Tipsheet

Bill Maher Wins Top Comedy Award. His Message to Those Angry About His Jokes.

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  June 29, 2026 8:00 AM

Bill Maher received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, a prestigious award, and one that’s well earned. Sorry, folks, he’s not really one of us, and that’s okay. Maher is a liberal, and it’s been highly entertaining watching this guy realize that his side is full of crazies. We have our nutters too—but they’re not winning primaries and nearing the point of potentially taking over an entire party. 

Also, the media needs to stop searching for anything here. There is no hook, so please stop looking. The HBO host and comedian had dinner with Trump, enjoyed the experience, found him engaging, felt comfortable talking to him about anything, and signed a list of insults the president hurled at him. The point is, Trump can take a joke. So, this New York Times piece should have mentioned that instead of partially focusing (and whining) on how Trump has taken over the Kennedy Center, which is still basically the Trump-Kennedy Center—just ignore what the courts say on this one. We know who runs things here (via Deadline):

Bill Maher celebrated his ability to anger the right and the left as he received the Kennedy Center‘s Mark Twain Prize, with a message to those who complain about being mocked: Stop being ridiculous.

He cited the center’s chairman, Donald Trump, who was not present, and his attacks on him.

“Now the president, when he is in attack mode, never fails to say I am part of the lunatic left,” Maher said. “Okay, he’s not wrong that there is one. I’m just not part of it, and I’m sure there is a lunatic right. And when either side gets mad at me because I put them in jokes, jokes that work, my message to them is simple: You want to not get mocked? Stop being funny. Then the jokes will work. When they are ridiculous, they do work, and when people laugh, you’re caught.”

[…]

Maher was recognized as a figure in comedy who embraced free speech and didn’t play to just one side of the aisle. The ceremony featured extensive clips, dating to his days on ABC with Politically Incorrect, as well as his standup specials and podcasts. Throughout the ceremony, figures such as Arianna Huffington, Jay Leno and Woody Harrelson paid tribute, while Jerry Seinfeld spoke from Las Vegas. John Mellencamp closed the show with a performance.

[…]

Whitney Cummings offered some of the most biting humor about Trump during the evening. “I actually heard Trump may come tonight but he couldn’t make it. He got caught in sex traffic.” In an audience that included a handful of Trump administration figures like Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, the quip got some ooohs, along with laughs.

Maher also called out the left, noting recent efforts to censor Twain’s Huckleberry Finn because it uses racist language, even though it is in “the service of mocking racism.”

“The silly purists on the left want to ban it now, which just shows that if you hang around long enough and create something important enough, everyone hates you at some point, and that is when you know you are doing it right,” he said.

Yeah, I’m sorry, I’ve heard worse, and so have you. 

So, congratulations, Mr. Maher, who said this week that he’d be open to voting Republican if the 2028 nominee is either JD Vance or Marco Rubio. He cannot support what’s happening in the Democratic Party if the socialists take over.