I personally a number of people who work for him on that show, as they were former interns of ours from another prodn co. From what was told to me for a few years now, he’s not really the asshole you see with his stupid remarks.
he’s just tired.
MOST of the time, he says something far-left just to make his really commie masters at HBO believe he’s “with” them bec. he’s paid a lot of money. But in private. he’s a pragmatic person and doesnt really hate Trump. His exec producers are the ones making him dance like a puppet and I’ve met them all. And ALL I want to effing strangle. Couldnt stand any of them.
I don’t think it’s just Maher who gets stuck in that trap, any popular artist, celebrity, writer, etc... eventually becomes a brand. Do you think Mick Jagger still gets excited to play “start me up” to a crowd, or Emeril Lagasse really want to say “Bam!” when he adds salt to a dish on a TV spot? It’s the business portion of show business. Producers, directors, agents, managers, etc... They get paid to provide a known quantity to the people paying them, and it usually ends up with the talent becoming a self-caricature of their most easily identifiable traits.