At one point during this week’s Real Time With Bill Maher, the show’s host put one of the episode’s themes into context. “Everything else might seem trivial if the aliens are here,” Maher said. Aliens were up for discussion because of Maher’s first guest, Dan Farah, director of the documentary The Age of Disclosure.
As Maher pointed out, bizarre aerial phenomena is one of a few reliably bipartisan issues in the U.S. right now. He pointed to the presence in the documentary of prominent Democrats and Republicans, as well as other “very very serious people.” The first part of their conversation found Maher asking Farah about the shifting terminology surrounding mysterious aircraft, and how “UAPs” has replaced “UFOs.” “Whatever it is, they’re flying saucers,” Maher said.
Farah discussed some of the different characteristics of UAPs, including antigravity and “hypersonic velocity.” “These things are doing things that we cannot do,” he explained.
Eventually, the conversation turned to the possible existence of aliens with advanced technology, and what that meant for humanity. “If they wanted us dead, we would be dead by now,” Maher said.
Another element that the two men discussed was whether or not it was coincidental that UFO sightings increased after humanity developed nuclear bombs. “We’re still a violent species,” Farah said. As for where they might be hiding, Farah had some ideas there as well, saying, “80% of the ocean hasn’t been explored.”
One especially unnerving subject was whether UAPs could manipulate nuclear weapons remotely. “If they are going to be able to turn off our nuclear missiles, I say they can’t get here soon enough,” Maher said.
That was one of two very emphatic statements uttered during this conversation. The other was a question posed by Farah: “If you were an advanced non-human species, would you want us showing up on your front lawn?”
Maher continued the alien-related discussion for the panel, which featured writer Michael C. Moynihan and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Would the existence of aliens unite the nation, Maher asked. Neither guest seemed optimistic.
Not surprisingly, given that a sitting member of Congress was on the show, much of the panel focused on the effects of the government shutdown, including Affordable Care Act subsidies. Moynihan seemed surprised to be agreeing with Greene, which he did multiple times during the chat, including when the importance of price transparency came up.
To close out the night, Maher mused on the idea of ghost brands, which he described as, “The brands that make you say, ‘Oh, they’re still making that?’” Maher wasn’t raising this subject to dunk on Sears, however; instead, he was musing on whether the Democratic Party as a whole was becoming one.
“Sometimes, you’ve got to give the people what they want,” he said. There’s been a lot of discussion lately about what the Democratic Party’s future should look like; this was evidently Maher’s own entry into the conversation, though I’m not sure how well his extended comparison to Playboy, of all things, will hold up.
Other notable moments from this episode:
- This episode was recorded on Halloween; so there were a whole lot of pumpkins on the set, as well as some spooky lighting effects later in the episode.
- Maher on Halloween: “I had a bad time last year. Someone laced my drugs with candy.”
- The phrase “Gavin Newsom’s Haunted House of Hat Hair” does roll off the tongue, doesn’t it.
- Greene’s reaction to Maher making a joke about a “sexy Prince Andrew” costume is the stuff from which reaction GIFs are made.
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