Bill Maher slams the WGA for some of its ‘crazy’ claims

Bill Maher sat with comedian Jim Gaffigan on Sunday’s episode of the Club Random podcast and shared some of his thoughts on the ongoing writers’ strike and the WGA’s demands, some of which he called “insane.”

“They ask for a lot of crazy things,” Maher said. “What I find offensive about the philosophy of the strike [is] It seems like they’ve changed really a lot since the 2007 strike and believe that writing is a way of making a living, and that’s not the case.”

Then he added that Hollywood has always been about rushing.

“It’s show business,” he said. “It’s the make-or-miss league.”

Earlier in a clip of the podcast makes its way on social mediaMaher expressed concern for the industry’s non-writers who have been negatively impacted by the ongoing WGA-SAG-AFTRA dual strike that has brought Hollywood production as we know it to a virtual standstill.

“I feel for my writers. I love my authors. I’m one of my writers. But there’s a big other side too. And besides them, a lot of people get hurt — a lot of people who don’t make as much money as they do in our bipartisan world where you’re only in one camp or another, there’s no in-between,” he lamented. “Either you’re pro-strike like you’re King Che Guevara out there, you know, that’s Cesar Chavez’s lettuce picking strike, or you’re with Trump. There is no difference – there are only two camps. And it’s a lot more complicated.”

Bill Maher’s HBO show “Real Time” has been off the air since April 28. The WGA went on strike in early May.

The two sides of the WGA and AMPTP remain sharply divided, notably as illustrated by the recent studio proposal, put forward on August 11 and widely criticized by WGA members after the companies decided to make it public.

Sources tell TheWrap that there have been no further talks between the two sides since that meeting, although the WGA says it will “continue to hold direct negotiations with the companies.”