Finally unsubscribed after years of listening. What used to be a great show has now just turned into bill ranting about how things aren’t the same as they used to be. He also doesn’t seem to understand the difference between freedom of speech and freedom from the consequences of your speech. Sadly it seems the show is well past its best.

The guests are excellent which is enough to counter the smug, angry “humour” of the host. Like marmite, you either love it, or hate it!

If only Bill would apply the same science-appreciating critical thinking he applies to religion amd climate change, to GMO foods as well. Then he’d have 5 stars.

Funny and scary in equal measure

Love Bill, think he’s brilliant. Funny, informative, thought provoking podcast

This podcast is an unmistakable sable weekly appointment. For a Brit this is a really useful insight into the US resistance! Also airs a lot of smart voices and significant domestic US issues that don’t get a hearing in the UK.

Bill has real wit too. Just a shame it’s audio only.

Great podcast, you don’t need the visuals

best debate/comedy show available, I never fail to learn something

I enjoy this podcast but am always annoyed that it takes so long for it to be released, often almost a week after the show has been aired. That is a pretty fundamental problem for a topical podcast.

I look forward to this podcast every week. If you're interested in comedy and politics this one is for you :)

Even better now 2 minutes with Maher has been done away with - ******

So sad that this is not available in the UK anymore. Loved listening to it for the last couple of years. It would be 5 stars from me but 1 star for stopping it to those outside the US.

Probably my favourite podcast so no surprise I'm gutted it's no longer available outside the USA :(

Essential listening for all interested in American zeitgeist, with a good laugh always around the corner

Anybody else having trouble downloading episode 271? Not had any bother previously but that one just won't load x

But...why no weekly update. Now 8th Feb and nothing for over TEN DAYS???

Awesome show with great talent, thought provoking discussion and slick production.

Unfortunately the job of uploading podcast was outsourced to the caterer.

Seriously you are HBO,what gives????

I've checked on the HBO website and the show was definitely on last Friday (27th Jan) but it is still not available to download on iTunes - what's going on?!? This is a 5 star show but I need to be able to download it to give it the 5 stars it so obviously deserves!

Why can I suddenly not dowload the episodes? I'm need my Maher fix.....please?

Bill Maher is a decent guy, very likeable, and very funny, or at least his writing team are, and I will continue to listen.

Sadly though, the more I listen, the more Americans annoy me. I don't mean to be negative, it's just that the show is very one-sided, political-wise, which is fine, but the guests, and especially the braindead audience, are so annoying with the one-sidedness.

It basically boils down to this, Democrats and Republicans don't like each other, and like petulant children, they always disagree with each other, and call each other names, and the entire show is about politics, so Maher cannot avoid it, it has to be part of his show.

Wouldn't it be good (and intelligent) if, instead of taking sides before an argument, Americans waited to hear the argument first, and THEN formed an opinion on it? I hope for too much methinks.

The editing is poor in some places, half jokes here and there, but the editing doesn't ruin the show, no, that would be the audience. My God, Maher's team must have thrown a big net into a mental asylum, a Democratic mental asylum of course, and just caught enough patients to fill the seats, because these are the most annoying bunch of trained seals I've ever heard, even worse than Letterman's crowd, and that's saying something.

Any mention of President Obama and they're screaming their empty heads off, and you'd better have your finger on the volume control if a positive word is ever said about President Obama, because then the whooping and cheering starts, and goes on for about a minute, that's 7 minutes in dog minutes, it's ridiculous.

Seriously, they are so childish, Maher could take to the stage and say "Republicans smell bad" with no punchline, and they'd all laugh their heads off. I think Maher should get a better audience, then his comedic skills would be tested, instead of guaranteed laughs at every crack about the Republicans, it's too easy for a skilled comedian like Maher, he's going to lose his edge if this keeps up, he won't be sure if he's being funny or not, if the crowd laughing at him every week would be equally entertained by a balloon on a stick.

I'll keep listening, but if any of his team are reading this, could you please tell the audience to stop making so much unnecessary noise, or at least cast your net into a mental asylum with quiet patients.

Love the programme. Third week in a row with problems and nobody at HBO seems to care unless you complain.

Really, really love this cast. On a debut trip to NY recently it gave me some real ammo for debate. And UK Parl was even cited in the last episodes...great stuff!!

God bless Bill(sarcasm, punks):) nah, but seriously, real time is phenomenal !

Been listening to this Podcast since about 2008; the show's amazing and Bill Maher never fails to entertain. That said, the audio glitches other reviewers mentioned, such as the podcast skipping, have kept me from giving it that 5th star!

Podcast keeps skipping! Fix it!

A fantastic podcast and a real treat for those in the UK with an interest in the American political scene. However, twice in the last few weeks (January-February 2011) the audio on the podcast has had numerous glitches, as if it's been recorded to tape and the tape has folded in on itself.

Hopefully their technicians will realise this and sort it out — because, as I say, the podcast is a gem.

Why isn't this working?????

Why is this no longer working? Apparently, this podcast cannot be played on my phone.

No uk access, sort it out guys, love the show

Fantastic show, love Bill's outlook, great guests, very funny. One of only 3 or 4 American political podcasts I have kept listening to after the 08 election season. So why low rating? Because no longer available to UK listeners! A disgrace! Sort it out, iTunes and HBO.

Again.... please get it together in terms of downloading and not! Been waiting for the start of the season, try to download it onto my iPhone 4 and get a message that the phone is "unable to play this podcast"! C'mon!!

Just the best and don't have any problem downloading it

Seems to have a problem - cannot download at all via PC (just shows !) or iPhone (says cannot be played on this device.

For someone from the uk, this is hilarious on so many different levels (some good, some bad). Either way, great entertainment, thanks

I love this show, but it is not broadcast on UK TV or cable, and is not now available as a podcast. Sort it out HBO, even if you charge per episode outside of the US, that is better than nothing. Why did you end access?????

No other political show even come close!!

This shows gives a great and surprisingly balanced discussions about recent political and other events

Excellent choice of guests who contributes to intelligent and interesting discussions and reflections,

Bill Maher always delivers a great show! Always thought provoking.

Left or Right - This is THE show.

Episode 165 which was broadcast on 21st August 2009 and featured Jay Leno as a guest still has not be uploaded to itunes.

Itunes is the only way we in the UK can access this excellent show and once again we are missing out.

Come on HBO and itunes please get your act together.

HBO at it again.... The technical quality of these podcasts is a disgrace. Apple should be booting HBO's a*s for the substandard quality. Ep 155 won't even download at all. Booooooooooooooo!

When this podcast downloads succesfully it is one of the most informative, challenging and witty programmes available. However it is continually let down by technical errors which means that numerous shows fail to download and, those that do, are often very quiet.

Can someone pull their finger out and re-upload episode 151 - it's only downloading about 7 seconds at the moment!

HBO at it again.... Booooooooooooooo!

Why does this happen every year with Real Time. Give me back my Podcast!!!!

139 not downloading the full 53MB file size

Not sure where the problem lies, iTunes, HBO or my iPOD (though PRETTY, PRETTY sure it's not the latter - nod to the great Larry David there) as podcast inexplicably will not play past about 15 minutes. Try to forward past the point at which it cuts out & it immediately goes back to the 15:32 or whenever the heck it is and stops. WTH? (What the heck - again checking my profanity Oh Great iTunes Censors in the sky!) Please sort this. I love the Real Time Podcast and am desperate not to give up on it. Is it some great Republican/Tory/Religious Right conspiracy??? We must be told!

This seems like a pretty good show, with some fairly clever jokes on the past week in politics. However, the podcast is incredibly frustrating due to the bizarre editting that goes on every week. There are two weekly podcasts - the main Real Time podcast, and 'Overtime', which is supposed to be some of the stuff that was cut out of the show. What seems to happen an awful lot is that the main show cuts off at some completely unexpected point. This week, for example, it cut off just as the panel discussion was getting started - the file states that it was an hour long but I'm pretty sure it was actually half an hour at most. Then the Over Time section has the same issue - every week it seems to cut out right in the middle of a discussion, this week after about a minute, even though the file stated the running time as around 15 minutes.

It would be a great podcast if we were actually able to listen to the whole thing, but bizarre technical issues are getting to be pretty irritating.

"Real Time is a great programme, but for some reason it doesn't ever download properly. Can someone get it sorted out please?"

I wrote this review almost a year ago. When is HBO going to hire someone who can use iTunes? Two of the last three podcasts have been corrupted - fire the intern and get a pro!

I can easily download it in Russia. UK is probably too much of a US-friend to listen to this. :)

Having followed Real Time for months, and endured the prolonged summer break, I was gutted to find out that it is no longer available to UK subscribers. I love the show, proves that the US can laugh at itself, regardless of all the evidence which would indicate the contary. Note to HBO: don't even think of asking for a fee to bring it back!

This is a fantastic podcast, and feels like the best source of commentary on american politics available to the uk.