While coming of age as a standup comedian in the early 1980s, Bill Maher would often make appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in Burbank, California. A stone's throw from Hollywood, Maher began supplementing his stand-up career as an aspiring actor who appeared in a slew of low-budget films throughout the decade.
Once Maher became the host of the TV shows Politically Incorrect and later Real Time with Bill Maher in the 1990s and 2000s, his cinematic career became reduced to making brief cameo appearances as himself in primarily political films. Here some of his movie roles you may have missed.
D.C. Cab (1983)
Bill Maher made his cinematic debut in the 1983 comedy D.C. Cab, Joel Schumacher's zany look at a downtrodden taxi company in the nation's capital and its ragtag roster of employee slackers.
Mr. T stars as Samson, the charismatic leader of a roster of cabbies working for owner Harold (Max Gail). When Harold is suddenly kidnapped, his otherwise carefree employees band together and decide that their boss is worth saving and the company is worth fighting for. Bill Maher plays Baba, one of the immature and irresponsible cab drivers.
Club Med (1986)
Club Med is a made-for-TV rom-com that plays like a soapy travel advertisement for the popular French tourism company. Maher plays Rick in the film, a romantic hopeful looking for love in the picturesque beach town. Of all his 1980s films, this features Maher's strongest performance.
Jack Scalia and Linda Hamilton as the primary couple in the film, a divorced pair who reunite and fall in love with each other again at the former's swanky beach resort. With appearances by Gloria Estefan and Sinbad, Maher is in good '80s company.
House II: The Second Story (1987)
Credited as John in the underrated horror-comedy House II: The Second Story, Maher plays a lewd and insolent businessman who arrives at the haunted abode for a chaotic Halloween party.
The larger plot concerns Jesse (Ayre Gross), a young man who moves back into his accursed family home. Upon discovering a photo in the basement, Jesse realizes he must dig up his great grandfather's grave and procure a magic crystal skull belonging to the grandfather's arch-enemy, Slim Reeser, a ghoul who will stop at nothing to repossess the skull.
Out Of Time (1988)
Maher takes second billing in Out of Time, the 1988 sci-fi action movie made for television. With a distinct comedic bent, the film tracks Channing Taylor (Bruce Abbot), a policeman from 100 years into the future sent back in time to catch Marcus (Adam Ant), a dangerous criminal in Los Angeles.
Maher plays Maxwell Taylor, Channing's great-grandfather who invented the time machine he uses to go back in time to pursue Marcus. When Channing travels back to 1988, he recruits Maxwell to help him find Marcus and restore his great-grandfather's reputation in the process.
Pizza Man (1991)
In his one and only leading role, Maher headlined the 1991 comedy Pizza Man, directed by Canibal Women in the Avacado Jungle of Death's J.F. Lawton. Maher plays Elmo Bunn, a dedicated pizza man with a rep for never delivering a pizza late.
When Elmo gets an order to deliver a pizza with anchovies and extra sausage to an address in East Los Angeles, he reluctantly accepts the dangerous mission. However, upon arrival, Elmo uncovers a dastardly plot to take over the globe and must stop the evil plot before it's too late.
Primary Colors (1998)
Mike Nichols' Primary Colors marks the first time Maher appeared as himself in a film, playing a TV host and public politico, something he's since done an additional 11 times on the big screen.
In a plot meant to mirror the Clinton scandal of the 1990s, the film follows the southern democratic presidential candidate Jack Stanton (John Travolta) as he vies for the nomination ahead of a general election. The film is seen through the wide eyes of young political strategist Henry Burton (Adrian Lester).
Tomcats (2001)
One of Maher's most forgettable big-screen appearances is his uncredited role as Carlos in Tomcats, a raunchy comedy starring Jerry O'Connell and Shannon Elizabeth.
At a friend's wedding, several bachelors make a bet that will reward the last remaining single man a wad of cash. Seven years later, Michael Delany (O'Connell) loses $51,000 at a Las Vegas casino owned by Carlos. To pay off the debt, Michael rushes to have his friend married so he can collect the final bachelor's prize money.
A Million Ways To Die In The West (2014)
While Maher made a cameo appearance as himself one year later in Seth MacFarlane's Ted 2, he played the Barn Dance Comedian in the director's western send-up A Million Ways To Die in the West.
During his brief appearance, Maher gets to tell a trio of his on-brand, politically incorrect humor before a full-throated crowd. As for the larger plot, the story tracks Albert, a timorous farmer who struggles to fit in and face off with the notorious outlaw, Clinch (Liam Neeson).