements are unified enough to defeat him?

Yes, I think that this week, or the the last couple of weeks, we've seen some great gains.

We won the court, the court ruling yesterday.

Let's not forget,

very early on, before even Trump got into the administration, there was the ethics office that the Republicans were trying to gut.

And what happened?

People started calling their congressional members, and it stopped.

So I think there are a list of things that you see.

Vice President Pence voting for the first time to actually break a tie to get the education secretary in.

Unheard of.

And I think there are things that are happening that are faster pace.

They're having to break the tie.

They're having to break the tie.

There are things that are happening in a faster pace than even the Tea Party.

And also, to me, the most encouraging thing is Republicans.

The judge

who struck down the Muslim ban was a Bush appointee.

Yep.

And the judge, 3-0 on the appellate court.

No, that's right.

Even the Republicans.

Even the Republicans.

Across the country.

Safe.

Across the country.

Across the country.

It's been Bush

and also Democratic.

Thank you very much, everybody.

Catch all new episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher every Friday night at 10, or watch him anytime on HBO On Demand.

For more information, log on to HBO.com.