Zachary Levi | Club Random with Bill Maher

Summary

Podcast Summary: Club Random with Bill Maher featuring Zachary Levi

Release Date: December 8, 2024
Episode: Zachary Levi | Club Random with Bill Maher

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1. Introduction and Setting

In this episode of "Club Random," Bill Maher welcomes actor Zachary Levi to an undisclosed location aptly named Club Random. The atmosphere is casual, with both hosts engaging in light-hearted banter before delving into deeper conversations. The setting is characterized by its eclectic decor, which Bill humorously comments on, noting how the wooden walls make it feel cold.

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2. Political Polarization and Cancel Culture

Timestamp: [02:12]

Bill initiates the conversation by addressing the pervasive issue of political polarization, particularly focusing on the phenomenon of "cancel culture." He expresses his frustration with how discussions around politics have strained familial relationships, emphasizing that politics should not have to sever personal bonds.

Bill Maher [03:09]: "It's just cold conversationally."

Zachary agrees, highlighting that abusive behaviors should not be tolerated within families, regardless of political affiliations. They discuss how political differences, especially those stemming from events like supporting Donald Trump, have led to unjust characterizations and the ostracization of individuals.

Zachary Levi [04:28]: "People from the left see voting for Trump as abusive behavior, which I don't agree with."

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3. Vaccines and Bobby Kennedy Campaign

Timestamp: [05:16]

The conversation shifts to vaccines, where Bill shares his experiences with Bobby Kennedy's campaign. He praises Kennedy's nuanced views on health and medicine, aligning them closely with his own perspectives. However, Bill mentions moments of disagreement, particularly regarding the efficacy of vaccines.

Bill Maher [07:04]: "It's unscientific to be blinders."

Zachary supports the idea of questioning established norms in science, advocating for a more open dialogue to foster understanding and truth-seeking.

Zachary Levi [08:24]: "Science should never ever be afraid to be challenged."

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4. Discussion About Trump and the 2020 Election

Timestamp: [24:35]

A significant portion of the dialogue revolves around Donald Trump and the contentious 2020 election. Bill criticizes Trump's refusal to concede, contrasting it with previous presidents who gracefully acknowledged defeats. He underscores the importance of democratic principles and the dangers posed by not honoring electoral outcomes.

Bill Maher [34:22]: "By not conceding the election, he had two months to say to his supporters, yeah, we lost."

Zachary elaborates on Trump’s impact, acknowledging his strengths while condemning his methods, particularly his ego-driven actions that have sown division.

Zachary Levi [36:03]: "I don't like that he does have. It's part of his superpower."

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5. Personal Beliefs and Spirituality

Timestamp: [41:45]

The hosts delve into their personal spiritual beliefs. Bill shares his tumultuous relationship with religion, growing up in a Catholic household while his mother identified culturally as Jewish. Zachary discusses his Christian-adjacent spirituality, emphasizing a belief in a benevolent and omnipresent God.

Zachary Levi [43:30]: "I believe in a God that is magnificent and all-powerful and like, is the force in Star Wars."

Bill contrasts his atheistic stance with Zachary’s beliefs, highlighting the diversity in their spiritual understandings.

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6. Media, Education System, and Political Correctness

Timestamp: [53:18]

The discussion critiques the current state of the education system and media, particularly focusing on the liberal dominance in academic institutions and major news outlets like NPR. Both hosts lament the lack of conservative voices and the resultant echo chambers that stifle genuine discourse.

Bill Maher [64:07]: "When you have almost every networked television show other than Fox News, when all the rest are saying Hitler, Hitler, Hitler, Hitler, Hitler and all of his supporters are Nazis..."

Zachary emphasizes the importance of having balanced perspectives to foster a more informed and less polarized society.

Zachary Levi [65:20]: "It's imperative to always remember... to have humility."

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7. Artificial Intelligence and Its Societal Impacts

Timestamp: [80:00]

Bill and Zachary explore the ramifications of artificial intelligence (AI) on society. They discuss the potential for AI to displace entire industries, the rise of AI-driven platforms like OnlyFans, and the ethical considerations surrounding AI's integration into daily life. Bill references Elon Musk's warnings about AI, stressing the urgency of addressing its uncontrolled advancement.

Zachary Levi [81:18]: "We're getting to the point of no return where it will just catch fire and go."

Bill concurs, underscoring the existential threats posed by unregulated AI development.

Bill Maher [81:09]: "We actually have proof that that is not the case."

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8. Hobbies, Personal Lives, and Upcoming Projects

Timestamp: [86:18]

Shifting gears, the conversation becomes more personal as Bill and Zachary discuss their hobbies and personal lives. Bill mentions his love for basketball, while Zachary shares insights into his relationship and upcoming projects, including his new movie "The Unbreakable Boy."

Zachary Levi [90:03]: "It's a true story about this couple who are still trying to figure out if they're even gonna work and their own kind of demons..."

The hosts also discuss the challenges of balancing personal passions with professional obligations, highlighting Zachary's commitment to meaningful storytelling through film.

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9. Conclusion and Light-hearted Banter

Timestamp: [92:57]

As the episode draws to a close, Bill and Zachary engage in playful banter, reflecting on their camaraderie and mutual respect despite differing viewpoints. They reminisce about past projects, joke about potential collaborations, and express their appreciation for each other's perspectives.

Bill Maher [93:02]: "I had such a good time."
Zachary Levi [93:05]: "Absolutely."

The episode concludes on a humorous note, emphasizing the importance of dialogue and understanding in bridging ideological divides.

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Key Takeaways

• Political Discourse: The conversation highlights the detrimental effects of political polarization and cancel culture on personal relationships, advocating for more respectful and open dialogues.

• Scientific Inquiry: Both hosts emphasize the importance of questioning established scientific norms, particularly regarding vaccines, to foster a more nuanced understanding.

• Media and Education: Criticism is directed toward the liberal dominance in media and academic institutions, calling for more balanced perspectives to enrich public discourse.

• AI Concerns: The discussion raises alarms about the unchecked advancement of AI and its potential to disrupt industries and societal norms.

• Personal Growth: Zachary Levi shares his journey towards self-awareness and meaningful relationships, underscoring the value of spirituality and personal development.

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Notable Quotes

• Bill Maher [03:09]: "It's just cold conversationally."

• Zachary Levi [04:28]: "People from the left see voting for Trump as abusive behavior, which I don't agree with."

• Bill Maher [07:04]: "It's unscientific to be blinders."

• Zachary Levi [08:24]: "Science should never ever be afraid to be challenged."

• Bill Maher [24:22]: "I know a lot of folks who were classically liberal who got left in the left, woke dust."

• Zachary Levi [30:27]: "There's a great stoic quote... it's like the beginning of intelligence is recognizing that I may not be right."

• Bill Maher [64:07]: "When you have almost every networked television show other than Fox News... you're going to spin all of these people watching that into a tizzy of fear."

• Zachary Levi [81:18]: "We're getting to the point of no return where it will just catch fire and go."

• Bill Maher [93:02]: "I had such a good time."

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This episode of "Club Random" serves as a microcosm of current societal debates, blending personal anecdotes with broader critiques of political and technological trends. Bill Maher and Zachary Levi navigate their differences with a blend of humor and earnest discussion, emphasizing the need for empathy, critical thinking, and open-mindedness in an increasingly polarized world.

Transcript

[Bill Maher]

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[Zachary Levi]

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[Bill Maher]

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[Zachary Levi]

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[Bill Maher]

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[Zachary Levi]

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[Bill Maher]

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[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, but you're mean to them.

[Bill Maher]

They'll show clips if there's a. Like.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, I know. They'll kind of. Together. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, I did, but.

[Bill Maher]

Zach. Bill, is that you?

[Zachary Levi]

It is.

[Bill Maher]

I. Hi.

[Zachary Levi]

What's up, man?

[Bill Maher]

Nice to meet you.

[Zachary Levi]

So nice to meet you too. Thanks for having me in your club, Random.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. You know, I brought this because it does. It can get very cold. Oh, is that yours?

[Zachary Levi]

That's mine over there.

[Bill Maher]

You might need that, too. I don't know. You know, look at the walls. They're like so. You know, wood absorbs. This gets cold.

[Zachary Levi]

The brick gets cold.

[Bill Maher]

Well, sure. It's just, you know, I mean, this funky place doesn't. If it had.

[Zachary Levi]

How long have you been here? Like, how long have you lived in this bar?

[Bill Maher]

I just got here. Zach, shut the fuck. Like a minute ago. What are you high? I'M the one who gets.

[Zachary Levi]

Not yet.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, I've been in this. Well, I live close by. I don't actually live here.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, okay.

[Bill Maher]

This is the party house. Always was. Then we made it into an official party house. But no, I. Just saying I brought the. Because it does. Can get cold, but never cold conversationally.

[Zachary Levi]

No, I'm not worried about that. I'm sure that's gonna stay. It's gonna stay nice and spicy.

[Bill Maher]

It's funny, I thought that it would be such an appropriate day because I don't know when we're gonna air this or as the kids say, drop it like a rock like it's hot. But it's the day before Thanksgiving.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

So I thought since there was some. My last editorial I did Friday was all about yelling at people who cut people off or suggest cutting people off for the holiday. Yeah.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, I reposted it.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, you did?

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, I, you know. Well, we'll get into all that, I'm sure. But, you know, I know lost plenty of fans on the far left who, like, hate when I do that. But it's just so true and it's just so wrong. And so I do love to stick the knife in them when they do stupid things. I mean, advising you to cut off your family. And I understand how. I mean, nobody understands, you know, how much I didn't want Trump to be president more or said it more. But still, like your family. I mean, just the lack of sort of common sense about. I mean, you think the one thing anyone can get is family. Like, it's always been the one thing that transcended politics.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, well, true. And also, I mean, listen, I don't think anybody. There's plenty of people that live with or have to deal with quite unhealthy families. Like politics aside, I don't think that blood should be so thick that you would allow for, you know, abusive relationships in your life. Right. But. But that said, a lot of people, unfortunately, they see someone on the other side of the political aisle merely by having voted for Trump. If they're from the left.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, that's.

[Zachary Levi]

That's abusive. They actually see it as an abusive behavior, which I don't agree with, but.

[Bill Maher]

But people don't know what we're talking about. That's. You. You got canceled for basically saying, have I been canceled?

[Zachary Levi]

I hope I haven't been canceled yet. I mean, if it happens, it happens, I guess.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, come on, didn't you lose jobs for that? Isn't that what canceling is?

[Zachary Levi]

No, for Coming out and voting for Trump. Yeah, I mean, listen, I have yet to see what the ultimate effects of all that are gonna be. I already had multiple jobs that I was in the process of shooting or that I have yet to shoot, and none of those have been compromised. All of those, like none of my producers or any of the studios behind those films or projects have called and said, hey, listen, this is a, you know, a line too far and we can't have you associated with the project anymore. We're all still full steam ahead on those. How it ultimately, like, plays out in the future, I don't know. You know, I'm gonna sit down with my team. I have yet. I've been in Eastern Europe making this movie all during the election and everything. I mean, I was all, you know, kind of disconnected a lot from what was going on other than social media following the news and kind of seeing the play by plays. But, you know, I'm going to sit down with my team and we'll talk about. Because I haven't talked to any of them. They might say, hey, listen, we've had some phone calls with some people and they don't want to work with you anymore. I don't know.

[Bill Maher]

I could have sworn that already happened.

[Zachary Levi]

No, no, I think it was because when I did the town hall with Tulsi and Bobby, so basically I was stumping for Bobby. I really wanted Bobby to be on Bobby Kennedy. Bobby Kennedy, yeah.

[Bill Maher]

He sat there and I don't agree with everything, but among people in my field, especially who were considered liberals, I have definitely been the most supportive. His general view of health and medicine and how it all works and what's important is closer to mine than Western medicine.

[Zachary Levi]

Amen.

[Bill Maher]

Having said that, you know, are there places where. And it's hard to pin him down because he's been all over the map. Like, when he sat there, I said to him, well, you know, you said there's no really good vaccines or something like that. Maybe that's not exactly it. And he went, that's what you think? And I said, yeah. Why? Well, because it's in print.

[Zachary Levi]

You know what's in print?

[Bill Maher]

I forget exactly what you mean.

[Zachary Levi]

He said it was in print.

[Bill Maher]

Yes. I was questioning him on something and it was a much more blanket view of vaccines than I hold. I'm not anti. You know, it's another thing I fucking hate about the left is that just to have a question about something.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah. Means you're an anti.

[Bill Maher]

Not an anti vaxxer, you're a pro idiot. Because you're not looking at the nuance of it. And then you have the nerve to call me unscientific. No, it's unscientific to be like blinders. Yeah, no. So, you know, I've said it a billion times, there are some pathogens out there and possibly to come that I would fight you for the vaccine.

[Zachary Levi]

Listen, I'd kill you, sure.

[Bill Maher]

But in particular.

[Zachary Levi]

Absolutely. I totally understand.

[Bill Maher]

I see you getting it.

[Zachary Levi]

I would be first to go. But I think that what he was saying, if I remember the clip correctly and then ultimately what he even kind of expounded on was. And what he is even saying now. And as people don't understand, just because he calls into question the efficacy and the safety of the current vaccine schedule, the 72 shots that we give the.

[Bill Maher]

Children, it all should be called into question.

[Zachary Levi]

All of it. And that's science, just question. And that is science. Science should never ever, ever be afraid to be challenged.

[Bill Maher]

Ever.

[Zachary Levi]

And Bobby has been very adamant. He's like, listen, I'm not saying that vaccines as like writ large are some evil thing. I don't think that either. But I think that a vaccine. What used to actually define what a vaccine was, which essentially was giving someone a live, attenuated, correct part of a virus or bacteria just enough where it got them just sick enough so that their immune system kicked on and then they had a forever immunization from whatever this thing is.

[Bill Maher]

Which is why a dead virus.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, yes, alive attenuated. I mean it's like almost dead. It's weak enough where it's not gonna. I mean, listen, in the Revolutionary War with smallpox, this is what they did. They people were getting smallpox and dying. And I think it was a French general actually who came over, one of the heroes of the Revolutionary War. And I think it was him who said actually what you need to do is take a teeny little bit of like the pus that is coming off of some of these soldiers.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Zachary Levi]

And infect the rest of the soldiers with it and let them go get sick and build the immunity. And that's how they beat the smallpox back then. That is more of a vaccine.

[Bill Maher]

Right. That must have been at the very beginning of that because was Edward Jenner was soon after that. And the thing with the cow and understanding, you know, using the cow, but that was late 1700s and of course the Revolutionary War is right after 1776. So that those people were real pioneers just in thinking.

[Zachary Levi]

Absolutely. And understanding that. And by the way, I'm sure it was something that was Evident for thousands of years. If you even go back to our tribal selves, people were getting sick with things. People were realizing and recognizing how some of that stuff had to have been going on. Whether they had a scientific understanding is completely secondary.

[Bill Maher]

But I don't think they had the concept of inoculating yourself deliberately.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, I don't know. I don't know enough about it.

[Bill Maher]

They surely didn't have that in 1300 A.D. in Europe, because.

[Zachary Levi]

No, the Dark Ages were the Dark Ages, bro.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. I mean, maybe the Indians did something.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, that's what I'm saying. I think there's probably a lot of tribal peoples. I mean, listen, if tribal peoples could figure out there's a plant and a vine down in Peru and in Brazil, that if you mix a soup of the both of them, then your body can digest this ayahuasca and habdiya. I mean, it's incredible the amount of knowledge and wisdom that, you know, ancient tribal peoples have had about lots of different things, our own biology being one of them, how we interact with various plants and medicines throughout, you know, for thousands of years. I don't. I'm not a historian on all of that. All I'm saying is that it would not surprise me that there was some understanding of if you can get this thing sick a little bit with this, then you will be stronger for it later on.

[Bill Maher]

Right. And what's. What's so galling. And I just had this happen to me again, but I won't say by who, because I don't want to keep that thing going. But, like, the way if you have questions, they talk to you like you're a child, and it's like, okay, you know what? I understand that a vaccine, there's not a little man inside the needle. You know, I actually get it better than you do, but. Okay, but just don't talk to me. I don't talk to you that way. And we don't agree on this. And it's just. It's that kind of condescension that lost them the election. I keep saying it, but that's hubris, man. Like the combination of a shitty fucking exclusionary, don't come to my Thanksgiving attitude, combined with some really bad ideas, really stupid ideas, that they then think, oh, the world hasn't caught up to our genius, you know, about putting, you know, penises in women's shelters or whatever the fuck that's stupid on the left that they're doing.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

You know, I still think I would never vote for Trump because he doesn't understand about conceding elections, and that is the most important thing in a democracy. But we don't have to go there. It's Thanksgiving.

[Zachary Levi]

I mean, that's a whole can of worms in and of itself.

[Bill Maher]

I'm glad that you're not canceled.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, for now. Like, who knows? I don't think. And to be perfectly honest, I will say also, even if not even for.

[Bill Maher]

The vaccine thing, they didn't, like, come after you for that?

[Zachary Levi]

No. You mean when I posted against Pfizer?

[Bill Maher]

Well, you're just saying you like Bobby Kennedy.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, well, listen, when I was first stumping for Bobby before.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, you stumped for him?

[Zachary Levi]

Well, I mean, yeah, I was, like, going to Fundraise. Well, I had signed up to go and be a guest at a fundraiser. And then what happened was it was all right around the time of him conceding, so the fundraiser didn't end up happening. But I was kind of a part of.

[Bill Maher]

Well, you were attracted to the campaign because primarily the vaccine stuff or the medical in general, or the Kennedy name. What was it?

[Zachary Levi]

I think everything. I think, listen, as with any human being and our choices for candidates for president included, no one is perfect, no one is without fault, no one was without past any of these things, right? So when I look at all that stuff, and that's Kamala, that's Donald Trump, that's Bobby, that's whatever. So to me, that's kind of a cancel out. I'm like, I'm not looking at that. What are you about now? Who are you? Who have you shown yourself to be? Bobby, to me, is somebody of great depth and integrity. He's somebody who's actually like a human being. He cares about human beings right in this chair.

[Bill Maher]

I said to him, I don't agree with you on everything but your ability to stick with what you believe, despite whatever they throw at you, including the family taking a cab on you.

[Zachary Levi]

100%.

[Bill Maher]

I said, I don't think your father would agree with everything you've ever said, but I can't imagine he wouldn't be so proud of you. So proud, man, for that. Sort of like the spine. And then I gotta say, it kind of came out pretty well for him because he's got a job now that he's suited for. I mean, this was another thing I said to him when he was sitting here was like, the thing you gotta do in your campaign is marry what you have been known for, which is you're an environmental lawyer, an environmentalist. You want to make the world cleaner for us to live in so we don't get sick preemptively. That's what you're known for now you've got this controversy about vaccines and so forth. Marry these two ideas. Like, this is what I've always worked. I worked on putting sewage in the river, but we're putting sewage in our bodies now. It's kind of the same. It is the same subject.

[Zachary Levi]

It's all realistic, man.

[Bill Maher]

He kind of gets it that you know, more than just a fringe of a bunch of hippies now in this country. Understand me, not getting poisoned is. It is important, and I don't want it to happen to me.

[Zachary Levi]

No.

[Bill Maher]

And I'd certainly like to stop the stuff that. That I can't control stopping. I can't seem to be able to control not getting a credit card's worth of plastic in my body. Apparently a weekly basis, they tell me, and I don't want that.

[Zachary Levi]

Huberman actually recently checked that data. And apparently you're not getting your credit card's worth of plastic. But we are still getting microplastics constantly. And I mean, that's why I try to drink only water and glass bottles from.

[Bill Maher]

I try to, too, but, like, I had a company that delivered in glass and they stopped.

[Zachary Levi]

That's no bueno.

[Bill Maher]

So that's no bueno. I know somebody who says that. Yeah, I know. But there's no other way to get large amounts.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, I mean, it's like this. It's like. What is it? Mountain. What is this? Mountain Valley. Mountain Valley is a good brand. I mean, there's still a couple of good brands that still make big, by the way, you can get this delivered in the large jugs that are glass.

[Bill Maher]

And do we even really know if it's that different than what comes out of the tap?

[Zachary Levi]

Yes, 100%.

[Bill Maher]

Great. How? Why?

[Zachary Levi]

Well, because there's a lot of product testing, quality testing, particularly with name brands like these.

[Bill Maher]

And you were there.

[Zachary Levi]

No, I wasn't. But listen.

[Bill Maher]

So I'm listening.

[Zachary Levi]

Listen.

[Bill Maher]

I'm always trusting.

[Zachary Levi]

No, no, Bill. No, to a degree.

[Bill Maher]

You're always trusting.

[Zachary Levi]

We all are. It's who we trust.

[Bill Maher]

But I mean, I'm just.

[Zachary Levi]

It's who we trust.

[Bill Maher]

Just because they write something on a bottle.

[Zachary Levi]

No, I'm not saying it just because it's on a bottle. I'm talking about. It's because of the people, Literally the people that I follow on Instagram or on X. I mean, place I go to, People that I think are people of integrity that have actually done research, like the Michael Schellenberg. I try to look at people and I go, okay, these to me are people that are trusted because they give a shit enough to really vet these things. And the Andrew Hubermans like people like that. To me, I go, cool. And I would say the problem going back to what we were talking about before, why are there so many people on the left who are feeling like I've got to cut off my family? And I will say this, it is ridiculous. I think it's ridiculous. I don't think we should ever have gotten to this place. I think part of the reason why we are so. We have so much animosity when it comes to things like religion and politics is because we were told for so long, don't talk about those at the dinner table, when in fact we should be talking about it and learning how to be more civil in those conversations. But all of the people on the left that might want to cut off their family. And by the way, some people on the right too, might be guilty of this. It's because of the bullshit that the legacy media has been saying over and over and over and over again, Bill. I mean, when you have almost every networked ele television show other than Fox News, when all the rest are saying, Hitler, Hitler, Hitler, Hitler, Hitler and all of his supporters are Nazis and Madison Square Garden is a Nazi rally and all of these things, of course you're going to spin all of these people watching that into a tizzy of fear that you know. And so it's like, as long as.

[Bill Maher]

You acknowledge that Fox News invented spinning people into a tizzy, Bill, that's not true. Over bullshit.

[Zachary Levi]

That is not true.

[Bill Maher]

Fox News doesn't have a history of bullshit.

[Zachary Levi]

Of course they do, but they're not the one who started it. Fox News was a response to. Because all of the rest of the media was basically more left leaning. And Fox News was like, okay, there's a.

[Bill Maher]

But they could have been right leaning and not also completely journalistically.

[Zachary Levi]

I agree. That's why I include them in all of that. I think there are some people on each one of these networks that tries to actually step out and be honest.

[Bill Maher]

I gotta say, you don't seem like the complete fucking idiot that the people on the left said you were. I'm terribly disappointed. You're a very thoughtful, articulate guy who knows a lot. Well, how could that possibly be a Trump voter? And this is what I keep trying to say to people. No, no, I don't mean that in a bad way.

[Zachary Levi]

No, no, no.

[Bill Maher]

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[Zachary Levi]

I don't know that that is the case though.

[Bill Maher]

Cause you don't think He's a crazy person.

[Zachary Levi]

I don't, I actually don't. I don't think he's the paragon of morality. But I also don't think that the.

[Bill Maher]

I'm talking about morality. That's a different issue.

[Zachary Levi]

But I would say, though, I mean, listen, there's certainly, there's lots of details that one can add or subtract to this conversation, but in brass tacks, general terms, the four years of his presidency were significantly better than the four years of the Biden Harris presidency and vice presidency.

[Bill Maher]

Well, there's more. There's so much more complicated.

[Zachary Levi]

I know. That's what I'm saying. I understand. It's more complicated that.

[Bill Maher]

Move into that, sure, fine.

[Zachary Levi]

And people say, well, it was Obama's economy that he inherited. Okay, but. Fine, but, but hold on a second. Save Covid, which was not in his power at all.

[Bill Maher]

It was his.

[Zachary Levi]

He not just maintained that economy, he made it even better. Our border was more secure, our economy was more secure. Crime rates were down. I mean, this wasn't like a.

[Bill Maher]

We weren't doing anything to. Because that side does not really believe in the emergency of environmental catastrophe. So that, to me, is one of the two deal breakers on the right. They don't really get it about the environment, and the other one is democracy. They don't get that. So those are my two issues that are important to me as a voter. So.

[Zachary Levi]

And that's as it should be. I mean. Right. And you're entitled.

[Bill Maher]

Those are the two big weak points on the right. Very weak on that. I mean, Trump's environmental position is for clean air and clean water. Right. And as long as it's the end of the fucking water bottle he's sipping out of, that's as far as he looks into it. Okay. I mean, you know, the plastic in the ocean is not getting any better, and that crowd is not. It's not even on their radar. They don't give. Even give a shit about it. So, you know, you're not going to these people who think, well, we're going to get Bill over to our side.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, no, no, no. I'm not trying to get you over to any side. I mean, I just like, I like having an intellectual conversation.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, me too.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bill Maher]

No, no, no.

[Zachary Levi]

But by the way, I would say, though, And I think this is something. And I've heard you talk about this a lot on the show, but, you know, you are like a lot of folks who were classically liberal who got left in the left, woke dust. Sure. And you were like, I didn't move. I didn't change.

[Bill Maher]

I didn't.

[Zachary Levi]

The boundaries have changed. And I think it's been. It's a very. It's a very accurate representation not, not only where you are, but also where lots of other people, Rogan being one of them.

[Bill Maher]

Like, I feel so. People so good about, despite the way they've found ways to punish me, like, never even really. I don't even get a nomination. My show isn't really even in that. Please. It's embarrassing to them at this point, but that's their way of punishing the unwoke. But, like, their thing, you know, my thing with them is you do crazy nutty shit and have a shitty fucking attitude. And I just don't bend the knee like these other people. I will call that out. I will notice it. I will say that I'm noticing. I'm a noticer. Excuse me. And of course, this is anathema to them because, you know, when you look at, like, the things that they just allow the angel of death to fly right over. I mean, I get it. A lot of times when people say. These far woke types say to me, you know, like, how can you even consider talking to a Trump person? He's a rapist. He's. Okay, well, first of all, I don't know if he's a rapist. He's certainly a pig. He's very vulgar. You shouldn't even say you would grab pussies, let alone do it. I don't know what happened in that dressing room. What I do know is Bill Clinton was accused of almost exactly the same kind of things, and you're okay with him. So right away, we're starting at you're a giant hypocrite.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, yeah, okay. There's a lot of that. There's a lot of that.

[Bill Maher]

Trump is who he is. On that level, sure. But on the other level. Oh, wait, what were we talking about?

[Zachary Levi]

Well, one. I know, right? It's starting to kick in. But I would say this, though.

[Bill Maher]

That happened about 2:00.

[Zachary Levi]

2:00. But one of the things I was going to say, though, was again, going back to this initial thought of how can someone come to this place of cutting people out of their life, their family, the holidays, all this stuff. Right. But I think this is one of the key issues, which is it's this unfortunate level of hubris, meaning you and I and a lot of other people that felt very passionately about the candidate we wanted to vote for. Still, at the end of the day are willing to have at least enough humility to recognize I could be wrong.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Zachary Levi]

I actually could be wrong. I could be the one in the wrong right now. I don't think I am. I think I've done all the research, I've done all the things I need to do to make the best educated guess that I can make based on the options that we have, which are limited.

[Bill Maher]

Right. No, you're wrong. But go ahead.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, it's okay.

[Bill Maher]

But I don't hate you for it.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, and that's the thing. But for somebody to come to the place where they're like, you are evil because of what you did means they are so convinced of their own self righteousness because they could not possibly be wrong.

[Bill Maher]

And certitude is the hallmark of the person who's not an intellectual. The first thing a true intellectual knows is doubt is that I may not be right. And, you know, my intelligence is marked by me being humble about how much I acknowledge that I don't know. And they have none of that.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, there's a great stoic quote. I'm not even sure it was like Aristotle or Plato or something, but they were not stoics. Who was that?

[Bill Maher]

They were not stoics.

[Zachary Levi]

Were they not? No, Aristotle and Plato weren't.

[Bill Maher]

Part of stoicism was, I think, a little earlier. It was Zeno, I think was the guy who was the stoic guy. And you know, it was severe asceticism. Yeah, you know, I mean, Plato I don't think was a stoic. Wasn't he fucking little boys? I mean, he. I don't know. Well, listen, he was green.

[Zachary Levi]

Regardless of whether they're stoics or not, the point is, there's a great quote that I'm paraphrasing, but essentially it's like the beginning of intelligence is recognizing that, you know, nothing or something like that. And we have got to start from that place. And people don't because they are fed the lies.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Zachary Levi]

And we gotta have grace with people because they are also in their hearts, they think they're voting for the right thing. They think they're fighting for the right thing.

[Bill Maher]

No, no, they've just been deceived.

[Zachary Levi]

You know, just.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, and maybe we have. I think, you know, MSNBC is a giant problem at this point. But don't, but, you know, don't. Don't tell me that Tucker Carlson isn't.

[Zachary Levi]

I don't know that Tucker Carlson is more of a problem. I think Tucker Carlson might be. No, no, seriously, hear me Out. Hear me out.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, it's okay.

[Zachary Levi]

Tucker Carlson is at least saying things he actually believes and that he's done a lot of research.

[Bill Maher]

We actually have proof that that is not the case. Because you must have seen this story. You seem so well informed.

[Zachary Levi]

I'm pretty well informed, but I don't catch everything.

[Bill Maher]

You're very well informed.

[Zachary Levi]

I don't catch everything.

[Bill Maher]

Okay. It came out. His text came out in the lawsuit. I mean, Fox News had to pay $780 million. You remember this? After the 2020 election, because they claimed falsely about election stealing stuff that Trump had trumped up to get them to say. And Tucker Carlson, we have his private text where he's saying that he absolutely doesn't believe this and he's savaging Trump. So that's how we know he's full of shit, because we have it. We have the actual text in complete diametrically opposition to what he was saying on the air about Dominion voting systems and all this bullshit that they tried to. And again, this is the main difference between the left and the right here. When the left loses an election, yes, they grumble about it and they say things they shouldn't, like he's an illegitimate president. They don't actually try to stay in office. Kamala Harris.

[Zachary Levi]

Hang on a second, Bill. If Hillary Clinton and the Democrats got their way when they were challenging Trump and saying he was an illegitimate president in 2016, and they somehow got that bullshit Steele dossier to somehow. Which was, by the way, all completely.

[Bill Maher]

That's too much Fox News.

[Zachary Levi]

No, I don't watch Fox News at all. This is a. I legitimately do not watch Fox News.

[Bill Maher]

Well, you're getting.

[Zachary Levi]

Hold on a second, Bill. Did Hillary not. Did they not all think that he was a Russian asset and that the Russia. And that Russia had fixed the election, was that not what they were saying?

[Bill Maher]

Okay, but I gotta explain to you the difference.

[Zachary Levi]

Was it not?

[Bill Maher]

And then we don't have to talk about this all night. I will, I will. But here's the difference. 2016, Trump pulls an inside straight and wins the Electoral College. Yeah. Hillary acknowledges this happened, concedes the election before the cock crows the next day. Same as this time. Kamala Harris conceded the election, said, I lost. There's no lawsuits. There's no demanding recounts. There's none of this bullshit. There's. I trust the system and I say the other guy won. Now, what happened after that? The Russia thing? First of all, that's completely debatable. But if you really think that there's some Sort of equivalency here between. After the guy who you admit won the election is in office, carping about him saying the election was unfair because of this or that, that has gone on throughout history. But nobody has done what he did, which is he still has not conceded the 2020 election, took it to court 63 times, was laughed out of court 63 times, pressured the Justice Department to not asked his supporters to march on the Capitol.

[Zachary Levi]

He didn't ask them to do that.

[Bill Maher]

Okay, but.

[Zachary Levi]

And also. And also he requested the National Guard. And it's been confirmed that he was denied by political.

[Bill Maher]

But the point is that by not conceding the election, by never saying from November, whatever day that election was, November 5th or something, to January 6th, he had two months to say to his supporters, yeah, we lost. We'll come back next time. You don't win them all like every other. Every other president and candidate ever did, including when it was possibly not kosher, like Nixon in 1960, Al Gore in 2000, but they did it. They came out and said after a recount, if you don't get why that's completely different than whatever you're trying to say is an equivalency.

[Zachary Levi]

Hold on a second.

[Bill Maher]

Then I can't talk more about. I just have to accept this. But let me just, I.

[Zachary Levi]

Let me clarify, though.

[Bill Maher]

But it is.

[Zachary Levi]

I'm actually not. But I'm not trying to excuse all of it. I'm really not saying. I'm not saying we can have babies. I'm not saying that that. Hold on. That's straight getting into science and biology.

[Bill Maher]

No, but it is.

[Zachary Levi]

No, there's a lot more nuance than that in this.

[Bill Maher]

No, there isn't.

[Zachary Levi]

Bill, hold on a second. Hold on.

[Bill Maher]

There's a lot of nuance.

[Zachary Levi]

I'm not saying that he way that he took that was the right way to do it. I agree with you. I don't think he should have done it that way. If he actually thought that the election was being stolen, he should have done something else about that, as opposed to getting lost in his ego, which he did, which he does a lot. And I don't like that about Trump. I don't like that he does have. It's part of his superpower. It is this ego that has protected him and made him strong and powerful and capable of being very charming and doing all the things he's done.

[Bill Maher]

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[Zachary Levi]

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[Bill Maher]

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[Bill Maher]

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[Zachary Levi]

And listen, I know a lot of people that know him. I'm like, you know, personally, I've never met him. But the people that do know him on a personal level will speak to the fact that he is a human. There's a human in there who really does want the best. Did he handle it in the best way? I agree with you. I don't think he did. I don't.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, handle it in the best way is like a super charitable way. It characterizes. But there's a lot about not conceding the election. The cornerstone. Let me ask you what democracy is.

[Zachary Levi]

Let me ask you a question.

[Bill Maher]

So can we get off this? I mean, what else do you want to talk about? Because it's just frustrating for both of us.

[Zachary Levi]

Let's talk about something else. What do you want to talk about?

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, let's do that.

[Zachary Levi]

What do you want to talk about?

[Bill Maher]

What are you smoking?

[Zachary Levi]

Are you smoking sativa or iniga?

[Bill Maher]

And I ain't mad at you.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, buddy.

[Bill Maher]

I ain't mad at you, buddy.

[Zachary Levi]

We good? We good. Don't worry about it.

[Bill Maher]

I ain't mad at you.

[Zachary Levi]

This is. I love this show.

[Bill Maher]

Me too. And you know, but. But again, I'm the man in the middle. I feel like I'm the perfect one in this country to bring us together because I never get mad at anybody. The right loves me because I'm able to. When the left needs to have a knife put in their gut, they all say this to me. Nobody does it like you, Bill, because I know them. And also I can do it better. You know, they don't have any, like, great comedians on the right. It's okay.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, I beg to differ on that.

[Bill Maher]

Like who?

[Zachary Levi]

Well, I don't know. I mean, I think people that appeal more to conservative audiences.

[Bill Maher]

A great Right wing comedian.

[Zachary Levi]

Are you saying that's doing, like political.

[Bill Maher]

Stuff or that Dennis Miller?

[Zachary Levi]

Dennis.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, yeah.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, Dennis Miller is.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, he's a fantastic. I mean, just as a practitioner.

[Zachary Levi]

But I guess what I was. I wasn't thinking so much, like politically right as much as I think like conservative. Like, like a. Nate Bargazzi to me, is a genius.

[Bill Maher]

I don't know who that is.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, my God, he's so good. But he doesn't do a lot of political stuff. He just does, you know, like life comedy.

[Bill Maher]

And how do we know he's conservative?

[Zachary Levi]

I don't know. I mean, I follow him on socials and I think he's like a Christian dude who lives in Tennessee.

[Bill Maher]

Are you a Christian dude?

[Zachary Levi]

I would call myself Christian adjacent at this point in my life.

[Bill Maher]

What does that mean?

[Zachary Levi]

I grew up in a, like a non denominational, spirit filled kind of Christian home, modern church kind of Christian home. My mom and dad.

[Bill Maher]

You went to a church?

[Zachary Levi]

Well, so my mom and dad met in church, then they got divorced. We grew up with my mom, me and my sisters. My dad was more the religious liturgic, meaning, like, would go to church every Sunday and on Wednesdays and talk.

[Bill Maher]

What church?

[Zachary Levi]

I don't know. We grew up with my mom. My dad lived in North Carolina because.

[Bill Maher]

I grew up in a really severe, ugly, violent, scary denomination called the Catholics. But at least I knew what church I was going to. I was going to a Catholic church, right?

[Zachary Levi]

I mean, he was going to a Christian church. It's just like, there's a lot of.

[Bill Maher]

Different denominations, but Christian is not a type of church. It's a category under which were they as Episcopalians, Were there Anglicans?

[Zachary Levi]

Were they born again? Like, born again? Yeah, like born again, spirit filled, modern Christian, non denominational kind of Christian.

[Bill Maher]

Snakes?

[Zachary Levi]

No, no, not that I know. No.

[Bill Maher]

Some of them have.

[Zachary Levi]

No, I've seen some of that stuff, man. It's crazy, Tom. Crazy.

[Bill Maher]

Speaking in tongues?

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, Speaking in tongues.

[Bill Maher]

Your group?

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah. Did my mom and dad both did, yeah.

[Bill Maher]

They spoke in tongues?

[Zachary Levi]

Absolutely.

[Bill Maher]

You know it's gibberish, right?

[Zachary Levi]

I don't know. Sometimes I thought it might have been, but also I. Listen, man. I believe.

[Bill Maher]

Explains the Trump thing.

[Zachary Levi]

Listen, I believe in a God that is magnificent and all powerful and like, is the force in Star wars, like in and through all things. And if God sees fit to give people the ability to speak in another foreign language out of nowhere, if in fact they're doing that, I believe that's possible. I don't know how many People are doing that. But I believe that's absolutely a thing that God Almighty Yahweh can do, you know?

[Bill Maher]

Well, I don't. But you knew that about me.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, I didn't really know. I didn't know that you'd grown up Catholic.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. My mother was culturally Jewish. I never even knew that till I was 13. She didn't go to church with us. And, you know, I was just so traumatized by the church experience. My father, my sister and I would go to church. My sister and I would go to catechism, you know, where you learn how to be a Catholic. It was also traumatizing to me that I never even thought, why doesn't mom come with us? She just never did. And I just accepted it. And then it came up like. Like when I was 13 at Christmas, like, why don't you ever go to church? She was like, I'm Jewish.

[Zachary Levi]

Like, what?

[Bill Maher]

And she went and she said, like, you're what?

[Zachary Levi]

You're what? I'm what? I'm Jewish.

[Bill Maher]

And she said. I said, why? And she said, well, I'm not really Jewish, but our family was Jewish. That, you know, they.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, so then you are Jewish.

[Bill Maher]

Well, see, I hate when people say that, because Jew and a religion is nothing more than an opinion.

[Zachary Levi]

No, no, but I'm talking about like bloodline Jewish. If your mother was Jewish, then you're Jewish according to Jewish bloodline.

[Bill Maher]

But again, Jewish is a religion which is a thought system. It's not the same thing as. I'm Irish. That is an ethnic category. Jewish is not an ethnic category.

[Zachary Levi]

Israeli then. I mean, I don't know how. It's really Hebrew.

[Bill Maher]

You're adorable.

[Zachary Levi]

No, Hebrew. I don't know. What would you then call. No, they're non practicing. Not. Like, what do you call a person who is Jewish but is not like a Jew that's practicing the religion?

[Bill Maher]

Nothing. I mean, you have to call him something.

[Zachary Levi]

Bill.

[Bill Maher]

No, but again. And because we're. And people do this all the time, they mix up a Jew as an ethnic group. It's not an ethnic group. It's a religion. Which is. Something goes on in your mind.

[Zachary Levi]

It's both.

[Bill Maher]

Me being. No, it's not. There are Jews all over the world. There's no. There's no. They. Yes, they originated in.

[Zachary Levi]

There's Irish all over the world. Doesn't mean that just because they go to another country doesn't make them not Irish anymore.

[Bill Maher]

No, but like, when they do your. If they do your DNA, you know, Irish would be One thing and then. But it wouldn't be like Jewish the other thing.

[Zachary Levi]

Yes, absolutely.

[Bill Maher]

No, I don't think it would. I think it would bill.

[Zachary Levi]

100%.

[Bill Maher]

It would be in my Hungarian.

[Zachary Levi]

Okay, well then maybe you had some Hungarian Jew in there.

[Bill Maher]

No, I don't know Hungarian. But again, I could have been, you know, back when the family was in Hungary, that side of the family, one of them could have like suddenly become an Episcopalian and then I still be bloodline. But you'll be.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, I mean, I don't know. I think that's getting.

[Bill Maher]

But anyway, the point is I was.

[Zachary Levi]

My 23andMe told me I was like a percentage Ashkenazi Jew. So clearly they can track down something like that. I don't know.

[Bill Maher]

Speaking of 23 and me, what's your. Are you married? Are you. What's your.

[Zachary Levi]

No, I mean, I've been in a really wonderful relationship with a wonderful girl. Really? Yeah, yeah, we.

[Bill Maher]

A girl. How old school.

[Zachary Levi]

I know, right? How old fashioned. I mean. Yeah, no, my wonderful girlfriend Maggie, who've been together for about a year now.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, a year.

[Zachary Levi]

Almost a year.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, so it's still good, huh?

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, but honestly, I think, I mean, I want to lock it down. She's wonderful.

[Bill Maher]

Lock it down.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, are we breaking news here?

[Zachary Levi]

Well, no, I mean, she knows that.

[Bill Maher]

She knows that, but just the world. Lock it down.

[Zachary Levi]

It sounds like that she's. I think that when you meet someone, when you finally get to a place in your own life, when you're really ready for it, and I hadn't been. I had not been ready for it. I don't think. And I. And I don't think those things, these things that we really want in life. Like I think that God does. As somebody who believes in God, but I believe. Or you might say the universe or whatever it is, but I think that there are really awesome visions and desires that God puts on your heart. And I think that those things can be attained. But it requires us doing self work enough to figure out how to receive that blessing. Because with every blessing comes the weight of the responsibility that comes with the blessing. And so I finally got to a place in my life where I was able to attract someone who was finally in a place in her life to attract me. And when that timing happens and you can feel it, then it's like, yeah, let's. Let's go do this.

[Bill Maher]

Jesus, chicks must love this speech. No, seriously, can you, can you like transcribe that for me and email it to me? Oh my God, because I am telling you, this is fucking gold. This. This will wet in panties from here to Kuala Lumpur. This is.

[Zachary Levi]

That's a fun poll. Kuala Lumpur. That's probably one you use a lot.

[Bill Maher]

That's it.

[Zachary Levi]

Timbuktu.

[Bill Maher]

I always love the sound of that city. It just. It's very.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bill Maher]

I wouldn't.

[Zachary Levi]

I'm not g. Almost sounds like a small, like, furry animal that's running around Madagascar. Have you seen the koala lumur? They're. They're ornery little. They'll steal your candy bars right out of your hands.

[Bill Maher]

See, you're so sophisticated. Even know koala Lumur. Where is koala lumur?

[Zachary Levi]

Malaysia, isn't it?

[Bill Maher]

Correct.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Trust me, the hawk Toa girl would not have known that, bro.

[Zachary Levi]

It's so like, nothing against her as a human. She's a child of God and I wish her nothing, seriously. But I despise what all of that represents.

[Bill Maher]

All of what? Just spitting on dick.

[Zachary Levi]

No. Rock and roll, take care of your man. Whatever. Do your thing. That's fine. What I'm saying is these drunken interviews that are. This. They're all over the Internet, just dudes going and just interviewing people, which is where she starts, right? By. By doing this viral Internet thing that then everyone ran with as a joke for the most part, right? But then that somehow creates a currency that makes that person famous, even though it was a fucking meme. And now that person again, God bless her, but now she's doing a fucking podcast.

[Bill Maher]

I suggested that. I'm the one who suggested that.

[Zachary Levi]

Get out of here.

[Bill Maher]

No, no.

[Zachary Levi]

Get out of here.

[Bill Maher]

When. When she was sitting there. I was trying to help her. What? No, we.

[Zachary Levi]

So now I know who to blame.

[Bill Maher]

And I said, you know, I was trying to, you know, mentor her to, like, what's the next step? I said, you.

[Zachary Levi]

You were feeding it, Bill.

[Bill Maher]

I was.

[Zachary Levi]

By having her on the show, you were feeding into that.

[Bill Maher]

So what? I was. And what's the harm to society? I don't understand where.

[Zachary Levi]

What is the harm to society?

[Bill Maher]

I don't. I don't understand where the harm is.

[Zachary Levi]

I mean, here's the more we have content. Listen, we're already inundated with way too much fucking content, right? There's way too much. Our eyes are on a screen every damn second of every. Okay, maybe not yours.

[Bill Maher]

It's your choice.

[Zachary Levi]

Maybe not your. Okay. But we also know that these things are built to addict people.

[Bill Maher]

Yes, they are.

[Zachary Levi]

And for younger people especially, which are who are falling most prey to this stuff.

[Bill Maher]

Absolutely.

[Zachary Levi]

If we are filling our phones with nothing but shit like H2 stuff, that is not helping enrich the brains that are addicted to the phone.

[Bill Maher]

But I can't blame her for that.

[Zachary Levi]

I don't know. That's what I'm saying. I'm not blaming her for that. I'm blaming everyone else who wanted to indulge in it. And then whoever was like, you should do a podcast. And then the people that make that podcast. But she, you know, cut to me doing talk to. So anyway, I was telling Bill, I can't believe I'm here right now.

[Bill Maher]

So that's very close to the truth and funny, but what I had here was a young lady who, you know, look, we're not going to go into why, but I've certainly talked to many girls in her age group and you know, it is sad. They know nothing. I mean, it's not their fault. They went to school in America where they will let you out of school. I've said this a million times without knowing anything. And that is a fucking scandal. And it is mostly the Democratic Party, I will admit, that has to answer for that. Because their portfolio is education. They demanded it, they got it. They're the teachers union, blah, blah, blah. We don't have to get into that. But when the Hawk tour girl was here, I said, you know, I want to, I can, I can help this person a lot by giving them advice. And my advice was one, recognize, just out of the blue, you have been given a chip. Like if in life you were given chips and they were of different value, you were given Nank, a super platinum chip called Fame. You can do something with this chip. Most people don't have it. You can trade it in for something. But I said, you should a start using your real name. You don't want to be the Hawk to a girl forever. I now rescind that because I think Hawk 2 is a great fucking name. You're not going to get rid of it anyway. And it's just a cool. It's Hawk to it. It's just good, keep it. But the other thing I told her was you should start trade on this thing that you're famous for a little bit. Trade the chip in for. Okay, now I'm gonna do a podcast where I do relationship advice for people my age because I'm known for spitting on dicks. So why wouldn't I know about relationship advice?

[Zachary Levi]

That's basically Gen Z's Dr. Ruth, right?

[Bill Maher]

And now she's doing. She said at the time, no, because she's such an innocent. She was working, like, at the. I don't know, the canning plant, the pickle factory, some place that was very humb. And she kind of liked it. And she sounded like she actually wouldn't mind if she went back to that. I was like, if you do great, but, you know, you have been given this chip very few people get, and you could translate it into something. So I'm glad to see that she took my advice.

[Zachary Levi]

I think that. I think that it is not. It is not wrong of you in your position to want to help. Help, certainly. And also to recognize that, yes, that is a very good metaphor for like, hey, you've been given this chip, right? And there's some value here.

[Bill Maher]

There is great value.

[Zachary Levi]

And also, I think it's imperative that anyone who has given these chips for fame and for power recognize that they have a responsibility to use it in, I believe, ways. Is it a sativa or Indica?

[Bill Maher]

Sativa.

[Zachary Levi]

All right. To use it in ways that are more responsible, that are more conscious, that are more intentional. Now, she's not the one. Okay, but then help her then with that.

[Bill Maher]

I can't. I can't trust her.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, then point her to somebody who can't. I'm just saying, like, I don't think it's good for us to just, like, let people like, here you go, kid. Lay them off to the slaughter.

[Bill Maher]

She really doesn't know anything. I mean, she's a sweet kid, but trust me. I mean, I'm talking like. And she's not alone. This is the thing that all these kids, they don't. I mean, ask them what came first. The renaissance of the Middle Ages are like, what?

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, I know.

[Bill Maher]

They don't even understand the question.

[Zachary Levi]

It's insane. There's, like. There's like, man on the street interviews of, like, Kim will do and stuff. Like, something when they enter down by a Hollywood highland and they ask people, like, how many states. Yeah, that used to do. How many states are in the United States?

[Bill Maher]

And like, I've heard.

[Zachary Levi]

I'm like, what. What has happened?

[Bill Maher]

Like, what's the biggest continent in the world? Paris. I mean, I've heard the. I mean, things that. You think it's a gag.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah. You think it's a gag that people.

[Bill Maher]

Can be this benighted again?

[Zachary Levi]

That's an indictment of our education system.

[Bill Maher]

It is. It is totally.

[Zachary Levi]

It's insane how bad.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, that's why. Look, I know the woke people are, again, hate me because I'm not upset as they are. About what happened. I didn't vote for him, but you know what? What? I'm not going to pre hate anything. Let's see, they've got. They're the disruptors. Great. Look, I said on my show Friday night, I said, elon, he's a brilliant guy. I'm glad he's in there. And he believes in the environmental issue.

[Zachary Levi]

He does.

[Bill Maher]

Okay, so that's good. And I said, but we'll see. Let's see what happens when they start cutting, which they want to do. I said, it's not like we don't need this. This country is bloated. It's fucking constipated long time. It needs a fucking colonic. Okay? I wouldn't have chosen him to do it, but let's see. And I said, literally, he said, my exact words were, let's see what happens when they start cutting. Let's see. With the corn lobby and the pharmaceutical industry and the defense contractors. Three days later I'm reading the paper and Elon is going after the F35. This is exactly what I.

[Zachary Levi]

The jet. Yes.

[Bill Maher]

Which is exactly what I would go after. Job one, the most ridiculous spending program forever. So, like right there.

[Zachary Levi]

Hypersonic missiles in the three days make those obsolete.

[Bill Maher]

Anyway, I said, let's see if you really do this. And he did it. He was good. Because that's really where they're most sensitive is defense contractors. And going after that.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, man. And the bloated, like charging $50,000 for a couple of lug nuts, like whatever these insane stories are. But listen, I'm very bullish on Elon. Big fan. I think all the things. He's a different kind of alien, ish, spectrum kind of fellow, but I am as well in many ways, so I relate to him. I get it. Is that right?

[Bill Maher]

Oh, yeah. You think you're on the spectrum?

[Zachary Levi]

Well, I mean, I say that in. Not technical term, but in the sense of. I've had pretty hardcore ADHD most all of my life. My mom, they kept telling my mom to put me on Ritalin back in the day. And I'm really grateful that she didn't because I don't think that you should be putting kids on any of that stuff. You need to let them develop. I have since, as an adult had Adderall prescriptions or Wellbutrin prescriptions because my dopamine levels are pretty jacked up in my body. It's a long story.

[Bill Maher]

But you seem so together. You seem. You're right there. You look me in the eye, you track the Conversation. Exactly. I see none of this.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, because I'm on Wellbutrin, literally. I mean, that's been a real game changer for me, but it's also something I don't want to be on for the rest of my life.

[Bill Maher]

I can't believe people who have to take drugs to feel good.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, I tell you what though. Cannabis has been like being able to have really measured doses of like little gummy edibles. I'm good, thank you. Of little gummy edibles. Like little 5 milligram doses. Like, that's my vibe. I don't really smoke much anymore at all. But just even that, that is something that directly benefits having kind of an ADHD type of.

[Bill Maher]

Did you do other drugs back in the day?

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, I've done all of them, basically. I mean, not all of them, but I mean, yeah, I've done LSD and psilocybin and cocaine and ketamine and.

[Bill Maher]

Did you ever have a bad time with any of them or like.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Like which one?

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, absolutely. Well, I mean, I think that like, you know, fortunately, one of the ones that I've done the least amount of is cocaine. And it's. That is it. Well, it sucks your soul away. I mean, it's why you got to.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, it's.

[Zachary Levi]

It's so. It's like that thing that it's like. It's like. Yeah, just a little. I can still have fun, that thing. And then. But you just. You literally. It really is a soul sucking thing. And that's why, you know, so I try not to be partaking in that. I think that things like I'm very bullish, having done a lot of discovering and stuff as I was younger. Right. I mean, I'm in a place in my life now where I don't see that stuff. I. Or try not to see it as more than something that can absolutely be medicinal and beneficial in one's life. Life, if you respect it, if you are not treating it as this recreational thing to go get lost in. But as a child, particularly one that was coming from a lot of like crazy, emotional, abusive type home type stuff and finding myself and not loving myself. I mean, I. All that stuff saved my life in a lot of ways. And I also learned, I think some really. Oh, man, some of the most connected moments I've ever had with God was when I might have been, you know, on a soul search of. With some psilocybin or something like that. You know, I've done ayahuasca before and I. Well, God Definitely talked to me through that experience. So I think that there's really.

[Bill Maher]

What do you say?

[Zachary Levi]

Well, I mean, in a couple of different ways. One was that he mentioned me. No. Yeah. But you don't want to hear what he said.

[Bill Maher]

I really don't.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah. No, he says he's not a Jew. What? No. Like, I felt like there was a couple of things. One of the things that I felt was, like, God's love. I felt so much of God's love. Like I was being held almost like maternally being held by God.

[Bill Maher]

So God's gay?

[Zachary Levi]

No, I think that God is kind of omnipresent in all of that stuff. I don't know that there's. I don't know that God has a gender. I know biblically, he's always referred to as a he, and I think that that's an aspect of his fatherhood and that. That energy of God. But even like, when Moses came down from the mount, he was covered in the Shekinah glory. The Shekinah glory, which is described as the female energy or spirit of God. So I think that it's. Yeah, yeah. And I see God as much more of the I am that I am. Like the. Like, again, like the great almighty God that is all encompassing of all things.

[Bill Maher]

And I see him as Will I am.

[Zachary Levi]

It was. Oh, that's what it was. Will I am in the burning bush.

[Bill Maher]

But I mean, this almost sounds like deism, which is what the founding fathers were. They were deists, where they, like, they were deists.

[Zachary Levi]

A lot of them were Christian deists.

[Bill Maher]

True. But they certainly weren't what the conservatives pretend that this was a Christian nation. I mean, they were. Obviously, we know this from what they put in the Constitution for the separation of church and state and this.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, that was to protect the churches, not the states.

[Bill Maher]

No, I think it was for both. I think they did not want to. They were truly revolutionaries. And they were founding a country based not on what countries have always been founded on before, which is usually territory or ethnicity, but on an idea or a set of ideas. And one of those.

[Zachary Levi]

Constitutional republic.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. I mean, they came here to this country, let's not forget escaping religious dogmatism. So they did not want to repeat the mistakes religious dogmatism and monarchy that they had fled. Right.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, yeah. And no taxation without representation.

[Bill Maher]

And that too. And. Yeah. No, I love America.

[Zachary Levi]

Me too, man. Yeah, me too.

[Bill Maher]

That's another. My. Another issue I have with the left is like. And I've chide them about it all the time, like, you know what would help you? Maybe win elections? Try to look like you like the country you're running in. I mean, Trump, of course, has to go too far and fuck the flag. But, you know, it's better than the opposite. It's better than these ahistorical America hating hysterics that we're raising, especially at colleges.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, that's right.

[Bill Maher]

They think Hamas or the liberators. I mean, you know, again, when they come after me for like changing, like, I haven't changed, you assholes. You're rooting for terrorists now. Okay, that's all. I would, I wouldn't even have to go. And I could go on for hours on that subject, but I wouldn't have to say anything more than that. You are rooting for terrorists. Not all of them, but they're certainly not denouncing the people enough who are rooting for the terrorists.

[Zachary Levi]

No, they're not, but. And again, this is not in any way to excuse their behavior because everyone is still responsible for their behavior, even if it's a behavior that came out of, let's say, being lied to. I just want us to never forget. It's important, I think, imperative to always remember. It's easy for us to get angry with the foot soldiers that are out there doing all this crazy, stupid shit. Like these college kids on campuses that are like, literally like terrorizing Jewish students on campuses. It's like if you want to go protest, like, do a proper protest and understand that that is you doing what you're doing and not going and harassing other people because of where they're going, right? Like that's part of free speech. Like, I can't say don't. You can't go and do your protest. But that should never be infringing on the rights of anybody else. But again, these are the foot soldiers that have been programmed by this nonsense from above that is telling them through their very. Our institutions and universities. Like, there's been an incredible. I mean, I'm sure you've seen these graphs. Like, in fact, I think I might have even seen you put it up on your show once. But there's all these graphs of like, positions of like, you know, of different, of different fields of expertise and roles and jobs and stuff like that. And specifically departments in a university and the amount of professors that are liberal leaning, some of them are like 100%. There's not even a conservative leaning professor in that entire department.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, I've talked about this. Yes, you're right before, not just in universities. NPR, somebody prominent left last year, year and 87 of 87 positions. The top echelon positions at NPR were liberal, Democratic, both Democratic Twitter before Elon took over and completely reversed it was that way. Even if you're a liberal and a Democrat, you shouldn't think this is good. You need a balance just like we need yin and yang and male and female, plus of course trans and gay and bisexual and. And all the other lgbtq. We need everything is what I'm trying.

[Zachary Levi]

To say something there in the Alphabet.

[Bill Maher]

And we just have lost that idea, everybody. And you're right about social media because one thing you see on social media a lot is there'll be some exchange. And on the left one, it'll be like, I own this person. And then on the right it'll be they owned me or vice versa. But we just can't have a discussion. Somebody has to always own. They'll do it to us on this. They'll show clips and there's like, oh.

[Zachary Levi]

I know, they'll cut it together. Yeah, well, I mean, I did, but.

[Bill Maher]

And I'm not cut that bit. And you know, I don't even want to own you.

[Zachary Levi]

No. Well, exactly. But this is the point. If you're really trying to get to like why science should be. Should be welcoming questions, why any of these ideas should be welcoming questions. That's because you should not be afraid to want to discuss the conversation because you're interested and I'm interested in hopefully getting to a truth.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Zachary Levi]

And if all parties are actually interested in that and not afraid that it might not sit well with the narrative that they think they are supposed to believe in, but rather like, hey, let's put all that aside and let's just try to. This type of a conversation. We're not trying to own each other. We're trying to own the truth. We're trying to get to whatever this is. If we can get there, other than just having a good conversation and acknowledging.

[Bill Maher]

That that 10 or 20% that we probably will never agree on certainly is okay just to leave there.

[Zachary Levi]

Yes. We can still have turkey together.

[Bill Maher]

Absolutely. You can have turkey without calling each other a turkey. I feel like it's the way certainly the way I look at it.

[Zachary Levi]

But again, that requires Happy Thanksgiving. That requires people, I think, just having. Again, just a smidge, enough of humility, just a smidge, enough of humility to just say I could be wrong.

[Bill Maher]

I so agree.

[Zachary Levi]

I could be wrong. Guys, we could all be wrong. I could be wrong. He could be wrong. We could be Wrong. You could be wrong. The sooner we can all just at least get to there, the sooner we can start laying down our swords.

[Bill Maher]

Since you believe in. You know what would be great? If he would do what? If he would just come down instead of speaking through whatever clouds or the French toast or, like the bio. I don't know, all these things he speaks to us to. He seems capable, you know, being all powerful. I'm just talking. And he would just could straighten it all out, come down and go, bill, Zach was right about Trump and the election. And I'd be like, whoa, okay, okay. All right. I did not see that. But now that it's you, God, saying it, I mean, he could solve so much and. But also rob us so much hate and violence and death.

[Zachary Levi]

Okay. But also rob us of the opportunity to actually. Seriously. For every single time two people can actually come together. What a beautiful thing that is. How that's literally an energetic vibrational shift in both of who you are and also the example that is to other people and be like, oh, those people took the time, had enough humility and respect for each other to say, I think you're totally wrong. But let's. Let's. Let's do this. Let's figure it out. That's. If God came down and just solved it all for us all the time, we would not actually get. I think part of what the most beautiful part of life is, which is the experience of it, which comes with the hardship in order to feel the levity and the darkness and the light and all of those things that have to balance each other, you know?

[Bill Maher]

You should do a movie. What?

[Zachary Levi]

No. What?

[Bill Maher]

No. No. Why? Why is that funny?

[Zachary Levi]

No, no, because. I don't know. Because I don't know if you're about to tell a joke or if you're being honest.

[Bill Maher]

I know one thing I really do well here, I think, as the Hawk to a girl, will tell you, is give people advice. I mean, I've been in show business a long time.

[Zachary Levi]

Bring it, Mil.

[Bill Maher]

I am going to. You should do a movie where you and Jon Hamm play brothers. You look like him, you sound like him.

[Zachary Levi]

Really?

[Bill Maher]

Yes. Oh, yes.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, I take all that as high compliment. I think he's a wonderful actor.

[Bill Maher]

And nobody ever told you that.

[Zachary Levi]

No.

[Bill Maher]

You look like him.

[Zachary Levi]

No, no. Most of my career, it's being confused with John Krasinski more than anything else.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, yeah, I see that, too. Yeah, right.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, he did well, sometimes I get Fallon. I don't know. But I think that we're all Kind of in a. We're like in a spectrum of nd Nondescript white guy. We're all just kind of in that. So, you know, we're all on NBC all around the same time. So I think people just like confuse the promos and they're like, oh, yeah, that guy.

[Bill Maher]

That's ridiculous. We're not nondescript. I mean, you know people.

[Zachary Levi]

You're not in that group, bro. You're in a different spectrum.

[Bill Maher]

Well, I would hope they would look at the both of us and people would go, geez, I can't tell the. That would be a word. God. If you want to do me a. Now that I'm talking to one of your big fans. Yeah, big fan. So I assume you're. Assume your girl is religious too, because it's very hard to have a relationship where one of them is and one of them isn't.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, no, I mean, I don't know that I would consider her religious. I don't consider myself religious, but I consider us both to be very deeply spiritual.

[Bill Maher]

Okay. I mean, these words.

[Zachary Levi]

No, but I mean, there's a difference.

[Bill Maher]

You're right. Right.

[Zachary Levi]

And it's not. And I'm not even trying to split hairs on it. I'm just. I'm wanting to be more specific about it.

[Bill Maher]

But you believe in God? Not everybody who says they work for him.

[Zachary Levi]

Sure. Wait, what?

[Bill Maher]

You believe in God? Not everybody who says they work for him?

[Zachary Levi]

No, no, no. But I think that's for them. Well, sure. I mean, yeah. On some level I think that religion is more kind of found in the ritual. Like that's like in Catholicism and going to Mass. I went to mass a lot with my grandma back.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, really?

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, yeah, yeah. My grandma was Catholic, grew up Catholic, and then rebelled and became a born again Christian. But my grandma.

[Bill Maher]

It's hardly a rebellion.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, a rebellion from the constrictions and rules and regulations and shame of Catholicism.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, that's your rebelling against that.

[Bill Maher]

Okay. A real rebellion when she became. Would be she became an atheist. I'm not mad at her because she didn't. I'm just saying to go from Catholic to Christian is like. Okay, you know, you skipped some of the bullshit of the Catholic Church. Good for you. That is smart because there's a lot of bullshit there.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, there's a lot of bullshit everywhere.

[Bill Maher]

I was just watching this movie. Oh, fuck.

[Zachary Levi]

Don't worry, nobody saw that.

[Bill Maher]

No, I don't care if they did. This place is a place to drink and smoke, and I'm going To drink it. Like a fucking.

[Zachary Levi]

Sip it. Yeah, get right off the lip there. Yeah, that's a first. First time on Club Random, I bet. Right there.

[Bill Maher]

That is absolutely.

[Zachary Levi]

Sip it a little bit more. Come on.

[Bill Maher]

Give the people what they want. Conclave. It's really good. Started it last night. It's about. It's with Ralph Finds. And who else is in that? Stanley Tucci. It's about Pope. You know, the Pope dies. Conclave. And then they have the car, all the colleges. Just the intrigue that goes on behind the scenes.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, it's great cast, great cat.

[Bill Maher]

John Lithgow. Oh, and yeah, he's so good. He's super woke. You probably wouldn't want to talk politics with him.

[Zachary Levi]

Okay, but I don't care.

[Bill Maher]

Exactly. We don't care. It's Thanksgiving.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, no, even outside of Thanksgiving, I still.

[Bill Maher]

Exactly. No.

[Zachary Levi]

No, I don't. Because I don't. Again, knowing that I could be wrong. I'm never looking at them and what they. Anybody on the other side of the spectrum of me is choosing, I'm going. Okay. They're going. In their heart and their mind.

[Bill Maher]

I'm just telling you, bro, I don't know what happened in the past, and I wish you the best in the future. I like. But this town is. I mean, they're mean to me, and I'm away to the left of you.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, but you're mean to them.

[Bill Maher]

That's true. I am mean.

[Zachary Levi]

I'm not trying to be mean to them.

[Bill Maher]

You're right.

[Zachary Levi]

I'm just trying to love everybody.

[Bill Maher]

You're right. That's true. But if you think you're just going to skate through this town with those political credentials, I'm telling you, you're not.

[Zachary Levi]

You're going to hold on. I don't. I'm not expecting to. I don't know. I don't know. What?

[Bill Maher]

Admire you.

[Zachary Levi]

I don't know what's gonna happen. But I will say this.

[Bill Maher]

You got integrity. You're gonna say what you're gonna say even if it costs you jobs. And it will.

[Zachary Levi]

Sure, yeah. Maybe. I don't know. There'll be other jobs. There'll be different things. That's great, right? Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

There's that Christian series you could do. There's that thing chosen about. No, no, no. About the rapture and.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, Left Behind.

[Bill Maher]

Left behind.

[Zachary Levi]

Kirk Cameron.

[Bill Maher]

Kirk Cameron.

[Zachary Levi]

They stopped making those a long time ago.

[Bill Maher]

They did.

[Zachary Levi]

They did. Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

But like Kirk Cameron, perfect example. Or like Kevin Sorbo, you know, these guys are never going to get on any Casting director's list.

[Zachary Levi]

Maybe not, but I don't. Listen. I don't. You know, we're all very different people, and you know, where we're at in our careers and all those various things. And again, like, I have nothing but love for those guys, and they're still working and doing what they're doing.

[Bill Maher]

I'm gonna speak about this, and I'm gonna speak in Italian. No, that's the Godfather. Now I'm gonna speak about this, and I'm gonna try to be vague because I'm not so sure exactly how much I should be saying in public. But I happen to know a few things about the Trump movie that came out.

[Zachary Levi]

Remember was Sebastian, Stan.

[Bill Maher]

Sebastian, Stan and Jeremy Str. Strong, late. Late of succession, two brilliant actors. Yeah. I was so impressed with both of them. I mean, they both should be nominated for best actor. And that movie is a great movie, but because it's about Trump and the. Wow. It's a big pour for a Christian.

[Zachary Levi]

You know, Christian adjacent.

[Bill Maher]

Even the cardinals are allowed to drink. It's in the movie. Like, there's no. There's no against how much you can drink as a cardinal.

[Zachary Levi]

No. You just can't have sex.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. Well, they certainly are lax on that line. But this movie is because it's about Trump and because it's a brilliant movie, but you have to accept it as art. The first half, the people who hate Trump hate it because he's a human. He works for his shit father. He's got a shit father. Which is only the subject of a trillion movies where you do feel bad for the character. And you know this at the beginning, like, he's going around and collecting rents, which he did. And people sometimes, when you go around to collect rent, don't like it. He opens one door and a guy throws boiling hot water at him.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, fuck.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, that shit happens.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Okay. He's not a monster. That's what good art is. It shows the arc, how he becomes. Then he meets Roy Cohen. That's the movie the Apprentice. And he's learned, you know, learns from Roy Cohn how to be a ruthless bastard, and, you know, all that. And then in the second half of the movie, I mean, yeah, if you're a liberal, then you'll love that, because he's an asshole and does this and does bad things. And we see the Trump we know as a political figure emerging, but it's just too much for these people to even suffer through half of a movie where he's a human being. So we Also have to punish the actors, and we have to punish the movie. And I'm telling you, that is a terrific movie. Yeah.

[Zachary Levi]

I've heard nothing but great things. I haven't seen any yet. I really want to.

[Bill Maher]

They finally let it be seen here, but of course, nobody went to see it because, again, it. You would not like half of it. And of course, everybody has to be completely confirmed in their ideas.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, I mean, I. I think that they're fortunately or unfortunately. I actually think there's probably a lot of people out there that would enjoy all of it, but that they don't. It's just the people. Again, if you're more moderate, if you're more in the middle, and you recognize that everyone is a human being and this is something that is lost because people. And I. What helps me is that I look at everyone as a child of God. I look at everyone through the lens of. At some point, you were five years old and you had every possibility in the world. And then you were programmed and conditioned through your upbringing, through your family.

[Bill Maher]

Even before five.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, even before five. But I'm just saying, like, still. Again, I'm using a round term, whatever, round number. But the idea is that we were all children with all these different possibilities.

[Bill Maher]

And then what programming might already be in by 5?

[Zachary Levi]

Listen, some of it's just genetic. There's programming in us that they have actually shown to be straight up, literally hereditary. That's built into you.

[Bill Maher]

We use the term anal when somebody's, like, super neat.

[Zachary Levi]

Sure.

[Bill Maher]

Well, the way you. Obviously you use it for something else. Like honey feeling anal tonight? No, your ass. I meant. No, but anal refers to the anal stage, you know, which is 0 to 2 when you are shitting your pants.

[Zachary Levi]

Okay.

[Bill Maher]

And how you are treated. I mean, this is from Eric.

[Zachary Levi]

No, totally.

[Bill Maher]

This is from Erickson, the great father of psychology. One of the great ones, I think, mostly. And Jung.

[Zachary Levi]

Jung is the goat. Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

But, like, how you. Whatever was going on in your just beginning mind at that time really affected, like, you later in life. So when we talk about someone who's very anal as an adult, they're very neat. And, you know, the theory is this has to do with how they were treated or how they responded to having shit in their drawers when they were six months old. And if you, you know, I can't believe my mother left me with shit in my drawers. But to this day, I'm very anal and I don't like shit. Like. And I would never fuck anybody in the ass. Wow.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, that took a Turn?

[Bill Maher]

No, it's not a turn. It's part of the subject. I'm just saying.

[Zachary Levi]

Right, right. No, no, no. I mean, I understand what you're saying.

[Bill Maher]

I think shit on the end of my dick is just not in the.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, different strokes for different folks, man. I don't know. Well, I can only imagine, though, that porn has done a number on pushing this envelope farther and farther. I mean, you know, once porn became ubiquitous and free all over the Internet, then you have kids that are jumping onto porn at very young ages. And by the time they're even in middle school, they're already, like, pushing the envelope of what a normal adult sex life would be, that kind of stuff. So it's like. It definitely. It's got to be some part of how these things have.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, look, I've been a libertine my whole life, but I'd be the first to say porn is not benign. Not where it's gone.

[Zachary Levi]

No way, man.

[Bill Maher]

It's so funny because, like, our avatars out there in the world have to be so politically correct about everything, and yet what they're really doing, what people are really doing on the Internet, between porn and only fans.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, yeah.

[Bill Maher]

It's just a nation full of freaks and perverts, bro.

[Zachary Levi]

But check this out. AI is about to start right now. Young, lonely boys, particularly, are spending their life savings on not talking. Talking to a girl on OnlyFans and having her do whatever her show is right. Which is already so sad. It's sad for both parties because these girls are being told I'm being empowered and I'm, you know, there's nothing wrong with sex work and yada, yada, yada. And they might feel that momentary or, you know, whatever, seasonal empowerment and make a lot of money doing it, but there's an exchange of your soul in that. There's like. That's not a good exchange of what you're giving up in your soul, I believe. And what's about to happen is that all of those girls are going to get replaced by dudes who are AI ing virtual girls that look just like real girls that will do literally anything that these guys want her to do, and they'll just be chilling out all of their money for these AI OnlyFans girls and AI pornography. I mean, I have been banging this AI drum for a minute because I really do believe that most people are sleeping on it far too much.

[Bill Maher]

I agree. Totally. And you know who was the one who was out front on this? Elon.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, yeah. He was one of the OGs that. But, but again was a part of.

[Bill Maher]

The first I've ever heard that theory was from Elon said we have to be aware of, we have to be wary of AI. And he said this like 10, 12 years ago.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh yeah.

[Bill Maher]

And, and people, other people argued.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, he was one of.

[Bill Maher]

Now, now we all know he, he.

[Zachary Levi]

Was one of about seven of, of like the top 10 experts on AI. And he was definitely one of them, is still one of them. I would wager. He was one of the 10 that they basically asked, went to and said. And seven of 10 said we need to pause a. This was years ago. And they said we need to pause it now.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Zachary Levi]

We cannot afford to let it go any farther.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Zachary Levi]

Because we're, we're getting to the point of no return where it will just catch fire and go.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Zachary Levi]

And we're basically all running toward mutually assured destruction. Yes, because everyone's trying to be the first to get to AGI, make all the money, do all the thing, rule the fucking world, by the way. And ultimately whoever controls that will be controlling the world with that, which is the thing we got to worry about the most. It's not even that it's going to be sentient and turn into Terminator, although there is the possibility of that goes crazy.

[Bill Maher]

Absolutely.

[Zachary Levi]

But more than likely, and probably, and actually not even more than likely, what will absolutely happen even if that doesn't, is that it will start to displace entire industries worth of workforces. It will be doing things like creating AI sex bots and all of that stuff.

[Bill Maher]

How so? Have you ever, have you ever been on OnlyFans? No, I wouldn't even know.

[Zachary Levi]

It's. Again, it's one of those things where I just kind of.

[Bill Maher]

It's.

[Zachary Levi]

I just, I feel it just like I feel bad. I feel bad that this is where we've gotten to as a society.

[Bill Maher]

I know a guy who's so hooked on it that when he's with a real woman he can't come unless there's a sound of a baby crying in the next room.

[Zachary Levi]

That's a weird kink.

[Bill Maher]

I'm just saying that I think a lot of the girls have a baby.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, copy that, copy that.

[Bill Maher]

And a lot of the women, they think it's going to be lucrative and it's only lucrative for a very, very few. It's almost like real show business.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, yeah, but also not just real show business, but they have new create like every girl the competition. No doubt. Like the amount of other girls that are all Getting the same idea. They're all going to go be in to have an OnlyFans account. Like, clearly that stuff's only got to work for a.

[Bill Maher]

You know what a lot of them are feet. Oh, yeah.

[Zachary Levi]

There's a whole website dedicated to that.

[Bill Maher]

You get that?

[Zachary Levi]

No, I don't get it. I'm just saying that's a thing that exists.

[Bill Maher]

No, I know, but I'm saying, like, next to being in the ass, I don't want would be the feed. I find the feedback not erotic at all. What? But why? But so many people. So many.

[Zachary Levi]

Listen, I don't get it. It's not that I don't appreciate a good foot and like my girlfriend, she's got beautiful feet, but that's not something I look at in an erotic type of way. I've never.

[Bill Maher]

I don't either. No, I mean the top of the foot, obviously the ankle. Okay, but then you're just toes. Fuck no. And certainly the bottom of the foot that walks on the world every day.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, you can wash those things.

[Bill Maher]

You can wash. I know, but still, it's just not attractive for obvious.

[Zachary Levi]

Have you ever given a girlfriend like a foot rub or anything?

[Bill Maher]

Fuck no. A foot rub? Jesus. I've never been.

[Zachary Levi]

Bro, you are missing out.

[Bill Maher]

A foot rub.

[Zachary Levi]

Yes.

[Bill Maher]

Why is this magical pass key to the pussy that I've been.

[Zachary Levi]

No, no, no, no, no. Because if all you're doing is having sexual intimacy, and you're not just having intimacy that doesn't require anything sexual, but rather is connectivity, it's touch.

[Bill Maher]

There's a billion other ways to do that besides r their feet.

[Zachary Levi]

Bro, you're. But I'm telling you, your feet are incredible in that they have all these meridians and all of these pressure points and all of these things that we walk around on all the time and get up.

[Bill Maher]

No, that's true.

[Zachary Levi]

And if you actually have somebody go and be like, yo. And it's a really act of service between two people that are in partnership, I think. And to be like, yo, can I do this for you? How can I serve and give them that massage? I think that there's something incredibly powerful about that.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, I can't say that I haven't had it done to me. And when I did, it was like, oh, that's cool. But it didn't change my world. It didn't change.

[Zachary Levi]

You know, I didn't like that one instance of it. Of it isn't gonna change your world.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. So you're saying like an ongoing foot rub is like, I'M just saying, like.

[Zachary Levi]

If you're in a relationship, I mean, you know, that's. I don't think that you should be squeamish because they're feet. I understand that you have an anal type of personality that doesn't like anything like the things you were talking about. But I think that when it comes to your feet and your partner's feet, they're very easily cleaned, and you can.

[Bill Maher]

There's so many other better ways that I'm already good at. I really don't feel like I need to. There's certain things, like people have bucket lists. There's also the list of things that I never did and never want to do.

[Zachary Levi]

That's why.

[Bill Maher]

And, like, skiing is on that.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, man, skiing's fantastic.

[Bill Maher]

Okay, great.

[Zachary Levi]

Snowboarding in particular.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, you do you right. But, like, again, I don't want to ski and I don't want to, like, rub feet.

[Zachary Levi]

What do you do? What are your hobbies other than, you know, constantly making television shows. But, like, what, standup comedy is your job hobby? I don't know. I mean, it's like, that's still. That's the work.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, I've had three jobs last few years because of. Not that this is really a job. This is such a joy to meet somebody like you. You actually. You. And get high and talk to them. I can't tell you what a pleasure this is in my life, but I only do this. The only time I spend on this job is right here. After this, I'm out. Yeah.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah. Well, you got a wonderful team that I've put together.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, I have a wonderful team. And this is all I want to do. It's the opposite of my show, which I work on all week. That takes a lot of. And then stand up. Of course, you're on the road. I haven't been on the road that much, but, you know, every couple of weeks, I go out for the weekend. I mean, it's. So.

[Zachary Levi]

So what's your hobby?

[Bill Maher]

That is my hobby. You know, I don't really want hobbies. I play basketball day. I have a court here.

[Zachary Levi]

Nice.

[Bill Maher]

That's my.

[Zachary Levi]

How often do you play basketball?

[Bill Maher]

Well, I mean, like a game, not that often, but I go out and shoot myself, you know. But I, you know, have people come over and we shoot sometimes.

[Zachary Levi]

You've been playing ball your whole life?

[Bill Maher]

Oh, I love, love basketball because it's not like, you know, you need a field, like, you don.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

No, 11 people on both sides.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

You can just end again if there's.

[Zachary Levi]

You can practice by yourself? Yeah, all the time. It's just the endless one piece of equipment.

[Bill Maher]

People like likes on their phone. To me, when the ball goes through the hoop, like, I get a.

[Zachary Levi]

Like. Well, listen, it's the same thing. It's a dopamine hit.

[Bill Maher]

It's a dopamine hit.

[Zachary Levi]

That's what you get.

[Bill Maher]

And it never stops.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, as long as you're making the shots.

[Bill Maher]

No, I'm saying. But, like, every time it goes in, you know.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

It's almost like sex. And that's one of the few things that never disappoints.

[Zachary Levi]

Sure. Wait, so where did you grow up again?

[Bill Maher]

New Jersey.

[Zachary Levi]

In Jersey. So who's your NBA team?

[Bill Maher]

Knicks. Still is.

[Zachary Levi]

Okay.

[Bill Maher]

And they're finally good again. They haven't won since I was in high school.

[Zachary Levi]

What's the record?

[Bill Maher]

And I never left them. But now the Knicks are good. They are really good.

[Zachary Levi]

What's the record?

[Bill Maher]

Right now they're 11 7. But, you know, they have a new. They have Karl Anthony Townes now. They're integrating a new whole scheme. They lost two key players. Got this one super star. It's happening. They beat them Nuggets the other night.

[Zachary Levi]

Beat them Nuggets?

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, they beat the Nuggets. And Jokic, I mean, I just saw. I was.

[Zachary Levi]

I mean, that's a big. That's a big beat.

[Bill Maher]

I was at the Laker game the other night, and the Nuggets killed the Lakers. And then, like, the next night, the Knicks killed the Nuggets. So I'm good with the Knicks.

[Zachary Levi]

That feels good.

[Bill Maher]

And it feels good to have stuck with them and never wavered all these years.

[Zachary Levi]

You and.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah.

[Zachary Levi]

Spike Lee.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, I can only have done that with women. But it sounds like you are about to make a big change in your life. Is that because you want children?

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Always.

[Zachary Levi]

Always did. Always wanted. Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Really?

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a dad. It's like something that's been in my DNA my whole life.

[Bill Maher]

Well, that's another thing you should play. You should play the hot dad in the movie. Especially where there's, like a. I love movies where there's, like, the. It's like, you know, just the typical life that we all live, the contemporary life, but there's some sort of evil lurking, like the babysitter who's got, you know, ideas on the father. Or one. You know, one of those. The Stepfather. Remember that series? That was so good?

[Zachary Levi]

No.

[Bill Maher]

What, you never saw the Stepfather?

[Zachary Levi]

No.

[Bill Maher]

Well, they made it twice. They Remade it.

[Zachary Levi]

Do you ever see the Crush back in the day with Carrie Elwes and Alicia Silverstone?

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Zachary Levi]

That was like the happy couple. But then Alicia Silverstone, the one with the swimmer sitter, got the crush.

[Bill Maher]

He's a swimmer or something. And, you know, it's like that person in the house who's really the bad guy is. It's a delicious kind of.

[Zachary Levi]

Well, I did a movie a few years ago that's actually just coming out in February. Thank God. They kind of got shelved for a little while because of COVID but.

[Bill Maher]

Covid. Because your position on Covid, or actual Covid?

[Zachary Levi]

No, because we shot the movie during COVID but, like, early on in Covid, like November of 2012. And then it was supposed to come out, like, a year and a half later, but because theaters, like, people still hadn't really come back to theaters a lot. And it's kind of a smaller family movie where I play a dad and all of this stuff. It's called the Unbreakable. Boy, it's a really beautiful movie. It's not the thriller with the stepfather or the sitter with the crush. Yeah, it's like a dramedy. Yeah. It's a true story about this couple. They started dating on their third date. They got pregnant and they were like, what do you wanna do? And they were like, well, let's do this. Let's have this baby, and let's see what we figure out. And they didn't get married right away. They just stayed as a couple and they had this child. And early on, the kid was crying a lot, always. And they were like, what is going on? And then 2 years old or whatever, they're running around and they break their leg, and they're like, what's going on? So they go get the kid tested, and he has osteogenesis imperfecta, which is brittle bones disease. And he inherited part of this from his mother. So then we're like, okay. And this is a true story. This real couple. And then. And then they have a second son, and now they're. And that kid. No brittle bones. He's cool. And then they get a little older, and their oldest son starts behaving in ways that are, you know, not normal, that are atypical. And they go and have him tested, and he ends up having autism. And so it's a story about this couple who are still trying to figure out if they're even gonna work and their own kind of demons and things they're struggling with while they're trying to raise these two kids, the oldest of which, who's really the star of the movie, Jacob, he plays Austin. Who is this the most beautiful, accurate portrayal of, I think of, you know, a child in. On the autistic spectrum and the beautiful heart and mind of all of that.

[Bill Maher]

And so wait, Brittle Bones is in the autistic spectrum?

[Zachary Levi]

No, Brittle Bones is a separate thing.

[Bill Maher]

Okay?

[Zachary Levi]

He just. He also. The Austin is also autistic that was so.

[Bill Maher]

Autistic. With brittle bones.

[Zachary Levi]

With brittle bones. Yees. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bill Maher]

What did this kid do to God?

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

I'm going to release you back into the wild because I've kept you here for long enough.

[Zachary Levi]

Oh, no. But listen, man, I could too.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, you're up.

[Zachary Levi]

You're thoroughly enjoyable conversation.

[Bill Maher]

We'll do it again, I hope. Yeah, and like the more friends I have who are trumpers, the better. But. Okay, let's wrap it up. I could do it all night. I'm just going to cut it off.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah, dude. Thanks, man.

[Bill Maher]

You too.

[Zachary Levi]

Really enjoyed it.

[Bill Maher]

I had such a good time.

[Zachary Levi]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

All right. I could be a superheroes like helper, like Robin. What do you think?

[Zachary Levi]

Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, we're gonna have to work on the super suit. I mean, that's so that's number one.