Updated
Updated · USA TODAY · Jun 14
Bill Maher Privately Confronted Wanda Sykes Over Golden Globes Joke 5 Months Later
Updated
Updated · USA TODAY · Jun 14

Bill Maher Privately Confronted Wanda Sykes Over Golden Globes Joke 5 Months Later

3 articles · Updated · USA TODAY · Jun 14

Summary

  • Wanda Sykes said on Vulture's "Good One" podcast that Bill Maher challenged her backstage after her January Golden Globes line, asking, "What was that about?"
  • Sykes said Maher dismissed the crack — "Bill Maher, you give us so much, but I would love a little less" — as "not even a joke" and later called it "stupid."
  • She told him audience laughter proved it worked, argued his reaction was "epitomizing the joke," and said she later rejected an invitation to appear on his "Club Random" podcast.
  • The exchange adds context to Maher's visibly unamused reaction during the broadcast and to his later remark that he would be "shocked" to win because "this woke town" hates that he "speak[s] freely."

Insights

When comedians clash, who decides the line between a joke and an insult?
Can comedians who build careers on roasting others still take a joke themselves?