‘Real Time With Bill Maher’ Returning to Air Without Writers Amid Strike

Katie Kilkenny
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Real Time With Bill Maher is returning to the air, but without its writers.

“Real Time is coming back, unfortunately, sans writers or writing,” the eponymous host announced on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Wednesday. “It has been five months, and it is time to bring people back to work. The writers have important issues that I sympathize with, and hope they are addressed to their satisfaction, but they are not the only people with issues, problems, and concerns.”

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Maher went on to say “much of the staff is struggling mightily” and that though he appreciates his writers, “I’m not prepared to lose an entire year and see so many below-the-line people suffer so much.”

The HBO show will return Friday, Sept. 22, at 7 p.m. PT without a pre-written monologue, desk piece, “New Rules” segment or editorial segments, Maher continued.

“And I’ll say it upfront to the audience: the show I will be doing without my writers will not be as good as our normal show, full stop,” Maher continued. “But the heart of the show is an off-the-cuff panel discussion that aims to cut through the bullshit and predictable partisanship, and that will continue. The show will not disappoint.”

The Writers Guild of America said in a statement, “The Guild has, and will continue to, picket struck shows that are in production during the strike.”

“Bill Maher’s decision to go back on the air while his Guild is on strike is disappointing,” the WGA added in a lengthier statement posted to X on Wednesday night. “If he goes forward with his plan, he needs to honor more than ‘the spirit of the strike.’

“As a WGA member, Bill Maher is obligated to follow the strike rules and not perform any writing services,” the statement continued. “It is difficult to imagine how Real Time can go forward without a violation of WGA strike rules taking place. WGA will be picketing this show.”

The decision to resume production of Real Time comes amid a flurry of daytime talk shows restarting without scribes as the writers and actors strikes drag on. The Drew Barrymore Show went first, drawing a crowd of picketers on Monday when it resumed taping in New York. That same day, three other shows — The Talk, The Jennifer Hudson Show and Sherri — announced that they would return to the air. On Wednesday, a rehearsal taping for The Talk drew a group of about 50 WGA picketers.

Real Time is the first major late night series to return to the air as the work stoppages continue, following in the footsteps of late night hosts like Conan O’Brien and Jay Leno, who resumed their shows sans writers during the 2007-08 strike. As of now, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night With Seth Meyers are all still dark.

The WGA has now been on strike for 135 days, while SAG-AFTRA has been withholding its labor for 61 days. Amid the strikes, which have shut down the lion’s share of production in Hollywood, the entertainment industry shed 17,000 jobs in August alone, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and some industry members are facing the threat of eviction. Crew union-organized food banks have served thousands, with no end date yet in sight.

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