Bill Maher has never been one to shy away from confrontation. But when a guest on his Club Random podcast claimed the Real Time host was "full of s***," Maher pulled back as the conversation turned tense.
Unsurprisingly, politics and Donald Trump caused the verbal sparring between Maher and playwright David Mamet. The Glengarry Glen Ross writer subscribes to political beliefs that mostly oppose those of Maher, even though the Real Time host isn't afraid to rip Democrats or agree with President Trump on certain issues.
But the conflict on Club Random came about when January 6 entered the discussion. Mamet took exception to Maher calling it a "riot" and things devolved from there as Maher criticized Trump for not conceeding the 2020 election in a similar fashion to his predecessors.
"Well, you like me, have built a career out of nothing except talent and a little bit of luck and a lot of hard work, but you're full of s***," Mamet told Maher. The Pulitzer Prize-winner harshly disagreed with Maher's assessment that Trump's response to the 2020 election caused "half" the country to riot.
Maher defended himself, admitting that half the country did not riot. But the late-night TV host did argue that most of the MAGA crowd lost faith in elections based on what Trump said and did in the wake of losing to Joe Biden.
But the pair failed to find common ground when Mamet shifted the conversation to a hypothetical Kamala Harris victory. Maher scoffed at Mamet's argument "Israel wouldn't exist" if Harris won the 2024 election.
However, they both agreed that President Biden's final year in office wasn't handled properly, nor should he have sought reelection. Maher was further put on the defensive when Mamet claimed the entire 20-minute interview up to that point had been combative.
Maher took the rare step of apologizing and making sure Mamet didn't feel attacked. It's not often you hear Maher backing down from an argument, but part of that was due to his admiration for Mamet's body of work.