Bill sits down with Woody Allen for a wide-ranging conversation on comedy, film, and everything in between. They swap stories from the comedy-club era and dig into Woody’s craft – his “do less” rule, why he hates rehearsal, and what it’s like to direct once you’ve aged out of a role (including casting others to play the parts you once did). Woody weighs in on classic cinema (Streetcar devotion, Godfather II praise, Casablanca indifference), Bob Hope’s lasting imprint, and therapy that “helped a little,” while Bill quizzes him on newer movies (yes, even Twilight). They cover aging, AI and immortality, the Knicks, and the contrast between Manhattan gloom and sunshine, with Woody teasing his new novel What’s with Baum, out in September.

#billmaher #woodyallen #comedy #director #classicmovies
#books

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ABOUT CLUB RANDOM
In Club Random, Bill Maher unleashes his comedic wit on an unpredictable lineup – from Bill Burr and Jerry Seinfeld to Quentin Tarantino and Neil deGrasse Tyson – digging into everything but politics. It’s Maher in his familiar element: one-on-one vibes, unfiltered laughs, and the kind of freewheeling banter only he can deliver.

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ABOUT BILL MAHER
Bill Maher was the host of “Politically Incorrect” (Comedy Central, ABC) from 1993-2002, and for the last 23 years on HBO’s “Real Time,” Maher’s combination of unflinching honesty and big laughs have garnered him 41 Emmy nominations. Maher won his first Emmy in 2014 as executive producer for the HBO series, “VICE.” In October of 2008, this same combination was on display in Maher’s uproarious and unprecedented swipe at organized religion, “Religulous.”

Maher has written six bestsellers: “True Story,” “Does Anybody Have a Problem with That? Politically Incorrect’s Greatest Hits,” “When You Ride Alone, You Ride with Bin Laden,” “New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer,” “The New New Rules: A Funny Look at How Everybody But Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass", and most recently "What This Comedian Said Will Shock You".

0:00 | Open
1:24 | Mortality cold open u0026 fan praise
2:24 | NYC stand-up boom: Improv u0026 Catch
4:27 | JFK day recollection while working on What’s New Pussycat?
6:56 | Life theme: illusions vs. reality
9:05 | “Great Expectations” of art vs. edit-room reality
14:39 | Spicy takes: Godfather II, Lawrence, Bond, Graduate
20:22 | Purple Rose of Cairo: ending u0026 moral explained
27:17 | Escapism vs. realism—old Hollywood’s rules
35:07 | Therapy: small gains, no eureka
37:25 | Aging, AI u0026 “living forever?”
44:45 | Writing perfectionist vs. “careless” film process
48:57 | Bob Hope
1:02:23 | “Nice childhood, still a misanthrope”; marriage is idyllic
1:06:12 | MeToo vs. cancel culture; blacklist parallels
1:15:07 | Theaters vs. streaming; pivot to novels/plays
1:26:28 | Directing Trump in Celebrity; politics-as-acting, personal politics

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