Bill Maher Walks Comedy Tightrope With Pair of 9/11 Jokes on 25th Anniversary

Bill Maher walked a comedy tightrope Friday night opening his latest “Real Time” monologue with a pair of 9/11 jokes, despite it being the attacks’ 25th anniversary. But considering they were at President Donald Trump’s expense, the HBO host stuck the landing.

His studio audience guffawed with laughter at Maher’s first zinger, which he set up by pointing out that former presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were all in attendance at the official Ground Zero ceremony in Lower Manhattan on Friday. Trump, meanwhile, stayed in Washington, D.C. and attended a Sept. 11 observance ceremony at the Pentagon.

“It’s a somber day. This is the anniversary of one of the most important events in American history. This is the 25th anniversary when we were attacked, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,” Maher began. “There were ceremonies commemorating it in New York. Four ex-presidents went. Trump and Pete Hegseth went to the Pentagon, which was also attacked, where Trump said, ‘We will never forget who attacked us on this day: Canada.’”

The unexpected punchline earned a riotous enough response in studio that Maher held his hand to his face, smiling. “All right,” he said, bringing the crowd to a calm.

He then took a jab at Secretary of Defense Hegseth.

“And Pete Hegseth, he was even more mad about it,” Maher joked of his response to the 2001 terrorist attack on the capitol. “He said, ‘These terrorists tried to destroy the Pentagon, and that is my job!’”

Trump’s ongoing trade war with his northern neighbors has been in Maher’s craw for weeks and served as the basis for his monologue two weeks ago. (“I found out today Canada has been treating me very badly!”) But the rest of his monologue Friday circled the president’s so-called “midterm convention” — “which, by the way, is not a thing” — and mocked Trump’s promise to give all Americans $5,000 if Republicans win across the board in November’s midterms.

“He wanted to assure the voters, his voters, that with him as president and both houses, you know, a Republican majority, everything people were worrying about — inflation, affordability, corruption, the war — would be solved. Which would be a great selling point, except that’s what we have now,” Maher quipped.

“He said the affordability crisis is fake. You’re not paying more for beef, that cow is lying!”

The host then reasoned that Trump’s proposal for the government to “hand out” money to everyone is “you know, to fight socialism.”

“I gotta say, in a country that is already haves and have-nots, this is a little bit of a scatter-shot approach,” Maher concluded. “To get the money, all you have to do is just be an American adult and be alive. So Mitch McConnell, your move.”

Over his audience’s laughter, Maher emphasized of his joke against the 84-year-old Republican senator who hasn’t been seen in public since June: “Said with love.”

“Real Time With Bill Maher” airs on HBO and streams on HBO Max on Fridays at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.