Real Time with Bill Maher guests - Friday, March 1, 2024

[Rhiannon12866]

Real Time with Bill Maher continues its 22nd season Friday, March 1 (10:00-11:00 p.m. live ET/7:00-8:00 p.m. PT), with a replay at 11:35 a.m., exclusively on HBO.

This week features a one-on-one interview with Dr. Phil McGraw, author of We’ve Got Issues: How You Can Stand Strong for America’s Soul and Sanity, and will soon host Dr. Phil Primetime on his new cable network, Merit Street Media.

This week's in-studio panel discussion will include Tim Ryan, former Democratic Congressman from Ohio and founder of the We The People Action Fund, dedicated to fostering unity, reform and reconciliation in American society; and Batya Ungar-Sargon, an Opinion Editor at Newsweek and author of the forthcoming book, Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America's Working Men and Women.


Watch Bill and his guests continue their conversation on Overtime after the show on the Real Time YouTube channel.

[True Dough]

1. Dr. Phil

is a bit more of a wingnut than I suspected years ago.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. I wasn't excited to see him, either. I don't remember seeing him on the show before, is he promoting his new "network?"

Back in 2008, I was excited to be in David Letterman's studio audience. We had great seats, fifth row right in front of Dave's desk. We didn't know the guest ahead of time, I was hoping for someone political, but it turned out to be Dr. Phil.

[True Dough]

3. At least he left an impression!

My wife and I stood in line for Conan O'Brien tickets while visiting New York about 15 years ago. We were lucky enough to get through the door. I couldn't even tell you now who the guests were, except the musical talent, that was Fall Out Boy (not that I'm a fan, it just stuck with me). Anyway, we can say that we were there for a taping. And I do remember the venue being remarkably small.

Was Letterman's studio (in the Ed Sullivan Theater, right?) cold? I've read in a few places that Dave kept it really cool by preference.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. We had the tickets ahead of time, but didn't know who the guests would be.

And I remember Dr. Phil because he was the only one I'd heard of and he wasn't anyone we were excited to see. The other guests were a young woman from some new show and all I remember was that I liked her shoes, LOL - and then there was a band and when they played there was a lot of smoke and we didn't know if it was intentional or not.

The studio is a lot smaller than it looked on TV. The band and Paul on the other side of the stage weren't all that far away. And you're right, it was freezing in there, the crew all wore parkas or heavy sweaters, but when the camera wasn't on him, Dave took his jacket off! He wears suspenders, LOL.

The one that impressed us was Dave. He came out beforehand and answered questions from the audience. One woman in the audience brought a gold hat for Paul that her son had made, so he wore it for the show. And Dave came out afterwards and thanked us all for coming. After 30-plus years, I thought that was a very nice touch.

[Doc Sportello]

8. Same exact thing happened to me!

I had a front row balcony seat in 2006 with ventriloquist Willie Tyler (good) and ... Dr. Phil

Otherwise it was a great experience (including meeting Rupert from Hello Deli).

[Rhiannon12866]

10. Oh, that was very cool that you met Rupert, that was an entertaining part of the show ("Trump or Monkey") LOL!

And we were there in January 2008 so it sounds like we had much the same experience, except for meeting Rupert, though we did pass the deli walking to the show from where we parked and Rupert was present that day...

[Sympthsical]

4. What an odd choice of interview

Even the people I don't like I usually at least see a purpose or point of entry in Maher's discussion with them.

This one, it's like . . . ok? Sure. I guess we'll see.

[TakeItEasy]

6. The rightwing platform show

That's all this is now.

[GuppyGal]

7. Batya Ungar-Sargon, an Opinion Editor at Newsweek and author of the forthcoming book, Second Class:

How the Elites Betrayed America .............and Tim Ryan ..

YEAK OK RIGHT WING

[walkingman]

9. No way will I watch Dr. Phil - I'd sooner watch "Duck Dynasty".

[question everything]

11. This is different. Is Dr. Phil trying to sell something?

I am not sure about the other two but will wait and see.

Thanks for keeping up with the guests lineup.

[Rhiannon12866]

13. Thanks! I've noticed that they often have guests who have recently published books, guess this is much the same

[IcyPeas]

12. He was on The View too... talking about covid lockdown effect on children.

[DET]

14. A Question

I haven’t seen Dr. Phil in years. Why all the Dr. Phil hate?

[Rhiannon12866]

15. I have no clue, someone said he supports the right-wing. I only saw him when I was in the Letterman audience in 2008

And I don't remember anything political he said, one way or another - and I was hoping for a political guest, even John McCain who appeared often.

[question everything]

16. It was a lovely program. I have never watched Dr. Phil but was surprised that he felt

uncomfortable. For someone who has spent so many years on a stage he was not sure how to express his position, had hard time rebutting Maher.

I actually agreed with Ungar-Sargon about 91 indictments. But this how the courts work. Often we learn that someone was found guilty in murder but there are additional claims like aggravated assault, disposing of a body etc.

And.. I have observed it back in 2015 that Trump had a gift of connecting to regular voters who do not stop to think about what he really says.

And I like Maher’s idea for Biden to embrace his age and not fight it.

And, yes, there is a problem of campaigning on his accomplishments. A separate topic.

[H2O Man]

17. I would pay

to not see Dr Phil

[Auggie]

18. Ungar-Sargon is the worst kind of Real Time panelist ...

derails the meat of the conversation with B.S. we've already heard while pushing a right-wing agenda. She's a wolf in sheep's clothing, and a horrible choice to complement Tim Ryan. I hope to never see her again.

Maher's New Rules started out with an excellent point for any politician: stay authentic. But the State of the Union addition was flat as a pancake, embarrassingly bad, and destroyed what could have been a brilliant opinion piece.

Thanks for posting the thread, Rhiannon12866