Bill Maher Warns Russell Brand During Ukraine Debate: ‘Your Antenna for Conspiracy Theories’ Doesn’t ‘Serve You Well’

Bill Maher conducted an expansive interview with Russell Brand on the HBO host’s Club Random podcast and warned Brand about his “antennae for conspiracy theories” during a discussion about Ukraine.

Brand’s last sit-down with Maher on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher got plenty of attention, with Brand at one point skewering MSNBC analyst John Heilemann over his network to his face, dubbing MSNBC “propaganda.”

During Maher’s podcast interview with Brand, the two comedians touched on Ukraine and the country’s continuing efforts to fight off an invasion by Russia.

Brand kicked off the Ukraine talk by railing against the military industrial complex and challenging media narratives around Ukraine, claiming one such claim is “[Volodymyr] Zelensky is a hero and [Vladimir] Putin’s a monster.”

Maher pushed back on this, saying Putin is in fact a “monster” and expressing his support for Ukraine at the moment while Brand argued Zelensky may be corrupt, though the comedian never endorsed Putin’s efforts.

Brand did, however, offer Maher a list of facts at one point, breathlessly arguing against those who try to profit from wars.

Brand said:

Okay, so, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said recently, “A Russia/Ukraine peace deal was blocked by Western powers. We know that Boris Johnson visited Ukraine and counseled Zelensky against taking the peace deal that was on the table. That’s just one thing. Let me hit you with all of this stuff. Zelensky has vowed to retake Crimea, but Russia said, “That’s the red line that will spark nuclear war.” We know that, alright? Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, said in December 2022, “The most basic reasons for continuing to help Ukraine degrade and defeat the Russian invaders are cold, hard, practical American interests.” And then I’ll just widen this out a little. The Pentagon spent fourteen trillion dollars after 9/11, 55% of it went to for-profit defense contractors. The average American taxpayer contributed £2,000 to the military last year, more than £900 of that went to corporate military contractors. At least 15 politicians who shaped US Defense policy have investment in military contractors. Military contractors split their checks more or less evenly between Democrat and Republican candidates last year and Biden appointed a former Black Rock MD to the cabinet in particular to sort out the post-Ukranian reconstruction.”

“Ah, okay. Stop,” Maher said, cutting Brand off.

“These are good facts, Bill,” Brand said.

“These are facts, possibly. I don’t have a fact-checker here. I don’t doubt any of them,” Maher said.

The comedian argued that while plenty of people and systems have a “vested” interest in continuing wars, he argued supporting Ukraine can still be a noble effort. He also suggested Brand may be a bit of a conspiracy theorist.

“It’s so far from the point,” Maher told Brand. “I mean I feel like your antenna for conspiracy theories sometimes it does not serve you well. Because even if all this stuff is true … It’s just more complicated than that. Both things can be true. It can be something that is a worthy endeavor to stop Russia from invading another country and it also it is the case, of course, people in the defense industry are looking to keep having reasons to make weapons and so forth,” he said.

Before moving off the topic, Brand made a more general argument about preventing people and companies from profiting off of war.

“When I’ve been looking at life, I notice how often humanitarianism is the motivation of the military industrial complex. They’re always like ‘How can we help now. Who can we help now?'” he said. “And wouldn’t it be great if we had a system that’s like, oh, just to make sure that there is no other motivation, there can be no profit extracted from this conflict. Like, the aid offer will not end up in Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and BAE System.”

Watch above via the Club Random podcast and check out the full episode here.

Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com