‘I Could Get Shot’: Bill Maher Says He’s Too Afraid to Do Stand-Up Comedy Now

Comedian and HBO host Bill Maher revealed on Monday that he stopped performing stand-up comedy due to fear of being “shot by the left or the right.”

Asked by fellow comedian Patton Oswalt why he stopped touring as a stand-up comic, Maher replied:

A number of things. Just got tired of the travel, obviously. I miss doing it. 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 just– it’s a good time to not be out there, and also, I have to pull up this discussion, I just got tired of being twice as funny as people who were selling twice as many tickets as me. And you know what? That’s partly because I’m on TV every week, so– not that I didn’t sell a lot of tickets and do great theaters, but I didn’t sell arenas, and some people did, who, frankly, are not that great. But you know, when the audience is 35 to 45, they don’t want to see somebody 70.

He continued, “So I still have my show, I have this, I didn’t need it. I miss it, but that’s part of what it is. You know, I see some of the comedy that is popular today and some of it’s good and some of it is like, yeah, it’s just like the rap thing. Like, I mean, I do like some rap, but like lots of new music, it’s like, yeah, I get that these kids like it. I don’t get it, and I’m not supposed to get it.”

On Sunday, Maher tore into both the left and right during an interview with CNN – accusing the Republicans of going “too far” and the Democrats of moving into a more “socialist” direction.

“Why can’t either one of them be normal?” he protested.

Watch above via Club Random Podcast.