Bill Maher confessed he took no issue with Donald Trump’s attempt to block his Kennedy Center honor, noting he was happy to “keep the game going” with the president.
During Friday’s monologue for “Real Time With Bill Maher,” the comedian reacted to being named the recipient of the 2026 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor from the Trump-Kennedy Center after the White House previously called word of his selection “fake news.”
“Speaking of awards, I’m finally getting one,” Maher noted during his comedic address. “There was a lot of back and forth about this. It’s an award given at the Kennedy Center. But, of course, that is now the Trump-Kennedy Center.”
He continued: “So, I was going to get it, and then Friday, both his spokespeople came out and said, ‘Fake news! Bill Maher is never getting it.’”
However, Maher relayed that he reached a “compromise” with Trump, adding, “And the compromise is that I am getting it and then I’m going give it to him.” Maher, of course, was referencing the many secondhand awards that have been gifted to the president in his second term, including a Nobel Peace Prize and an Olympic medal.
“I just want things to work out,” Maher quipped. “And I just want to say thank you, okay? I’m not looking for a fight. And I’m not mad that he did this.”
As Maher went on, he described his relationship with Trump as “complicated,” explaining their beef goes back to the “orangutan” lawsuit — which the president filed against the late night personality in 2013 for a joke made on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” The pair briefly struck a truce after Maher had dinner with Trump in March 2025. Yet, things took a sour turn in February, when the president said his dinner with the HBO host was a “total waste of time.”
“This has been going on a long time,” he continued. “So, him trying to block me from getting it — I respect the move. Keep the game going, baby.”
Maher said he only benefitted from the ongoing back-and-forth with Trump, stating, “I’m all about engagement. Disengagement gets you nothing.”
While Maher did take a moment to call out Trump for calling him “a jerk” and “lightweight ratings loser,” he said that he was “totally fine with it.”
“I was proud of these last insults you gave me,” he added. “So, I would just like to say, as a low-ratings lightweight and a rather dumb guy and a pathetic bloated sleazebag, a dummy, a terrible student, a nervous failing comedian and someone who was sick, insane and very sad and totally shot and a crazy maniac, I’m honored to accept the Mark Twain award.”
New episodes of “Real Time With Bill Maher” air Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on HBO.
