Bill Maher Puts Dr. Phil On The Couch And Asks Him To Explain Himself
02.03.2024 - 05:01
/ deadline.com
On the one side, you have an atheist and avowed bachelor. On the other, a psychologist who thinks family and faith are the keys to progress from our current problems.
Those polar opposites made for some intense sparring on Friday’s Real Time, as Bill Maher faced off aganst a fiesty Dr. Phil McGraw, author of the new book, We’ve Got Issues: How You Can Stand Strong for America’s Soul and Sanity, and who will soon host Dr. Phil Primetime on his new cable network, Merit Street Media.
Dr. Phil entered to a standng ovation, and Maher acknowledged that he “has been America’s shrink for a very long time.” Now, Maher said, “you seem to want to do it or the country at large.”
Dr. Phil acknowledged that, adding that he wanted to do it “in steps.” He talked about his longevity by noting that “people tell you what they want you to address,” and said, “That’s really changed across time.”
The internet, Dr. Phil said, is transforming things. While the services are home to “preditors, bullies, and scams” that kids can’t escape, it is also making people more socially conscious – sometimes in a positive way, but sometimes in a convoluted concern for correctness that leaves even the U.S. Dept. of Justice reluctant to label someone a felon.
Maher agreed. “Wokeness started as a great thing. Now it’s where common sense goes to die.”
The two argued about whether some of Dr. Phil’s proposals were political stances.
Maher said Dr. Phil’s prescriptions for a better society couldn’t be done without being political. They particularly sparred when Dr. Phil claimed that the “strength of any country is the family, and the family in America is under attack.” He said that the government and teachers trying to co-parent children was a particular