How Bill Maher Made ‘Club Random’ the Most Relaxed and Surprising Podcast in Hollywood

Bill Maher took his time coming to the podcast party. Given his inexhaustible voice, comic virtuosity, and broad socio-political influence, the veteran comedian, broadcaster, and 21-season host of Real Time with Bill Maher might’ve been expected to arrive at the digital-audio door sooner than March 2022. That’s when the most podcastable guy in Hollywood without a podcast launched Club Random with Bill Maher in his own original, unfiltered, thoroughly unpodcasty style.

Set in a bud- and booze-friendly bar space featuring an eclectic range of smart, opinionated, buzzed-or-sober guests, Club Random eschews a script, a plan of any sort, or even a discernible camera or microphone (all squirreled away from view). It’s just a random, rambling schmooze in a secret lounge focusing on whatever Bill Maher and his single guest have on their minds.

>>>Watch the Latest Episode With Jon Hamm

Having swiftly risen the podcast pyramid, Club Random's success is no surprise to anyone—except maybe Bill Maher prior to launching a podcast.

“If you’d said to me 15 years ago, ‘Bill, y’know what’s gonna be the next big thing? AM radio—but we’re gonna call it podcasting,’ I would’ve said you’re nuts,” quips the 41-time Emmy nominee whose podcast has logged over 105 million views on YouTube and 12 million downloads since its launch last year.

For years, Maher resisted the podcast bandwagon. “My normal work week for Real Time is intense enough on its own,” he says. “I never go out during the week, I’m my own head-writer, and I’m working on it every night. I do afford myself something of a midweek break,” he adds. “It’s usually a little social time in this funky bar space that I call Club Random, where I enjoy relaxing and talking with friends about all those other things that don’t come up on Real Time.”

It’s in this mellow, say-anything space where Maher realized he sort of had been podcasting all these years—just without recording it.

“My one job on Club Random is to have a good time with zero agenda,” he says about the hour-long, one-on-one show. “It’s complete stream of consciousness. I don’t know where it’s gonna go—or where it’s gonna end.”

As Men’s Journal begins begins a partnership with Club Random, publishing new episodes every Sunday, and exclusive behind-the-scenes clips, on the Men’s Journal Club Random Channel, we talked with Bill Maher about putting his own singular spin on the podcast-sphere, his favorite podcast co-pilot, the magic of a hidden camera, and why skydiving, pumping iron, and high-end tequila are all sort of overrated.

Men’s Journal: You’ve logged over 630 episodes of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher since 2003. How did the idea of adding an hour-long podcast to your weekly production roster come about?

Bill Maher: For a long time, podcasts were something I really didn’t want to get involved with. I remember asking my agents about them back when they were first becoming popular. They said, “Why would you want a podcast? You’re on HBO. You’re what the podcasters are trying to get? And I went, “Oh, yeah. That’s right,” and I forgot all about podcasts. Then, next thing you know, Joe Rogan’s getting 11 million listeners on his podcast. So, clearly, it’s hard to predict trends in media.

Podcasting trends aside, what made you want to do it?

I eventually came to realize I wanted to do something that got away from what I do on Real Time—which is my real job and the one I love the most. Friends would keep saying to me, “You should really do a podcast, because whenever we get together you’re talking about all these other things that you’d never talk about on Real Time. Why don’t you do that?”

Finally, I thought, that’s exactly what I should do. I mean, with Real Time, you can’t really watch it if you don’t follow what’s going on in the world, at least a little bit. It’s a comedy entertainment show that I’m trying to make as palatable as I can to the largest audience, but it’s using as fodder what’s actually happening in the world, and a lot of people frankly just haven’t a clue. I mean, I could be speaking Mandarin.

Club Random, on the other hand, is what I enjoy doing at home socially once or twice a week anyway—which is get super-high and chew the fat with someone who I just wanna talk to and hang out with for fun. But this is even better because my bookers bring in all these great people who I’ve never had an opportunity to really sit down with until now.

Your guest list is as varied as it gets: Mike Tyson, Fran Lebowtiz, Lars Ulrich, Deepak Chopra... Do you tailor any questions ahead of time for specific guests?

Never. It's totally unscripted. Whatever happens happens.

No emergency topic under the bar just in case? We haven’t noticed any awkward silences yet.

They’re all great guests and there’s always far too much to talk about, so no silences—but a lot of… “Wait, what were we just talking about?... What was I about to say?” I don’t think there’s been a single Club Random episode where we haven’t said that at one point and cracked up. That would never happen on Real Time.

What’s it like switching gears from Real Time with its tightly structured segments and panel of pundits to a show this loose?

It’s the most natural thing in the world. It really is everything that Real Time isn’t, and that was also a necessary move as far as assuring HBO that this was not going to be a competition in the slightest. And it hasn’t. I spend all week preparing Real Time, and my panel of guests are an A-Team who can talk intellectually about what’s going on in the world. That’s not what’s going on here at Random, where I barely know who the guest is pre-arrival.

Also, I’m not gonna lie, marijuana is my co-pilot on the podcast, because it just wouldn’t be the same doing this show sober. Again, that’s something I would never ever do on Real Time. My job there is to catch the audience up on what’s important that happened that week. My job on the podcast is to have a good time with absolutely no agenda in the exact same place where I’d be socializing anyway—which is a funky little bar space called Club Random.

It’s a unique vibe and setting for a podcast. More like you’re lounging at a two-person pub.

When we decided to do this podcast, I said, “If we’re gonna do it, I’m doing it differently than any podcast I’ve seen.” So many of them are in these stark, glaring rooms where the guest has this bulbous microphone in their face with some other dude in the background staring at a computer. I wanted a night-time feel with no one else in the room. No engineers, no cameras and stuff in your face. That’s all somewhere else. I spent quite a lot of money building the cameras into the walls. I really wanted it to feel just like it would if you came over normally to talk to me. We’re drinking, some people are smoking, there’s a level of relaxation that I just haven’t seen anywhere else.

Do your guests openly appreciate that too?

It's funny, I’ve had many of them on the podcast, including savvy showbiz veterans, who’ve said to me at some point long after we’ve started—“Okay, Bill, are we gonna do this already or are we just bullshitting for awhile? Did I come here to do a show?” Yeah, you came here to do a show, and we’re 20 minutes into it.

How did the name “Club Random” come about?

I’ve had this little dwelling on the property where I’ve always just put things that didn’t fit in my house, or that I’d outgrown, or were just weird. Y’know, random shit. A friend who came over one day took one look at the place and said, “This is like Club Random.” That was that. It was the perfect name for it—and the podcast.

So Club Random actually takes place at home.

Well, yeah … I was lucky enough to acquire the property next door. Y’know, what they call “perimeter buying” among us elitists. So, it’s not exactly home home, but very close. Like 50 yards away.

It’s a legit looking L.A. bar space. Are you pouring drinks for your guests?

It depends on the guest. I have some who are definitely not drinkers. We don’t force that on anyone.

What about you? Do you enjoy any specific beverage during the podcast, or does it depend on the guest—whether it’s Piers Morgan or Gene Simmons?

I’ll have a tequila or two. When I was a drinker, I drank Jack Daniels, but that’s a little harder on your liver. Tequila is the health nut’s liquor. Club Random is really the only time during the week when I allow myself a couple of drinks, because I’m 67 years old, bro. If you drink more than that at this age, it’s gonna happen: You are gonna look like Ted Kennedy.

If there’s one recurring theme on Club Random, it's that you can agree to disagree on stuff with your guests and still really respect each other. Do you feel a certain responsibility to show your listeners that this is actually possible in today’s crazy climate?

Absolutely. I feel it on this show and I feel it on my real show. I do it on Real Time. I do it on Club Random … I mean, if this country is going to find its way back from the brink—and we certainly are on the brink—we have to find a way to do what we used to do, which is to be able to engage with each other without this horrible attitude of, If you don’t agree with me 100% on everything, I unfriend you! That’s just the wrong attitude—and it’ll never ever work.

Let’s toast the Club Random-Men’s Journal partnership with a little speed round covering some of our favorite bases. Starting with travel and adventure: favorite city not in California, New York, or Western Europe?

I tour the country doing stand up, and I don’t want to insult like half of it by not mentioning them—but a few towns come to mind. Houston, Chicago, Atlanta. I love playing those cities. A lot of places come to mind that you wouldn’t think. They might be in red states, where I get a mainly liberal crowd who aren’t crazy woke and politically correct-liberal—and, for me, that’s the most fun kind of audience.

A thrilling experience you haven’t done yet, but absolutely want to?

Definitely not skydiving. I really don’t have a big bucket list. I’m a creature of habit. I’m happier just doing my job, staying home. I like doing what I do, which isn’t scuba diving. I like my job. I like my friends. I like to go out to dinner. I love to play basketball. I’m enjoying my new pot store with Woody Harrelson—which is called The Woods.

What’s your move these days to stay healthy and fit?

Well, first of all, abs are made in the kitchen. That’s what everyone needs to understand. A lot of people I know, they work out and train too much. As far as health and fitness, I try to work up a sweat every day. I shoot some hoops. I do some yoga and stretching. I have a batting cage. Even if you’re feeling tired and shitty, you’ll always want to hit a baseball. A couple times a week I’ll do some weight training, but let’s not overdo it. Same with food. I only eat two meals a day. You don’t need more. Three is just something people made up to sell more groceries.

Last sports event you were at, or next game you want to attend?

I sat courtside for the Lakers, courtesy of my boss, when they beat out the Warriors to advance—before losing to the Nuggets. I’m a Knicks fan, so I was pretty agnostic about the whole thing.

Finally, booze: If Club Random only had a single bottle on the shelf at the bar, what would it be? A nice reposado?

Honestly, it’s all the same shit to me. Same thing with pot. People are always like, “Oh, indica does this to you.” Really? Blindfold me and I will not be able to tell you the difference between the cheap stuff and the fancy tequila bottle with the bell on top. It’s all poison—and it all works equally well.

Stay updated on the latest Club Random with Bill Maher episodes on the Men’s Journal Club Random Channel.