Overtime – Episode #687: David Sedaris, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Sen. Jon Tester

Summary

Real Time with Bill Maher – Episode #687: David Sedaris, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Sen. Jon Tester Release Date: March 11, 2025

Overview: In Episode #687 of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, host Bill Maher engages in a dynamic "Overtime" segment with a distinguished panel comprising bestselling author and humorist David Sedaris, former Democratic Senator from Montana Jon Tester, and CNN political contributor and The View co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin. The episode delves into pressing societal issues ranging from public health concerns and animal welfare to political strategies and judicial practices.

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1. Public Health: Bird Flu and Epidemic Preparedness

Timestamp: [00:52] - [02:20]

Bill Maher kicks off the discussion by addressing concerns about avian influenza and the Trump administration's capability to manage potential epidemics. Senator Jon Tester emphasizes the gravity of the issue:

“We should learn something from COVID and we should treat these things seriously in the world we live in today with people moving around...”
– Jon Tester [01:36]

Tester highlights the link between human health and animal welfare, pointing out the risks associated with concentrated livestock farming:

“...the concentration of livestock in small areas. In this case, chickens.”
– Jon Tester [01:55]

Maher, a self-proclaimed PETA board member, pivots the conversation towards animal treatment:

“I'm totally into not torturing animals. And, and you know what? When you do torture animals, it winds up coming. That's how we get.”
– Bill Maher [02:11]

Senator Tester acknowledges the complexities in legislative action, noting the challenges in passing effective farm bills:

“We have a hard enough time getting a farm bill passed in Congress... But we absolutely should deal with it in common sense ways.”
– Jon Tester [02:20]

2. Animal Welfare and Ethical Treatment

Timestamp: [02:41] - [03:36]

David Sedaris shares a thought-provoking anecdote about animal rights activism:

“I saw a video... Spanish women protesting the rape of chickens. They were saying, if you have chickens outside and a rooster tries to rape the chicken, she can run away. But if they're confined, there's nowhere to go.”
– David Sedaris [02:44]

The conversation takes a humorous turn when Maher brings up controversial claims related to animal abuse:

“People have had sex with chickens. Larry Flynn claimed that he lost his virginity to a chicken.”
– Bill Maher [03:25]

Sedaris responds with his trademark wit:

“Seriously? Any cock will do.”
– David Sedaris [03:34]

3. Political Strategies: Avoiding Town Halls

Timestamp: [03:51] - [04:37]

Bill Maher questions Republican leaders about advising their members to steer clear of town hall meetings. Alyssa Farah Griffin counters:

“You can't hide from your own voters... If you're not getting your VA benefits, if you're waiting at the Social Security office, you're going to want to go and yell at your congressman or you're going to vote him out of office.”
– Alyssa Farah Griffin [03:51]

Senator Tester adds that abstaining from town halls disconnects politicians from real-world issues:

“Those town hall meetings are the only way you can hear what's really going on in the real world. It really goes against their democracy, quite frankly.”
– Jon Tester [04:20]

4. Arts and Politics: The Kennedy Center Controversy

Timestamp: [04:37] - [08:12]**

Maher brings up the topic of artists like Lin-Manuel Miranda canceling tours at the Kennedy Center amidst political tensions:

“I did not see one person in the audience or one person on the stage who you would think voted for Donald Trump.”
– Bill Maher [06:21]

David Sedaris expresses frustration over the politicization of artistic venues:

“I'm angry that the building was politicized. I'm angry about that.”
– David Sedaris [05:55]

Alyssa Farah Griffin provides insight into the perceived left-leaning nature of the arts community:

“The arts obviously skew left of center... going overboard on it isn't the answer either.”
– Alyssa Farah Griffin [07:02]

Senator Tester offers a different perspective, recalling Republican presence at past events:

“Both times that I went there... there were a lot of Republicans in the audience during the Biden administration.”
– Jon Tester [07:29]

5. Judicial Practices: Death by Firing Squad

Timestamp: [09:41] - [11:16]**

Maher raises a controversial topic about an inmate in South Carolina opting for execution by firing squad. The panel debates the ethics and efficiency of this method:

“How are you gonna blindfold? That helps.”
– Alyssa Farah Griffin [10:18]

Ben Shapiro (hypothetically, as only the actual transcript is provided) might have been intended, but based on the transcript:

“They could screw that up too, you know, they might miss.”
– Jon Tester [10:03]

David Sedaris adds a lighter note referencing social media:

“He was asked what his last meal would be, and he said, the all you can eat breadsticks.”
– David Sedaris [10:54]

6. Political Accountability: Trump’s Funding Cuts

Timestamp: [11:16] - [12:45]**

The panel discusses former President Trump's decision to withdraw $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University due to issues surrounding the protection of Jewish students:

Alyssa Farah Griffin strongly supports the decision:

“You do not have a right to harass, intimidate Jewish students on campus...”
– Alyssa Farah Griffin [11:34]

She shares her personal journey from working under Pence to distancing herself from Trump:

“Covid in January 6th. Really did it for me... I saw it going that direction and the lies about the election.”
– Alyssa Farah Griffin [12:04]

Bill Maher echoes similar sentiments regarding his disillusionment:

“Same thing happened.”
– Bill Maher [12:39]

Conclusion

The episode of Real Time with Bill Maher presents a robust discussion on a variety of contemporary issues, blending humor with serious discourse. From public health and animal rights to political strategies and judicial ethics, Maher and his guests provide insightful perspectives that challenge listeners to reflect on the state of current affairs.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Jon Tester on Epidemic Preparedness:
  “We should learn something from COVID and we should treat these things seriously in the world we live in today...” [01:36]

• Bill Maher on Animal Welfare:
  “I'm totally into not torturing animals. And, and you know what? When you do torture animals, it winds up coming. That's how we get.” [02:11]

• Alyssa Farah Griffin on Political Accountability:
  “You do not have a right to harass, intimidate Jewish students on campus...” [11:34]

• David Sedaris on Animal Rights Activism:
  “I saw a video... Spanish women protesting the rape of chickens. They were saying, if you have chickens outside and a rooster tries to rape the chicken, she can run away.” [02:44]

---

For More Information: Catch all new episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher every Friday night at 10 PM or watch anytime on HBO on Demand. Visit hbo.com for more details.

Transcript

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[Bill Maher]

You don't wake up dreaming of McDonald's fries. You wake up dreaming of McDonald's hash browns. McDonald's breakfast comes first. Ba da ba ba ba.

[Alyssa Farah Griffin]

Welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO late night series Real Time with Bill Maher.

[Bill Maher]

All right, here we are at Overtime with the best selling author and humorist who starts his 40 plus city tour on March 30th across the US David Sedaris. And a former Democratic senator from Montana who co hosts the podcast Grounded, Jon Tester. And a CNN political contributor and co host of the View, Alyssa Farah Griffin. Okay, so these are the questions that the people want to know. Jon Tester, I don't know why this is just for you. It says, are you concerned about bird flu? Like the rest of us don't care about bird flu and the Trump administration's ability to respond to another epidemic? Well, yes, yes and yes.

[Jon Tester]

Yeah, I mean, look, I mean, I think that we should learn something from COVID and we should treat these things seriously in the world we live in today with people moving around and as.

[Bill Maher]

A farmer, right around animals and stuff, all the diseases come from animals and it's because of the way we treat.

[Jon Tester]

Them, the bird flu, badly, there's no doubt about it. It's concentration of livestock in small areas. In this case chickens.

[Bill Maher]

Did you ever try to like do anything about that? Like, I mean, I'm a PETA board member, so I'm a little biased.

[Jon Tester]

You're into that?

[Bill Maher]

I'm totally into that.

[Alyssa Farah Griffin]

I forgot you were.

[Bill Maher]

I am totally into not torturing animals. And, and you know what? When you do torture animals, it winds up coming. That's how we get.

[Jon Tester]

That's a collateral damage of it all. Look, we have a hard enough time getting a farm bill passed in Congress, for Christ's sakes, much less dealing with those kind of issues in our food system. And, and that. Does it mean we shouldn't deal with it? No, we absolutely should deal with it in common sense ways. But in the end, we end up talking about trans and bathrooms and David.

[Bill Maher]

Bird flew your thoughts?

[David Sedaris]

You know, I saw A video a few weeks ago, and it was Spanish women protesting the rape of chickens. And I thought, who would stoop that low? They meant by roosters. And they were saying, if you have chickens outside, if you have chickens outside and a rooster tries to rape the chicken, she can run away. But if they're confined, there's nowhere to go. And at first I thought it was crazy, and then I thought, it's a point.

[Alyssa Farah Griffin]

I'm dying to see your brown bird history.

[Bill Maher]

And not to be gross, but people have had sex with chickens. Larry Flynn claimed that he lost his virginity to a chicken. I mean, he. Yes.

[Alyssa Farah Griffin]

I don't think that's how it happened.

[David Sedaris]

Seriously?

[Bill Maher]

Yes, he was serious. I mean, this is Larry Flint, who started Hustler, you know, I mean, that puts some context there.

[David Sedaris]

But any cock will do.

[Bill Maher]

Any cock will do. There you go. That's why he is who he is. Any cock will do. This is for you. Felissa, what do you think of Republican leadership telling their members that they should avoid doing town halls?

[Alyssa Farah Griffin]

You can't hide from your own voters. I mean, it's literally like, they're not going to be mad if you don't show up. It's actually politically good advice from Richard Hudson, because this is going to happen. My concern is that Doge has cut a lot that we don't know. And in the next few months, there's going to be goods and services that the American public does rely on, not the fat and waste that none of us like. And if you're not getting your VA benefits, if you're not, if you're waiting at the Social Security office, you're going to want to go and yell at your congressman or you're going to vote him out of office.

[Jon Tester]

The other thing I would add to that is you get in Washington, D.C. and around that brick and that mortar, and it's a bubble, and you never hear what's going on in the real world. And those town hall meetings are the only way you can hear what's really going on in the real world. It's. It's really goes against their democracy, quite frankly.

[Bill Maher]

Okay, what do you. For you, David, what do you think of artists like Hamilton, creator Lin Manuel and Miranda canceling tours of their shows at the Kennedy center now that Trump has taken it over?

[David Sedaris]

I played the Kennedy center three times. Really? And every time I've gone, I've said, why haven't you given me the Mark Twain Award?

[Bill Maher]

I should get it, too.

[David Sedaris]

Yeah. The last time they gave it to a writer was Neil Simon.

[Alyssa Farah Griffin]

Wow.

[David Sedaris]

Now Jeff Foxworthy's going to get it before I do. I mean, just doesn't seem fair. I've played the candidacy a bunch of times, and I got to say, I don't know that I'd go back right now, because I think the audience is going to stay away as well. And usually when I've been there, I don't mean to sound like a dick, but, you know, it sells out. And I don't want Trump to take credit. I don't want to lead to its success if he's going to claim that as a victory for himself.

[Bill Maher]

You're not a dick for selling out.

[David Sedaris]

No, no, no. I mean a dick for saying it.

[Bill Maher]

Not a dick for that either.

[David Sedaris]

Okay. You're just not three times sold out. Try to get a. I'm angry that the building was politicized. I'm angry about that.

[Bill Maher]

Okay. But I will say this in defense of the other side on this one, because I watched the Kennedy Center Honors this year. It was in December. It's always in December. I always watch it. And this year, they honored Francis Ford Coppola, and the Grateful Dead were the two famous ones. And then they have an opera singer you never heard of. And you know, okay, there's five people who get honored. And I just. Now, maybe I'm wrong because I didn't do an exhaustive study, but I was looking at watching the show. I did not see one person in the audience or one person on the stage who you would think voted for Donald Trump. Now, this is the last month of the Biden administration, and having just lost the election, I just thought, you know what? Invite Ted Cruz. If this is supposed to be America and we're all together and you just lost, invite some of the people who you wouldn't suspect to be there. I'm sure Ted Cruz or somebody like that likes Francis Ford Coppola. Everybody likes the Godfather. I'm sure there are some Republicans who are Grateful Dead fans, and it's just like, no. The mean girls were like, no, this is our last time, and this is what you get. And now, you know, Kevin Sorbo will be winning the next Kennedy Center.

[Alyssa Farah Griffin]

Listen, the arts obviously skew left of center, and that's fine. Like, I'm not looking to see, all due respect, perform there. But I do think that how much in beltway media the story of the Kennedy center takeover has become a big story, is just once again, so out of touch with the middle of this country who doesn't even know what it is outside of watching the Kennedy center honors once a year. So I think, like, going overboard on it isn't the answer either.

[Bill Maher]

It just, it's just a bad attitude.

[Jon Tester]

So what you're saying is there were no Republicans in the audience.

[Bill Maher]

That's what I didn't see anybody throughout the whole show who I thought, oh, this is a person who voted for Trump. I just felt when they cut to the audience, it was just the usual suspects and like, okay, I get it, you're right, it does skew left. But just that's one thing that really bugs me about the left, that exclusionary attitude. And like, but you just lost. You don't have the juice to pull that off anymore.

[Jon Tester]

And I've only been to it in person twice in 18 years. But the truth is, both times that I went there once about three years ago, there were a lot of Republicans in the audience during the Biden administration.

[Bill Maher]

Okay, maybe they just didn't show that.

[Jon Tester]

That could be.

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[Bill Maher]

Will that be cash or credit?

[Alyssa Farah Griffin]

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[Bill Maher]

What does the panel think about the inmate in South Carolina choosing death by firing squad? Eesh, the State's First Sex Education 50 as the least cruel option. Oh, yeah, I would agree if you got it. Are you kidding? They're always fucking up the. How is that better? Like, first you lie on the table. It's like a massage.

[Jon Tester]

How to aim a gun.

[Bill Maher]

What?

[Jon Tester]

They could screw that up too, you know, they might miss.

[Bill Maher]

You got like 10 guys. How could anybody. How could you miss? No one ever missed a firing. Are you crazy? No, it's over in two seconds. You have the cigarette blindfold, you're out of there. The other thing.

[Alyssa Farah Griffin]

Oh, you're gonna blindfold. That helps.

[Bill Maher]

The other thing where they would put you first because they had to make this. They got the formula wrong many times. They would first need to, like, put the guy out. Like, oh, you know, the Nora Jones music is playing, and you just. It's like, really comfortable. And then they would put in the real bad stuff, and they fucked it up a number of times. And the guy. It was just the worst.

[Alyssa Farah Griffin]

How have we not gotten better at doing it in a humane way, though? I would just imagine we have the technology to make it, like, quick, easy, and peaceful. Because I'm not going. Firing squad personally, David, firing squad, your thoughts, Miley?

[David Sedaris]

They were. It was somebody on Instagram, and he was asked what his last meal would be, and he said, the all you can eat breadsticks.

[Alyssa Farah Griffin]

Are you allowed to request alcohol in your last meal? Cause I'd be like, I'd like a bottle of Jack Daniels just for.

[Bill Maher]

Okay, well, what does the panel think of Trump pulling 400. $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University for failing to protect Jewish students from harassment. Well, two people love it.

[Alyssa Farah Griffin]

I'm for it. Listen the details. Because, listen, free speech, fine. If you want to be a queer for Palestine. It's an idiotic philosophy, but you have a right to be that right. You do not have a right to harass, intimidate Jewish students on campus to keep them from going to their classes that they paid for, to keep them from going to the dining hall. It is ridiculous. And I will tell you, those campus protests, those got Trump a lot of votes. That was the one of the times that I was like, I hate this, man. But this is insane that it's happening, and we need a change in leadership.

[Bill Maher]

So when did you go from working for him to hating him?

[Alyssa Farah Griffin]

Covid in January 6th. Really did it for me. Listen, I worked for Pence. I worked for the Department of Defense in the first administration, and I went over to work for him during the COVID crisis. I, to this day, think his single greatest accomplishment was Operation Warp Speed and getting the vaccine. But then he's run away from it for the past four years rather than leaning into science and American ingenuity in the free market and how we got there. And I left before January 6, but I saw it going that direction and the lies about the election. And that, to me, just went against my values. I just couldn't be with him.

[Bill Maher]

Same thing happened.

[Alyssa Farah Griffin]

Fascinated.

[Bill Maher]

And when did you go from loving him to hating him? I wish they were. All right, everybody, thank you very much.

[Alyssa Farah Griffin]

Catch all new episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher every Friday night at 10 or watch him anytime on HBO on Demand. For more information, log on to hbo. Com.