I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of Bill Maher. Some of his HBO stand-up specials were pretty funny, but his film “Religulous” and panel show Real Time With Bill Maher strike me as self-obsessed works pandering to his sense of smug superiority.

No real improvements were apparent once Maher’s corporate media bosses started letting him interview “problematic” guests like Milo Yiannopolous or Jordan Peterson. Maher still had to get his digs in on conservatives and their policy decisions every chance he could and regurgitate all the current progressive talking points.

Recently I gave Maher’s show a second glance. What I saw made me nearly spit take.

After beginning a discussion on the Afghanistan withdrawal, Maher asked his panel a simple question: if the adults were back in charge, how could this have gone any worse than if the children from the last administration handled it?

One panelist shot back, “Well, it’s not Donald Trump in charge!”

Maher’s response: “That’s not an answer to my question.”

Neither panelist had a good answer for the late-night host.

Later in the show, Maher opined on the rise of Fox News’ “Gutfeld!” as being a prime example of the growing field of conservative comedy.

I mean they’re tearing down statutes of Lincoln in the land of Lincoln…when every Democratic talking point sounds like an Onion headline there’s room for jokes. Los Angeles decriminalizes crime? Three year olds choosing their own gender?

Surprisingly, Maher’s recent comments are turning a critical eye towards the lunacy of the terminally progressive. The Olympics were awash with needless outrage and imagined offense. Stop dismissing everything people on Fox News say as unimportant. Our country is either irredeemably racist and not worth saving, or the best symbol of freedom and the triumph of human will the world has ever known—you don’t get it both ways.

Last Friday’s monologue of “New Rules” ended with a pointed reminder Americans have it far better than the wokescolds would have us believe.

Citing the recent story of an Afghan comedian beaten to death at the hands of the Taliban, Maher told his viewing audience to be grateful we still live in a land where ridicule and mockery of our ruling class isn’t punishable by death. “I’ve been sued by two Presidents for stuff I said and neither was a pleasant experience,” Maher remarked.

And his statements are worth the consideration for everyone, regardless of political viewpoint: We can dissent from the majority, do so with humor, and we should be grateful we still have those rights.

The Real Time host isn’t long for mainstream media. Within a day or two of his monologue last Friday, hit pieces were running in The Daily Beast about Bill Maher’s interactions with sex workers, feigning outrage over a joke about millennials, OnlyFans, and porn. His time in the limelight as a favored court jester of the left is waning the more he outlines for his viewing audiences how much the “adults” in charge aren’t that much different from the “children.”

What interests me is Maher’s next move once HBO punches the ticket of Real Time. With digital streaming now the norm, the comedian and movie producer could easily launch his own self-published show, either on a medium like YouTube or via a podcast, and make comparable money minus HBO oversight.

A Bill Maher minus the progressive muzzle? Now that’s something to make comedy and political commentary interesting and fun again. And it would get a hell of a lot more eyeballs than what HBO can offer.

Hopefully Bill decides to peacefully, consciously uncouple from his HBO bosses and their Standards and Practices department, and we get something that will truly embody “appointment TV.” It’s just a question of when.

That’s all for this week everybody! Happy Friday, keep laughing while the world around us goes to hell, and we’ll see you next week!