Comedian, commentator Bill Maher says traveling the country keeps him in touch

During the week, comedian and political commentator Bill Maher is in Los Angeles, writing and preparing for his live Friday night HBO show “Real Time With Bill Maher.”

But on weekends, Maher is on the road, in Fort Wayne, Fargo, Ann Arbor, Ames and Wichita, feeding his need to stay connected to his first love – stand-up comedy.

So when Maher hears members of the tea party say they “want their country back,” he said, he can answer from first-hand experience.

“I see it, and it hasn’t gone anywhere,” he said during a recent phone interview from Los Angeles. “I don’t know if they realize it, but I promise it’s the same Kentucky-fried place it’s always been. And I enjoy that. I enjoy seeing America. When you go out into America, and you travel and are in airports and bars, you talk to people, and you do get a much more thumb-on-the-pulse of what’s going on in America.”

Maher, well-known in Kansas for his rant against Gov. Sam Brownback on a 2014 episode of his show, will put his thumb on Wichita’s pulse when he brings his stand-up show to Century II’s Concert Hall on Saturday. Tickets are still available to the show, which starts at 8 p.m.

The comedian – who describes himself as a libertarian and is known for his more liberal leanings – has hosted “Real Time” since 2003. His show “Politically Incorrect” ran on ABC from 1997 to 2002 after starting on Comedy Central in 1993. Maher also is known for producing the 2008 documentary “Religulous,” which outlined his criticisms of organized religion. He started his career, though, as a stand-up comedian in 1979.

Maher said he has no fear taking his show on the road into more conservative states like Kansas. Because his beliefs are well documented, he said, he rarely has to deal with a heckler.

“It’s really much the same as anywhere because people don’t pay money to go see a show they don’t want to see,” he said.

In fact, his audiences in conservative states are usually more enthusiastic, he guesses, because they’re so outnumbered in their beliefs. Audiences in Macon, Ga., he said, are much more enthusiastic and less politically correct in their response to his material than “limousine liberals” in blue states.

Kansas is one of his favorite stops, Maher said, noting that he frequently visits the state on his comedy tours.

Asked about his Brownback bit a year later, Maher chuckled and could still recite the punchlines.

One of his best memories of Kansas, he said, was coming face-to-face with Westboro Baptist Church protesters when he would perform anywhere near Topeka. They’d greet him every time with signs declaring that “God hates Bill Maher.”

It was funny, he said, because as he’d walk past them into the theater, some of the protesters would stop and greet him warmly and ask to have their picture taken with him.

“You know what they say: Hate the sin, love the sinner,” Maher said with a laugh.

Heading into the 2016 presidential elections, Maher said, he’s overrun with material for his stand-up shows, and Donald Trump has been particularly generous.

He’s enjoying it, he said, because usually, the periods between elections are dry, and it’s more of a struggle to write jokes. President Obama, lately, has made it tough on comedians.

“I always say what’s good for America is bad for comedy and vice versa,” he said. “Obama has taken away many issues from me, and I always applaud him when he does. We had a lot more to work with when he was still on the page that marriage is between a man and woman and before he moved on climate change and a bunch of other things. And I’m always happy to see that material go by the wayside. I don’t always need it because Republicans will always pick up the slack.”

This story was originally published September 6, 2015 at 6:44 AM with the headline "Comedian, commentator Bill Maher says traveling the country keeps him in touch."