HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher Premiered 18 Years Ago Today

On February 21, 2003, HBO premiered Real Time with Bill Maher, the irreverent political panel discussion show hosted by stand-up comedian Bill Maher, and in this clip from that first episode, he explains his "New Rules" segment, which has become the.bit that ends every episode. 

Maher had previously hosted Politically Incorrect on Comedy Central and later ABC, which became known over its nine-year run for bringing guests of different backgrounds together for a no holds barred discussion of current events. However, on September 17, 2001, a week after the country had been shell-shocked by the horrific events of 9/11, Maher was widely condemned for an off-hand comment he made in reference to President George W. Bush calling the attackers cowards.

"We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away," Maher had said. "That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, not cowardly." Maher later apologized for the comment, clarifying that he was referring to U.S. military policy and not the actual soldiers, but the damage had been done. Advertisers dropped off, and ABC cancelled the show in July 2002.

Seven months later, Real Time began, giving him an hour-long format. This was the height of the run-up to Iraq War shortly after France had publicly opposed Bush's efforts to form a coalition to invade Iraq, which caused a backlash in America that included a rather insipid attempt to change the name of French fries to "Freedom fries." 

Maher's first ever New Rule was "Lay off the French." He compared them favorably to the Democrats who were rolling over for the Bush administration, and to America itself by saying "it doesn't make me un-American to say I'd rather live in Paris than in places where cheese only comes in individually-wrapped slices." This made plain the fact that losing his previous show did not make Maher any less inclined to run against the grain of the prevailing cultural zeitgeist, and HBO has given him the freedom to do so for the past 18 years now.

Real Time with Bill Maher airs Friday nights at 10:00 PM ET on HBO.

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Andy Hunsaker has a head full of sitcom gags and nerd-genre lore, and can be followed @AndyHunsaker if you're into that sort of thing.