Transcript

Bill Maher on Robots, Jobs, and His New Cartoon Persona “Smug”

From Club Random Podcast · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 10 min · 1,854 words · 14 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Bill Maher on Robots, Jobs, and His New Cartoon Persona “Smug”", an episode of Club Random Podcast published June 27, 2025 (10 min, about 1,854 words). It mentions 15 people, works and ideas, including Bill Maher, Oscar Isaac, Driverless Cars, John Lennon, Athens.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 3:00: Bill Maher, Driverless Cars
  2. – 6:00: Athens, John Lennon
  3. – 9:00: Oscar Isaac, Elon Musk, Pedro Pascal, Raul Julia

Notable quotes from "Bill Maher on Robots, Jobs, and His New Cartoon Persona “Smug”"

  • Question. It's like could it even because you certainly can type in, do this as Bill Maher would do it and write a scene, or something.
    about Bill Maher · at
  • But yes well very close I mean first the blue collar jobs went now coding now they do all that u driverless cars It's going to be all truck drivers. And I said, Okay, I get it. Why would you want a drudgery kind of job?
    about Driverless Cars · at
  • More rabbits [ __ ] make more bunnies and so now we're at 8 million I don't John Lennon said something to you in my dreams, in a video. he said, The world is run by insane…
    about John Lennon · at
  • People. No, that's funny. But their world was circumspect, right? it was Well, you know what? Athens was a direct democracy. So, they were they hadn't figured out, well, we could have representatives.
    about Athens · at
  • Amount of people that water on Earth could supp less? Like Elon Musk, like him or hate him, has been talking about population collapse. Yes, I don't get that.
    about Elon Musk · at
  • Borenstein in a movie that never made it to the United States. Hey, you know the actor Isaac Oscar Isaac. Brilliant.
    about Oscar Isaac · at
  • It's just I'm really proud of a lot of actors now that are Latino that are being accepted embraced I Pedro Pascal is like on fire, everything he does is amazing, ridiculous to…
    about Pedro Pascal · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

Products & tech

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Full transcript with timestamps

My daughter, she wants to be a writer. I was like, "Oh my god, in the time of AI where like, you know, they they they can copy everything, but now now she wants to be a psychiatrist." That's safe. I mean, psychiatrists were always going to have screwed up people. AI like right now, June of 2025, AI can't do what I do. Not yet. That's what that's my question. It's like could it even because you certainly can type in, you know, do this as Bill Maher would do it and write a scene, you know, or something. Yeah. I mean, somebody I know uh is desperate for me to like voice a in a big cartoon movie like the bad guy. I've been told to digitize myself just to copyright your own image before other people steal it. When you're gone, when you're dead, you need to leave that to Oh, you don't have Never mind. Uh, is this thing I don't have kids? I don't believe I'll be anything after I die. Your pets will

have your estate. You still have all those dogs. But we put it into chat GPT like what would uh Bill Maher as a as a cartoon villain, you know, and I, you know, I made some suggestions and it came out with this character smug. Oh, I was going to I was thinking smarmy assassin and I'm not really smug, but I get why they and like it had like the the cartoon version of me and it was like it was a little scary how close it got to something that was actually kind of funny. It had my catchphrase, you know, it it was just, you know, this thing is a genie let out of the bottle.

But to what point will robots replace you? Cuz how does that benefit them? I was asking this on the panel tonight like there was a guy on it was talking about a future that may be jobless and I was talking to a very good friend of mine who said you know why are you so afraid of the robots and AI eliminating all the jobs because AI is quickly eliminating all the jobs I mean not all but yes well very close I mean first the blue collar jobs went now coding now they do all that u driverless cars It's going to be all truck drivers. And I said, "Okay, you know, I get it. Why would you want a drudgery kind of job?"

Great. If we liberate ourselves from that, but what do people do? And how do they get money? How do they buy food if there are no jobs? If AI is doing all the jobs, maybe that's why they say that we're being called as a population. Maybe there's Yeah. Meaning meaning they're trying to lower the population slowly but surely. Who is the people who want to stay left running the robots because they don't want the rest of us. Believe me, they don't there's I mean, come on. For for for decades now, there's been like a silent war. I see young kids. War against who? Just the human condition.

So vague. What does that mean? You know, Malthusian, right? Mouthus, of course, the guy who said 1798. That's right. He he said that there were too many people in the world. Do you know that that con Well, he said that he said population expands exponentially. So he did the chart going up and he was right like you know for the first I don't know 10,000 years of humans after the agricultural revolution we were still at like you know I don't know 100 million or something and then quickly it got to 8 billion like and then in the last century it went all the way up to eight and of course the more people make the more rabbits [ __ ] make more bunnies and so now we're at 8 million I don't John Lennon said something to you in my dreams, you know, uh, in a video. Um, he said, "The world is run by insane people for another one of your impressions for your He's a scouse, mate. He's a scouse." That's pretty good. You know,

but but I'm saying he said something that I tend to agree with. If you just didn't like most people, you would tend to want to promote the notion that there were too many people in order to make people not care about the the wanting deaths. Well, there's too many people. So, you really And I'll tell you why. Because they were saying that same thing in Plato's age. There were too many people on the planet way back then. Really? Yeah. Yeah. I found that out. I was like, whoa. There was only like 10 people. No, that's funny. But their world was circumspect, right? You know, it was Well, you know what? Athens was a direct democracy. So, they were they hadn't figured out, well, we could have representatives.

So yes, in a world where your democracy is direct, where everybody votes and they put a pebble, a white or a black pebble in a pot and that's how you count the votes, I could see them saying, "Yeah, we got too many people." On the 405, I think there's too many people. Well, there definitely, do you know what I mean? That when you're in traffic, it seems like too many people. But if I believe there are too many people, but if everybody in the world had a certain amount of space between them, we could all fit in a certain part of Texas.

Yeah. It's not about how many people, it's about resources. No, I I again I'm going to tell you this is this is something that I think we've been led to we've been mis mis um miseducated on because there there whole scarcity notion is maybe another one of those things that we'll find out later maybe you will that is is being pushed. already running out of like water in We were supposed to be running out of oil a long time ago. Water even more basic than oil. Where's water going? What do you mean? Where does it go? Water. Well, it goes a lot of it in California to irrigate crops which we shouldn't. And then where does it go? It's like carbon.

No. And then Well, there's a finite amount because it falls from the sky and where does it go? It goes to the ocean where it evaporates again. We're in this closed loop. It's not like it's we're we're losing water. It's never coming back. But enough of it but more people. Are you saying there's an infinite amount of people that water on Earth could could supp less? Like Elon Musk, you know, like him or hate him, has been talking about population collapse. Yes, I don't get that. Look at Japan. I'm on the other side of that. There are places now, too many people that people are dying more than they're recreating. And now kids are scared. Young men and women are not getting together like they used to be.

You know what? That's true. Can we do a shot? I will I will bless the shot. A shot? I will bless. My shot days are over. But I'll I'll pour another one. Pour me half a shot. Okay. Half a shot because I'm going to show off now. Well, what are you doing? Show off. Cuz I'm not a Jew. What is that? I'm Jewish. You're not Jewish. I I respect You can't says who are you're not Jewish. Well, you probably learned that from part Ago. See, you could play a Jew. I did in 1989. Who? I played a Polish Jewish Argentine pimp. Hello. Wow. Ziko Borenstein in a movie that never made it to the United States. Hey, you know the the actor Isaac Oscar Isaac. Brilliant.

Brilliant guy. That's what I say. Oscar Isaac. And uh yeah, I should have named myself Isai Isaac or something, right? You know what? I always thought he was Jewish because the name sounds so Jewish to me. He's part I think Guatemalan or something. No, I I saw him on Saturday Night Live. He hosted I'm a big fan. He's a great actor. Love him. I love him. Um and you know, working your side of the street. Nice guy. Nice looking guy, Tan. And uh he's like, and I was surprised to learn in his monologue, he said, "My real name is, you know," and then he had two Oscar Isaac like Hernandez or something. Yes. Like he had two names, two two Hispanic names. He's a real Latino. And then he said, "Uh, you know, of course they made me." I'm like, "Nobody made you." Let me tell you something. Shut the [ __ ] up. Nobody made you. Listen, it helps. Oh, stop it.

Listen, my middle name is Manuel. If I came out as Manny Morales, you think they Maybe back in that day. Maybe back in the day. You sound like a Jewish garment worker. Mania Epste. It's just not like I mean, Jewish actors changed their name because it didn't sound like No, he was Hispanic. He anyway he was John Wayne was marrying whatever you know I thought he was Jewish and when he and when he said on this monologue that he was Hispanic the audience like burst into applause you know as if to say thank God came out thank god you're not white he's been saved anything's better than that he's we found out he's Hispanic that's awesome it's just I'm really proud of a lot of actors now that are Latino that are being accepted embraced I Pedro Pascal is like on fire, you know, everything he does is amazing, ridiculous to protect Del Toro has a movie coming out right now. It's not an impediment in show

business. It really isn't. Yes. And no. Now, now, now I'm going to like It was when you started. Let me give you Let me started a little bit. Raul Julia, man. One of my Yeah. heroes. Amazing. John Leguisamo did Yeah. Let me just say that. Um, oh, there was something, but the tequila just knocked derailed my train of thought. That's I did that all the time. We have a We're putting together a a highlight reel of me just saying, "What are we talking about?" I now I remember. Thank you for saying that. Oh jeez. But that's the It's not like they're writing great stuff. It's It's few and far in between. The characters, whatever. The ind the industry choosers of material. Yeah. Um, for some reason I'm still a bad guy more than not.

And I think I could play good guy, but I think I'm considered boring if I'm a good guy. I don't know. He could play anything.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "Bill Maher on Robots, Jobs, and His New Cartoon Persona “Smug”"?

In order: 0:00 Bill Maher, Driverless Cars; 3:00 Athens, John Lennon; 6:00 Oscar Isaac, Elon Musk, Pedro Pascal, Raul Julia.

What is mentioned in this Club Random Podcast episode?

15 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Bill Maher, Oscar Isaac, Driverless Cars, John Lennon, Athens, Elon Musk. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Bill Maher on Robots, Jobs, and His New Cartoon Persona “Smug”"?

The episode runs 10 min; the transcript is about 1,854 words in 14 timestamped sections.

More from Club Random Podcast

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated July 2, 2025.