Bill Maher’s Eight Years Of Hard Work Has Paid Off As Barack Obama Will Finally Appear On ‘Real Time’

On the eve of this crazy election coming to a close, Bill Maher will finally get his chance to sit down and interview the current president before he heads out the door to freedom. Barack Obama will finally appear on Real Time after years of requests, some begging, some jokes on the air, and an official petition made to The White House.

Maher announced the news to kick off his show on Friday and teased it a bit for his audience. He sandwiched it between the announcement for a Trump standup set he’s working on for Facebook Live on November 2nd and the discussion on Anthony Weiner’s connection to the latest Hillary Clinton email scandal. More on that tomorrow.

For now, Maher gets to celebrate finally getting his white whale and doing it in timely fashion. As he notes at the start of the show, Real Time always seem to fall in that sweet spot right after some major breaking news tears up this election. This is their chance to make a little news. Here’s The White House response from back in January:

Plenty of us around here watch Real Time because we admire Bill’s passion for spreading the science on climate change, asking tough questions about money in politics, and trying to burst “the bubble” where some of our politicians — and too many of our nation’s critical political debates — exist.

The President’s communications team thinks strategically about scheduling presidential interviews, and we have made a concerted effort over the last couple of years to broaden the array of venues where the President appears — from talking to young people about health care on “Between Two Ferns” and a post-State of the Union conversation with YouTube stars, to a CNN Town Hall on gun violence and an interview with Mic.com on the Iran deal. Consistent with this approach, we’ll keep in mind Bill’s open invitation for a presidential appearance and give it the respectful consideration that Bill and his large audience deserve.

This was also the moment where Obama and staff wished Maher happy birthday despite putting off his appearance. I guess the’ll get a chance to discuss that a bit now, between plenty of Trump and Clinton chatter.

(Via Real Time)