Bill Maher’s ‘Real Time’ Says Russia Is Like Kanye West, Ukraine Is Kim Kardashian, NATO Is Pete Davidson

In his last HBO Real Time before a short hiatus, Bill Maher had the unenviable task of trying to find laughs in the situation in Ukraine. Amazingly, he was able to pull it off within the boundaries of good taste, all while allowing his guests to run with the notion that more must be done in defense of the embattled country.

Noting that this episode of his show is likely the last his live audience will be forced to wear masks, Maher added that with Vladimir Putin, “eventually the mask comes off.” He claimed that the Russian leader’s pretext for invading Ukraine was that they were trying to acquire weaspons of mass destruction. “What kind of superpower makes up shit like that?” said Maher, with a nod toward the US invasion of Iraq.

Taking it down to terms we can all understand, Maher made a vivid analogy. “Russia is Kanye. Ukraine is Kim Kardashian. NATO is Pete Davidson.” The relationship between Ukraine (Kardashian) and NATO (Davidson) just drives Russia crazy.” Just last week, Russia “demanded Billie Eilish apologize to Travis Scott,” Maher said.

Moving on to the interview segment, Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego, author of They Called Us ‘Lucky’: The Life and Afterlife of the Iraq War’s Hardest Hit Unit, called for “some kind of pressure” on Russia, advocating for sending supplies, weapons and intelligence to Ukraine. He noted that a resistance “doesn’t need to defeat them. They only need to make them hurt.”