Bill Maher recently shared a surprising update about his stand-up career, appropriately enough, while sitting down with fellow comedian Jerry Seinfeld.
On Sunday’s (May 5) episode of Maher’s Random club podcast, praised the without freezing director for being “known as the purest of pure stand-ups,” which led him to break the news he was “nervous” about sharing with him.
“After this year, I’ll stop doing it,” Maher revealed, referring to stand-up, according to Entertainment Weekly.
After a shocked Seinfeld asked, “Really?”, Maher admitted, “I could go back. I don’t want to make a big announcement or something.”
He explained that he is “doing a special at the end of the year,” which will mark his 13th special for HBO. Her most recent stand-up special on the network, #Adultissued in 2022.
“That’s a lot,” he said, and Seinfeld echoed him.
Maher noted that “he put[s] “I put a lot of time and effort into it,” comparing stand-up to “playing the cello.”
“You can’t just walk there. You have to keep practicing,” she continued. “And I do it, I’ve always loved it. And I’m always working on it. But I have a show.”
Maher was referring to his HBO show Real Time with Bill Maherwhich he began presenting in 2003 after directing Politically incorrect from 1993 to 2002. Seinfeld told Maher: “I don’t know how you kept up the pace during the show or, frankly, why. But you did it.”
In turn, Maher pointed out that the two concerts “feeded each other,” but also explained that “he loves[s]” stand-up, which he says is where he “can be more relaxed” compared to his show and podcast.
“If I don’t have to practice the cello eight hours a day, maybe I want to do some of this stuff live,” he proposed, referring to his podcast. “That’s an interesting choice that people make today. “It’s kind of an event.”
Despite his possible departure from stand-up, Maher still left the door open for a return to comedy.
“After 40 years, that’s why I don’t want to make an announcement like, ‘This is the end of me…’” he clarified. “I might change my mind. “It could be like cutting off a limb and I have to get back to that.”
Watch Maher and Seinfeld’s conversation above.
