Real Time with Bill Maher is airing a repeat tonight, so there likely won’t be any mention of it, but it was on February 21st, 2003—22 years ago today—that HBO aired the show’s very first episode.
680 episodes later, Bill Maher and team are still at it most Friday nights, taking on the hot button issues of the day with a diverse panel of politicos, journalists, entertainers, and others.
Real Time is now HBO’s longest running series still on the air, and the third longest overall, behind Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (which ended in December 2023 after 29 seasons) and Inside the NFL (which aired for 31 seasons from 1977-2008).
The show was nominated for twelve Emmy awards between 2005 and 2017, and has spawned two books based on Maher’s trademark “New Rules” segment, which remarkably began with the show’s very first episode:
Though he set tongues wagging last November when he suggested he was ready to quit his show after Donald Trump was elected to a second term in the White House, he’s since walked back those comments, telling telling CNN, “I don’t know where this started about I’m getting rid of Real Time. They’re going to have to drag me off of that show.”
Maher’s current contract with HBO takes him through the show’s 24th season, which will end in late 2026.
In addition to his HBO show, Maher also hosts the popular podcast Club Random with Bill Maher, which he recently expanded into a full-fledged podcast network with additional shows hosted by Sage Steele, Matt Friend, and Billy Corgan.
Real Time with Bill Maher returns to HBO with new episodes February 28, 2025.
ONLY 22 years?!