Jimmy Kimmel and Bill Maher have not been seeing eye-to-eye lately.
During the Monday, February 9, episode of Maher’s “Club Random” podcast, the talk show host sat down with Kimmel’s longtime friend Adam Carolla. At one point during their conversation, Maher, 70, opened up about the ongoing tension between him and Kimmel.
“Jimmy Kimmel, he’s very mad at me and I know you’re close to him. I hope you tell him that I’m sorry,” Maher said. “He got bent out of shape. I don’t think I did anything wrong. We can have disagreements.”
Maher explained that he and Carolla “don’t agree on everything,” but they’re able to remain “cool” with one another.
“You and I aren’t always completely on the same page, although we’re very close cause we’re both very smart guys. But I just don’t get that … and Jimmy, I’m sorry, like I think [he] is one of the nicest guys,” Maher reflected. “I did a mia culpa when we exchanged emails. Not about what he was complaining about but just saying.”
Maher shared that he can be a “little brash” and enjoys making fun of all people, no matter what their political identity may be.
“If that’s not good enough for you, then I think that you’re the asshole. And I don’t think Jimmy is an asshole. I think he’s a great guy,” he said. “And it bugs me that because of what the latest thing was, we may never talk.”
While Maher didn’t reveal what sparked his feud with Kimmel, 58, he did previously speak out against comments made by Kimmel’s wife, Molly McNearney. In November 2025, McNearney revealed during an appearance on the “We Can Do Hard Things” podcast that she had cut ties with loved ones who supported President Donald Trump. (Kimmel has publicly feuded with Trump over the years and was briefly taken off the air after Kimmel made comments about Charlie Kirk’s death.)
“To me, them voting for Trump is them not voting for my husband and me and our family,” she said at the time, adding that she “lost relationships with people in my family because of it.”
After McNearney’s remarks made headlines, Maher criticized her mindset.
“She says she’s lost relationships with relatives because she wrote them an email before the election with 10 reasons why they shouldn’t vote for Trump,” Maher said during a November 2025 episode of Real Time With Bill Maher. “And some still didn’t obey, so you know. Ultimatums. Ten reasons? I can think of 100. But I would never present it to someone as an ultimatum. Ultimatums don’t make people rethink their politics. They make them rethink you.”
The following month, Maher shared on his “Club Random” podcast that Kimmel was upset about what he said about McNearney’s comments.
“I was as kid-gloved as I could. And I see they’re mad at me. Uh, I’m sorry. I mean, I was being, again, as respectful as I could, but I don’t agree with that point of view,” Maher said in December 2025. “And since she went public with it, it wasn’t out of school for me to go public with it. I love Jimmy. I always have. I don’t know him that well, but he’s a great guy … I hope we’re friends forever, but I don’t know.”
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