The BEST Episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Last Updated: Jan 9, 2020
Network: HBO
Each week Bill Maher surrounds himself with a panel of guests which include politicians, actors, comedians, musicians and the like to discuss what's going on in the world.
#1 - January 16, 2004
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired Jan 16, 2004
Guests: Ret. Gen. Wesley Clark, musician Moby, Rev. Al Sharpton, actor Ron Silver, congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) Topics: American values, Iraq, MoveOn.org, environment
10.00 
#2 - October 24, 2008
Season 6 - Episode 24 - Aired Oct 24, 2008
Guests: Actor Tim Robbins, comedian Carol Leifer, political consultant Matt Dowd, economist Arthur Laffer; via satellite, ex-GOP operative Allen Raymond Topics: Electoral fraud, voting, the election, Joe the Plumber, economy, Barack Obama, future of the Republican Party
10.00 
#3 - April 27, 2007
Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired Apr 27, 2007
Guests: Actor Richard Belzer, NPR correspondent Jamie Tarabay, commentator Lisa Schiffren, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, fmr US Attorney David Iglesias Topics: Pat Tillman controversy, U.S. attorney firings, privacy in America, Alec Baldwin, future of Iraq
10.00 
#4 - April 10, 2009
Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired Apr 10, 2009
Guests: Filmmaker Ron Howard and novelist Gore Vidal Topics: Bill conducts one-on-one interviews
10.00 
#5 - July 31, 2009
Season 7 - Episode 21 - Aired Jul 31, 2009
Guests: Journalist Jeff Sharlet, CNN foreign correspondent Michael Ware, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, economist Niall Ferguson, humorist Joe Queenan Topics: 2009 Henry Louis Gates, Jr. arrest by Cambridge police, health care reform, current economic crisis, resignation of Sarah Palin as Governor of Alaska
10.00 
#6 - June 11, 2010
Season 8 - Episode 16 - Aired Jun 11, 2010
Guests: Queen Noor of Jordan, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, Newsweek editor Jon Meacham, ex-Senate Maj. Leader Bill Frist, director Oliver Stone Topics: Oil spill, Republican filibustering, Dan Duncan and inheritance tax, "running government like a business", Nikki Haley, Military budget of the United States, Helen Thomas' Israel comments
10.00 
#7 - September 23, 2011
Season 9 - Episode 28 - Aired Sep 23, 2011
Guests: Journalist Ron Suskind, musician and activist Tom Morello, co-editor of Deadline Artists: America’s Greatest Newspaper Columns John Avlon, former Representative and Director, President, and CEO of The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Jane Harman (D-CA), filmmaker Michael Moore Topics: Obama's first term in office, Ricky Perry's campaign, unemployment, Bill O'Reilly threat to quote, wealthy people unwilling to accept higher taxes, Tony Bennett remarks, artist censorship, occupation of Wall Street, poor people voting against their economic interests
9.84 
#8 - March 25,2011
Season 9 - Episode 10 - Aired Mar 25, 2011
Guests: Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill, Actress Ellen Page, columnist David Brooks, former Governor Ed Rendell (D-PA), Newsweek Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown Topics: Libya, youth bulge, Republican Birthers and racism, Labor Unions, bee colony collapse disorder, America's growing Hispanic population, General Electric's tax bill
9.77 
#9 - June 12, 2009
Season 7 - Episode 16 - Aired Jun 12, 2009
Guests: CNN host Larry King, MSNBC host Chris Matthews, former White House Homeland Security advisor Frances Townsend, NAACP President Ben Jealous, humorist P. J. O'Rourke Topics: 2009 digital television transition, Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting, racism, affirmative action, nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, terrorism, car culture in the United States, socialism
9.50 
#10 - June 05, 2009
Season 7 - Episode 15 - Aired Jun 5, 2009
Guests: Actor and comedian D. L. Hughley, Council of Foreign Relations president Richard Haass, novelist Paula Froelich, journalist Jeremy Scahill, Fortune editor Matt Miller Topics: Obama's visit to the Middle East, terrorism, abortion debate and the murder of Dr. George Tiller, gay marriage, health care reform in the United States
9.50 
#11 - June 21, 2013
Season 11 - Episode 20 - Aired Jun 21, 2013
Interviewee: Haifaa al-Mansour (first female Saudi filmmaker) Panelists: Joshua Green (Bloomberg Businessweek journalist), Julia Reed (author of "But Mama Always Put Vodka in Her Sangria!") & Bob Herbert (Ex New York Times op-eder & Demos Fellow) Panel Guest: Michael Pollan (author of "Cooked") Topics: Exodus International apologizes and closes its doors, 2013 IRS scandal, immigration, masturbating fetuses, food, Paula Deen, death of Michael Hastings, mainstream atheism
9.10 
#12 - February 25, 2005
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired Feb 25, 2005
Guests: Former baseball slugger José Canseco, actor Tim Robbins, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, talk show host Tucker Carlson, Gov. Mike Huckabee Topics: On steroids, on Iran and Iraq, on religious belief, Ward Churchill, President Bush, on Covenant Marriage, Million Dollar Baby
9.00 
#13 - August 13, 2004
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired Aug 13, 2004
Guests: Comedian D. L. Hughley, former Sen. Gary Hart, writer Michelle Malkin, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, and columnist Maureen Dowd Topics: Muhammad Khan, president Bush, racial profiling, Jim McGreevey
9.00 
#14 - August 27, 2004
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired Aug 27, 2004
Guests: Author Michael Eric Dyson, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, reporter Ashleigh Banfield, author and Vietnam veteran John E. O'Neill, Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, talk show host Chris Matthews Topics: McCain–Feingold Act, Iraq, environment
9.00 
#15 - August 19, 2005
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired Aug 19, 2005
Guests: Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly; Iraq war veteran, Paul Hackett; former Homeland Security Under Secretary Asa Hutchinson; political consultant Kellyanne Conway; actor/comic Chris Rock. Topics: Cindy Sheehan, Iraq, John Kerry, racial profiling, activist judges
9.00 
#16 - September 15, 2006
Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired Sep 15, 2006
Guests: Feminist icon Gloria Steinem, homeland security expert Clark Ervin, actor Michael McKean; via satellite, Pat Buchanan and CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour Topics: Immigration, torture by military, Muslim extremists, airport security, hunt for Osama bin Laden, free speech in media
9.00 
#17 - October 06, 2006
Season 4 - Episode 18 - Aired Oct 6, 2006
Guests: From Washington, D.C.: Sens. John Kerry and Lincoln Chafee; Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, counter-terrorism expert Richard Clarke, comedian/actor Robin Williams, journalist Chris Matthews Topics: Mark Foley scandal, 2004 and 2006 elections, Iraq War, international relations
9.00 
#18 - March 13, 2009
Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired Mar 13, 2009
Guests: Comedian Sarah Silverman, professor Michael Eric Dyson, author Andrew Breitbart, columnist Steven Pearlstein Topics: State of the Rep. party, racism in America, the Teachers' Union, stem cell research
9.00 
#19 - March 20, 2009
Season 7 - Episode 5 - Aired Mar 20, 2009
Guests: Fmr. Sec. of State Madeleine Albright, television host Keith Olbermann, actress Kerry Washington, senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin Topics: AIG bonuses, the crisis, Teenage pregnancy in America, Glenn Beck, right-wing power
9.00 
#20 - February 15, 2008
Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired Feb 15, 2008
Guests: Commentator Andrew Sullivan, veterans' activist Paul Rieckhoff, Nina Hachigian of the Center for American Progress, pollster Frank Luntz (election correspondent), Sen Claire McCaskill (D-MO) Topics: Clinton vs. Obama, candidates' policies toward Middle East, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act renewal and changes, John McCain vs. Democrats, Roger Clemens congressional hearing
9.00 
#21 - July 17, 2009
Season 7 - Episode 19 - Aired Jul 17, 2009
Guests: Joe Scarborough, actor Jason Alexander, actress/playwright Anna Deavere Smith, Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT), Markos Moulitsas. Topics: Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings, racism and the Republican Party, clean coal electricity debate, health care reform in the United States, recent sex scandals involving politicians, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, death of Michael Jackson, drug use in the United States, death of Walter Cronkite (news broke shortly before tonight's show began), 40th anniversary of the Apollo Moon Landing
9.00 
#22 - July 24, 2009
Season 7 - Episode 20 - Aired Jul 24, 2009
Guests: Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano (via satellite), Iraq War veteran and California congressional candidate Anthony Woods, Susan Eisenhower, journalist John Heilemann, writer Matt Taibbi Topics: 2009 Henry Louis Gates, Jr. arrest by Cambridge police, racism and the Republican Party, Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories, health care reform, military-industrial complex
9.00 
#23 - October 15, 2010
Season 8 - Episode 21 - Aired Oct 15, 2010
Guests: Activist Al Sharpton, columnist Markos Moulitsas, musician John Legend, Dana Loesch, columnist Dan Neil Topics: Bill O'Reilly, Tea Party movement, 2010 Craziest Candidate Countdown, electric cars, education, Brett Favre
9.00 
#24 - July 08, 2011
Season 9 - Episode 22 - Aired Jul 8, 2011
Guests: Executive Director of Drug Policy Alliance Ethan Nadelmann, Ann Coulter, The Nation editor and MSNBC host Christopher Hayes, historian Amanda Foreman, Chaz Bono Topics: U.S. debt ceiling, jobs, Michele Bachmann, Keith Ablow on Bill Maher, News of the World phone hacking scandal, Casey Anthony trial, favorable laws for the wealthy
9.00 
#25 - February 19, 2010
Season 8 - Episode 1 - Aired Feb 19, 2010
Guests: Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel Elizabeth Warren, comedienne Wanda Sykes, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane , former Governor Eliot Spitzer, and Norah O'Donnell Topics: Lack of action by government, bipartisanship, the filibuster, Obama's handling of terrorism, torture, controversy over Family Guy's Down's Syndrome episode, race and criticism of Obama, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Kevin Smith's airplane incident, obesity, Bill's tweet criticizing media coverage of Haiti
8.97