Bill Maher Criticizes Modern TV Fathers and “Excessive Sensitivity” in Father’s Day Commentary on ‘Real Time’: “Why Can’t We Find a Balance?”

Marking its 700th episode milestone on Friday, Real Time with Bill Maher featured the host using his “New Rules” segment to deliver a passionate monologue critiquing the perceived decline of masculinity in contemporary media and, as he argues, within the broader scope of American culture.

Maher, infamous for his unapologetic and often contrary opinions, contended that fathers have been reduced to “punching bags” in entertainment, attributing this trend to an alleged degradation of traditional fatherhood and male identity perpetuated by movies and television.

“Let’s make sure the Father’s Day we just celebrated is the final one in a culture where dads are treated as such punching bags, essentially the last group that TV, advertisements, and movies can portray as clueless, useless fools—just another child for mom to look after,” stated Maher.

He pointed to the 1987 comedy Three Men and a Baby as a turning point, and cited series like Married with Children, The Simpsons, Modern Family, Malcolm in the Middle, and the Apple TV+ show Your Friends and Neighbors as contributing to what he sees as a cultural crisis of masculinity — one that’s inadvertently fueled the popularity of toxic online figures like Andrew Tate.

Maher then proceeded to queue up some clips of male celebrities suggesting that women are “better” than men. In one piece of footage, Will Ferrell proposed, “Isn’t it just time for women to run the planet?”

Maher blasted Ferrell, pointing out that female leaders like Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette, Catherine the Great, and even Hillary Clinton were as “violent” and “hard-a**” as men. Although Maher neglected to mention that the clip of Ferrell was from an event honoring Kerry Washington, and his statement was just to tee-up a joke about how the Scandal star should run for president.

“And I get it, that this is a correction to centuries of women being deemed the weaker sex,” Maher continued. “But how long does the correction last? And when will men stop making me throw up in my mouth with the way [they] pander so negatively?”

“Besides being historically naive, this cringey pandering is why teenage boys flock to jerks like Andrew Tate,” he said. “Yes, he’s a huge a**hole,” Maher added, acknowledging Tate’s criminal record and influence. “And your kid thinks he’s cool. Because that’s the choice of role models the American teenage boy has, either performative pussy-hood or the man-osphere. Jesus, can’t the pendulum ever land in the middle in this country.”

He capped off the rant with a call for a little more dignity for dads: “I’m just saying; men, we’re not completely useless. So, if you want to know what to get dad next Father’s Day, how about a little respect?”

But anyone hoping for more of Maher’s takes in the coming weeks will have to wait: Real Time is now on hiatus for the month of July.