Comedian and late-night host Bill Maher said he made a “great choice” to stop doing comedy tours because he could “get shot” in the current political climate.
Maher said on his podcast that he stopped doing stand-up comedy in late 2024, and that “a number of things” led him to this decision. He got “sick of the travel” required for tours, but still misses doing them.
“Also, I feel like it was a great choice because I don’t want to be out there in this country, in this political atmosphere. I could get shot by the Left or the Right. I mean, it’s a good time to not be out there,” Maher said on his Club Random podcast Monday.
Maher’s comments come roughly two months after Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk was killed during an event on a Utah college campus.
Other recent acts of political violence include two assassination attempts on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2024, an arson attack on Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D-PA) residence in 2025, and two Minnesota state lawmakers killed in shootings.
Maher reflected on Kirk’s death on Real Time with Bill Maher on Sept. 12, and said “too many people” believe the solution to win debates is to “eliminate you from talking altogether.” He added that he thinks the only way to lower the temperature is for “both sides” to acknowledge that their supporters are contributing to the political climate, citing how people behave on social media.
In May 2022, Isaiah Lee was charged with attacking comedian Dave Chappelle onstage during a Netflix Is a Joke Fest in Los Angeles. Lee said he was offended by Chappelle’s jokes about homelessness and the LGBT community, and suggested the comedian “consider first running his material by people it could affect.”
Following Kirk’s death, his wife Erika revealed that Sinclair Broadcast Group executives privately offered to intervene with ABC to secure an apology from late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for false statements he made about her husband’s assassin and “the MAGA gang.” However, she declined this, saying she didn’t want an apology “if that’s not in your heart.”
