March 29, 2024

Bill Maher to appear at the DM Civic Center in May

Tickets on sale Friday

DES MOINES — Des Moines Performing Arts is pleased to present comedian, political commentator, and talk show host Bill Maher at the Des Moines Civic Center at 7 p.m. May 7. Tickets to Bill Maher will be available starting at 9 a.m. on Friday at DesMoinesPerformingArts.org, the Civic Center Ticket Office, by phone at (515) 246-2300, or on the Des Moines Performing Arts app (available for Android and IOS users).

For more than 20 years, Maher has set the boundaries of where funny, political talk can go on American television. First on “Politically Incorrect” (Comedy Central, ABC, 1993-2002), and for the last 14 years on HBO’s “Real Time,” Maher’s combination of unflinching honesty and big laughs have garnered him 38 Emmy nominations. Maher won his first Emmy in 2014 as executive producer for the HBO series, “VICE.” In October of 2008, this same combination was on display in Maher’s uproarious and unprecedented swipe at organized religion, “Religulous,” directed by Larry Charles (“Borat”). The documentary has gone on to become the eighth highest grossing documentary ever.

In addition to his television program — which has featured such visitors as President Barack Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kerry Washington, Michael Steele, Howard Dean, Michael Moore, Eva Longoria, Drew Barrymore, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Gen. Wesley Clark, Susan Sarandon, Kevin Costner, Gary Hart and Pat Buchanan, Maher has written five bestsellers: “True Story,” “Does Anybody Have a Problem with That? Politically Incorrect’s Greatest Hits,” “When You Ride Alone, You Ride with Bin Laden,” “New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer,” and most recently, “The New New Rules: A Funny Look at How Everybody But Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass.”

Maher started his career as a stand-up comedian in 1979, and still performs at least 50 dates a year in Las Vegas and in sold out theaters all across the country. Four of his 10 stand-up specials for HBO — 2014’s “Bill Maher: Live from DC,” 2007’s “The Decider,” 2005’s “I’m Swiss,” as well as the hilarious, “Bill Maher … But I’m Not Wrong,” — have been nominated for Emmy Awards.

Maher was born in New York City, raised in River Vale, N.J. and went to Cornell University. He now resides in Los Angeles.