Bill Maher Quotes

It's a dangerous game that comedy plays. Sometimes it tells you the truth; sometimes it delays it.

Satire is fascinating stuff. It's deadly serious, and when politics begin to break down, there is a drift towards satire, because it's the only thing that makes any sense.

Hypocrisy is great fodder for comedy.

Comedians are obsessed with justice and the truth.

When it comes to politics, comedians read between the lines and see hypocrisies and half-truths. And we report those things to regular people who go, 'I noticed that, too!' or 'You're right, that doesn't make sense!'

But you do have to learn, if you want to be a satirist, you can't be part of the party. Meaning, you can't go horseback riding with Jackie O in Central Park if you're going to make a joke about her that night.

It's easy being a humorist when you've got the whole government working for you.

I would think a sense of the absurd is more important for a political cartoonist, because that could define things like a sense of hypocrisy or a sense of the things one has to be skeptical about.

There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.

Bad times for the Republic are great times for satire.

If you're satirizing something, you're hitting at something that's real and true, and putting it on its head, and we did that with 'Tropic Thunder.'

I think that humor has become a principle means of communication among Americans about politics.

I think satire is most effective when you love the thing you're satirizing rather than... have a vendetta against it.

I think politics is extremely funny in and of itself.

Comedy actually works best when you're living in an OK world, and you are pointing out the hypocrisy in apathy.

I thought that through the strip, I could vent my spleen and be funny at the same time. But when it comes to humor, there's no substitute for reality and politicians.

People go, 'Oh, Trump must be good for comedy,' and I go, 'Ehhh.'

A lot of French comedy is satire.

I don't think people understand what comedy is supposed to do. We will observe things, we will make fun of things.

As for George Bush of Kennebunkport, Maine- personally I think he's further evidence that the Great Scriptwriter in the Sky has an overdeveloped sense of irony.

People don't understand that we're not warriors in their cause. We're a group of people that really feel that they want to write jokes about the absurdity that we see in government and the world and all that, and that's it.

I am a comedian and you guys know whatever I say, I don't mean any of it.

[Comedy] is an escape from illusions. The audience is...thinking, 'This bullshit we see and hear all day makes no sense.'

That's sort of what I wanted to make fun of a little bit with Don Jon. And I think oftentimes, if you're going to talk about a sort of substantial topic like this, the best way to do it is with a sense of humor.

The thing about Donald [Trump] is the jokes write themselves. I don't even think of it to be trolling. What he says is the joke.