Inside Katie Couric And Bill Maher's Relationship Before She Slammed The Real Time Host For Praising

Highlights

• Katie Couric and Bill Maher have mutual respect, but disagreed on Donald Trump during their Club Random podcast interview.
• Maher complimented Trump's performance on CNN, to which Couric replied that he is not a standup comedian.
• Despite their differences on Trump, Couric and Maher had a mostly positive conversation on the podcast.

A podcast chat between bold Real Time host Bill Maher and esteemed journalist Katie Couric is bound to be fascinating. They're both known for having strong opinions, whether Couric is spilling about working with Matt Lauer or Maher is criticizing Tucker Carlson. Maher tends to get super honest on his Club Random podcast, like the time when he insulted Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Since Donald Trump has been in the news thanks to his civil fraud trial and 2024 Presidential run, it makes sense that the political figure came up when Couric appeared on Club Random in April 2024. It also makes sense that Maher and Couric didn't see eye to eye when discussing Trump. In this article, we'll take a look at Katie Couric and Bill Maher's relationship before their podcast interview, along with what Maher said about Trump that upset Couric.

What Was Katie Couric And Bill Maher's Relationship Like Before She Criticized Him For Complimenting Donald Trump?

While Katie Couric and Bill Maher got into a heated conversation about Donald Trump on his Club Random podcast, the two seem to have a good relationship with mutual respect. While neither has said that they have a friendship, there is no indication that they don't like each other, and they didn't have any public fights before their podcast interview.

It's unclear if Bill Maher and Katie Couric met before she was alarmed that he praised Donald Trump. Based on his comments, it seems that they might have run into each other professionally, but not socially. Maher said:

"That's the thing about us show people, we only get together when we work."

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Couric admitted to being a big fan of Maher's, which was most likely why she wanted to go on Club Random. Since she said that she finds him intelligent and since she has likely watched Real Time with Bill Maher and is aware of his bold personality, she might have expected them to have some disagreements.

Maher started the interview by saying that he was happy to have Couric on the podcast:

"Not that we've ever done this but I'm so glad we are. Thank you... What a treat, you know... Now I can get you to come and do it with me... So it's like the best thing in the world."

He added:

"I can take one, you know, two hour break midweek from my real job at Real Time to just kick it with somebody and now I can call you and you actually come."

Although they disagreed about Trump, the rest of the conversation was fairly positive, although there were tense and awkward moments when Couric and Maher didn't seem to get along. According to Mediate.com, Katie Courictalked about working with Matt Lauer and said that after one woman opened up about his behavior, they were told it just happened once. When Maher said, “Obviously there was a tradition of an old boys network," Couric said that was true.

While that part of the podcast went smoothly, Maher wasn't 100 percent supportive when Couric mentioned that when she co-hosted Today with Bryant Gumbel, he washarsh about her first pregnancy. She said, “He got mad at me because I was doing something on maternity leave, and he was giving me endless sh*t for taking a month or two off. I was having my first baby."

Instead of agreeing that was unfair and mean, Maher said that Gumbel was kidding. While Couric didn't tell Maher that she didn't like what he said, she might not have appreciated his response.

In a Reddit thread, a few fans said they like watching the HBO host conduct interviews even though he shares opinions that not everyone agrees with. Redditor @TargetApprehensive38 wrote:

"It’s an interesting perspective. He absolutely says sh*t I disagree with sometimes but I think he has a reasonable take on most issues and I do still find him funny. A fair amount of the jokes are cringeworthy, but a lot also legitimately make me laugh."

What Did Bill Maher Say About Donald Trump?

Mediate.com reported that when Katie Couric was interviewed on the podcast Club Random, Bill Maher said that Trump was "killing it" when he did his CNN Town Hall in May 2023.

Maher said that "the audience loved him" and said:

“Here’s what people saw in America. They saw Trump killing it. Killing it with the crowd! Then you cut to a panel of six people who all just do nothing but dump on him and call him a liar and America goes, ‘oh, didn’t you just see that we like him?’"

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Couric didn't like that Maher said that Trump was "killing it" and replied:

"He’s not a standup comedian."

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What Else Did Bill Maher Say About Donald Trump?

• told Jake Tapper Biden will win against Trump in 2024 (according to Deadline)
• told Jake Tapper he is scared of Trump (according to Business Insider)
• said "You've got President Trump for life" in 2016 (according to Entertainment Weekly)
• told Phil McGraw Trump is "very different than Joe Biden" in 2023 (according to Fox News)
• said “I’ll do everything I can to make sure" Trump isn't elected in 2024 (via Yahoo News)

While Bill Maher and Katie Couric got along fine while chatting on Club Random, they definitely didn't see eye to eye about Donald Trump.

As their discussion continued, Maher said that Trump has a lot of "popularity" among voters and Couric said it's "class resentment." Maher then mentioned why he still has a large support system: "Not to defend Trump, but to defend the people who still vote for him. Because what they see on the other side, to them is even more dangerous."

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