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McAfee. Cancel any time. Terms

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apply. Welcome to an HBO podcast

0:48

from the HBO late month series,

0:50

Real Time with Bill Mall. All right,

0:52

here we are on our time with

0:54

the best-selling author and humorist who starts

0:57

is 40 plus that he saw on

0:59

March 30th across the U.S. David

1:01

Sedaris. And a former Democratic

1:04

Senator from Montana who co-host

1:06

the podcast grounded John Tester

1:08

and a CNN political contributor

1:11

and co-host of the view,

1:13

Alyssa Farra Griffin. Okay. Yes.

1:33

Yes and yes? Yeah, I mean look,

1:36

I mean I think that we should

1:38

learn something from COVID and then

1:40

we should treat these things seriously

1:42

in the world we live

1:44

in today with people moving

1:46

around. And as a farmer, right,

1:48

around animals and stuff, all the diseases

1:50

come from animals. And it's because of

1:53

the way we treat them. The bird

1:55

flu is... There's no doubt about it.

1:57

It's concentration of livestock. small areas, in

2:00

this case chickens. Did you ever try

2:02

to like do anything about that? Like,

2:04

I mean, I'm a Peter board member,

2:06

so I'm a little biased here. You're

2:09

into that? I'm totally into that. I

2:11

am totally into not torturing animals. And

2:13

you know what? When you do torture

2:15

animals. It winds up coming, that's how

2:18

we get. That's a collateral damage of

2:20

it all. Look, we have a hard

2:22

enough time getting a farm bill passed

2:25

in Congress for Christ's sakes, much less

2:27

dealing with those kind of issues in

2:29

our food system and that, does it

2:31

mean we shouldn't deal with it? No,

2:33

we absolutely should deal with it in

2:36

common sense ways, but in the end,

2:38

we end up talking about crans and

2:40

bathrooms and bathrooms and... David Bird

2:42

flew, your thoughts. I saw a

2:44

video a few weeks ago and

2:46

it was Spanish women protesting the

2:48

rape of chickens. And I thought,

2:50

who would stoop that low? They

2:53

met by roosters. And they were saying

2:55

if you have chickens outside, and

2:57

if you have chickens outside

2:59

and a rooster tries to rape

3:01

the chicken, she can run away.

3:03

But if they're confined, there's nowhere

3:05

to go. And at first I

3:07

thought it was crazy. And then I

3:10

thought, hmm, it's a point. And

3:13

not to be gross but people

3:15

have had sex with chicken.

3:17

Larry Flint claimed that he

3:19

lost his virginity to a

3:21

chicken. I mean yes. I

3:23

don't think that's how it

3:26

happens. Yes he was serious.

3:28

I mean this is Larry Flint

3:30

who started hustler. You know, I

3:32

mean, I put some context there,

3:34

but... And cockle-doo. Any cockle-do. There

3:36

you go. That's why he is

3:39

who he is. Any cockle-doo. This

3:41

is for you, Felissa. What do

3:43

you think of Republican leadership telling

3:45

their members that they should avoid

3:47

doing town halls? They can't hide

3:50

from your own voters. It's literally...

3:52

Like, like, they're not going

3:54

to be mad if you

3:56

don't show up. It's... It's

3:58

actually politically politically good. advice

4:00

from Richard Hudson because this is going to

4:02

happen. My concern is that Doge has cut

4:04

a lot that we don't know and in

4:06

the next few months there's going to be

4:08

goods and services that the American public does

4:11

rely on, not the fat and waste that

4:13

none of us like. And if you're not

4:15

getting your VA benefits, if you're not, if

4:17

you're waiting at the Social Security Office, you're

4:19

going to want to go and yell at

4:21

your congressman or you're going to vote them out

4:24

of office. around that brick and that

4:26

mortar and it's a bubble and you

4:28

never hear what's going on in the

4:30

real world and those town hall meetings

4:32

are the only way you can hear

4:34

what's really going on in the real

4:36

world it's it really goes against

4:38

their democracy quite frankly okay what

4:40

do you for you David what

4:42

do you think of artists like

4:44

Hamilton creator Lin Manuel and Miranda

4:47

canceling tours of the shows at

4:49

the Kennedy Center now that Trump

4:51

has taken it over I

4:53

played the Kennedy Center three times.

4:55

Really? And every time I've gone,

4:58

I've said, why haven't you

5:00

given me the Mark Twain

5:02

Award? Like, usually I should get

5:04

it too. Yeah, the last time they gave

5:06

it to a writer was Neil Simon.

5:08

Wow. Now Jeff Foxworth is going

5:10

to get it before I do. I mean...

5:13

It doesn't seem fair. I played the Kennedy

5:15

a bunch of times and I got to

5:18

say I don't know that I'd go back

5:20

right now because I think the audience is

5:22

going to stay away as well and usually

5:24

when I've been there I don't mean to

5:26

sound like a dick but you know it

5:28

sells out and I don't want Trump to

5:31

take credit I don't want to lead to

5:33

its success if he's going to claim that

5:35

is a victory for himself. You're not

5:37

a dick for selling out. No, no,

5:40

I mean a dick for saying it.

5:42

Not a dick for that either. Okay.

5:44

Three times sold out. I'm angry that

5:46

the building was politicized.

5:48

I'm angry that the

5:51

building was politicized. I'm

5:53

angry about that. Okay, but I

5:55

will say this in defense of the

5:57

other side on this one because I...

5:59

I watched the Kennedy Center honors this year.

6:02

It was in December. It's always in December.

6:04

I always watch it. And this year they

6:06

honored Francis Ford Copula and The Grateful Dead

6:08

with the two famous ones and then they

6:11

have an opera singer you never heard of.

6:13

Okay. There's five people who get honored. And

6:15

I just, now maybe I'm wrong because I

6:17

didn't do an exhaustive study, but I was

6:19

looking at watching the show. I did not

6:22

see one person in the audience or one

6:24

person on the stage who you would think

6:26

voted for Donald for Donald Trump. And

6:28

this is the last month of the

6:31

Biden administration. And having just lost the

6:33

election, I just thought, you know what?

6:35

Invite Ted Cruz. If this is supposed

6:37

to be America and roll together, and

6:39

you just lost, invite some of the

6:41

people who you wouldn't suspect to be

6:43

there. I'm sure Ted Cruz, or somebody

6:46

like that, likes Francis Ford, called Collaborative,

6:48

like the Godfather. I'm sure there are

6:50

some Republicans who are grateful, dead fans.

6:52

And it's just like, no, the mean

6:54

girls, this is our last time, and

6:56

this is what you get. And now,

6:58

you know, Kevin Sorbo will be

7:00

winning the next Kennedy Center. Like, listen,

7:03

the arts obviously skew left of center

7:05

and that's fine. Like, I'm not looking

7:07

to see... Yes, they do. Yes, they

7:09

do. All due respect perform there. But

7:12

I do think that how much in

7:14

beltway media the story of the Kennedy

7:16

Center takeover has become a big story

7:18

is just once again so out of

7:20

touch with the middle of this country

7:22

who doesn't even know what it is

7:25

outside of watching the Kennedy Center

7:27

honors once a year. It's just a bad

7:29

attitude. So what you're saying is there were

7:31

no Republicans in the audience? That's what I

7:33

didn't see anybody throughout the whole show who

7:36

I thought oh this is a person who

7:38

voted for Trump I just felt when they

7:40

cut to the audience it was just the

7:42

usual suspects and like okay I get it

7:45

you're right it does skew left but just

7:47

that's what they got really bugs me about

7:49

the left that exclusionary attitude and like but

7:52

you just lost you know you don't have

7:54

the juice to pull that off anymore and

7:56

I've only been to it in person

7:58

twice in 18 years. But the truth

8:00

is both times that I went there

8:03

once about three years ago, there

8:05

were a lot of Republicans in

8:07

the audience during the

8:09

Biden administration. Okay, maybe they

8:11

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9:37

What does the panel think about

9:39

the inmate in South Carolina choosing

9:42

death by firing squad? Yes. The

9:44

state's first sex education is 50

9:46

as the least cruel option.

9:48

Oh yeah, I would agree. If you got a

9:50

you kidding, they're always fucking up the

9:52

How is that better like first you

9:55

lie on the table? It's like a

9:57

massage You know how to aim a

9:59

gun what? They could screw that

10:01

up too. You know, they might miss.

10:03

They can't make 10 guys. How

10:05

could anybody else but you miss?

10:07

No one ever missed a firing.

10:10

Are you crazy? No, it's over

10:12

in two seconds. You have the

10:14

cigarette, blindfold, you're out of there.

10:16

The other thing... Oh, you're in

10:18

a blindfold, that helps. The other

10:21

thing where they would put you

10:23

first, because they had to make

10:25

this... It's like really comfortable and

10:27

then they would put in the

10:30

real bad stuff and they fucked

10:32

it up a number of times in

10:34

the guy. It was just the worst. How have we

10:36

not gotten better at doing it in a

10:38

humane way though? I would just imagine we

10:40

have the technology to make it like quick

10:43

easy and peaceful because I'm not going firing

10:45

squad personally. David, firing

10:47

squad, your thoughts. My

10:50

only, they were, it

10:52

was somebody on Instagram

10:54

and he was asked

10:56

what his last meal would

10:58

be and he said the

11:00

all you can eat breadsticks.

11:03

Are you allowed to request?

11:05

Are you allowed to

11:07

request alcohol in your

11:09

last meal because I'd

11:11

be like a bottle

11:14

of Jack Daniels. What

11:16

is the panel of

11:18

think of Trump pulling

11:20

$400 million in federal

11:22

funding from Columbia University

11:24

for failing to protect

11:26

Jewish students from harassment?

11:28

Well, two people love it. I'm

11:30

for it. Listen, the devil will be in the details.

11:32

Because listen. Free speech, fine. If you want to be

11:34

a queer for Palestine, it's an idiotic philosophy, but you

11:36

have a right to be that. You do not have

11:38

a right to harass, intimidate Jewish students on campus to

11:40

keep them from going to their classes as they take

11:42

it, to keep them from going to the dining hall.

11:44

It is ridiculous, and I will tell you, those campus protests, those

11:47

got trump a lot of votes. That was the one of the times

11:49

that I was like, I hate this man, but this is insane that

11:51

it's happening, that it's happening, and we need to happen, and we need

11:53

a change that it's happening, and we need to change that it's happening,

11:55

and we need to change that it's happening, and we need to change

11:57

that it's happening, and we need to change, and we need to change,

11:59

and we need to change, So when did you

12:01

go from working for him to hating

12:03

him? COVID in January 6 really

12:05

did it for me. Listen, I worked

12:07

for Pence, I worked for the Department

12:09

of Defense and the first administration. and

12:12

I went over to work for him

12:14

during the COVID crisis. I to this

12:16

day think his single greatest accomplishment was

12:18

Operation Warp Speed and getting the vaccine,

12:21

but that he's run away from it

12:23

for the past four years rather than

12:25

leaning into science and American ingenuity in

12:27

the free market and how we got

12:30

there. And I left before January 6,

12:32

but I saw it going that direction

12:34

and the lies about the election. And that

12:37

to me just went against my values.

12:39

I just couldn't be with him. Same

12:41

thing. And when did you go from

12:43

loving him to hating him? I was

12:45

there was it. All right everybody, thank

12:47

you very much. Thank you. Catch all

12:49

new episodes of Real Time with Bill

12:52

Maher every Friday night at 10 or

12:54

watch him any time on HBO

12:56

on demand. For more information, log

12:58

on to hbo.com.