Bill Maher spent an hour bonding with Chris Pratt over taxes, unhoused Angelenos, Los Angeles nightlife, and Mayor Karen Bass—then capped the chat with a rom-com reference and told Pratt to keep pushing as the LA mayor’s race heads into Tuesday. Bass, meanwhil
Bill Maher didn’t walk into the conversation like a political commentator. He walked in like a guy settling into a booth, cracking jokes, and letting the tension of a mayor’s race soften for an hour—until he landed his punch line.
Maher and Chris Pratt spent the time trading gripes about taxes, unhoused Angelenos, the city’s nightlife, and Mayor Karen Bass. By the end of the chat, Maher leaned into the tone of a rom-com—quoting the 1996 Tom Cruise/Renée Zellweger classic “Jerry Maguire.”
“You had me at ‘hello,’” Maher said, quoting the romantic climax of the film on his guest. Then he added: “You have the exact right impatience with this shit,” concluding, “It’s very authentic.”
The mayor’s race, of course, doesn’t run on punch lines. But Maher made it clear he thinks the timing matters. He said he believes Pratt is on track to triumph on Tuesday.
“Just keep doing what you’re doing, we’ll see where the chips fall,” Maher told Pratt.
Pratt has openly admitted to playing up his unpleasant side and stoking conflict to capitalize on being the central villain in MTV’s seminal unscripted series. “The Hills.” In the same conversation. he was also clearly steering toward something else: a charm offensive on the eve of the mayor’s race. Pratt told Maher he believed he was all but destined to win.
Bass, meanwhile, was working from the opposite playbook—trying to make voters focus less on personality and more on competence. During a stop by the L.A. landmark Pann’s Restaurant, she pitched herself as the only sensible choice.
“A reality star with no track record? I’m not sure he’s ever had a job other than reality TV,” Bass told TMZ. “I know he has no idea how the city government is run.”
For now, the campaign contrasts are playing out in plain view: Maher framing the race like a staged shift from irritation to charm, Pratt leaning into conflict before Election Day, and Bass warning voters against an outsider who, in her view, doesn’t understand how city government runs.
Bill Maher Chris Pratt Los Angeles mayor race Karen Bass Pann’s Restaurant unhoused Angelenos taxes The Hills reality TV MTV
Jerry Maguire?? lol so everyone’s just gonna campaign off movie quotes now I guess.
I don’t get why they’re acting like taxes and unhoused people are just “nightlife” convo topics. Like isn’t that the whole point?? Also didn’t Chris Pratt already say he’s playing a villain like… forever? Feels gross.
Wait so Karen Bass is the “only sensible choice” but also she’s being attacked as if she doesn’t do anything, which is it? The headline makes it sound like she’s mad at a reality star but the whole thing reads like Bill Maher wrote it for a rom com. Tuesday can’t come soon enough though I’m tired of the whole Hills thing.
Chris Pratt being the villain on The Hills… I mean The Hills is scripted right? So Bass saying he has no track record is like, hello, she’s running LA not Hollywood. But also taxes and unhoused people getting mentioned like a comedy bit is wild. I’m confused who even decides anything at this point, the mayor or Netflix.