Bill Maher talks Trump and 'ultra-woke left' before Sioux Falls show

Bill Maher knows South Dakota isn't quite in line with his brand of politics.

That's exactly why he's here.

"I'm actually always excited to go to places they don't expect me to go," Maher said in an interview.

Not that performing in a red state — as he'll be doing when he appears at the Washington Pavilion on Sunday at 7 p.m. — means people will be showing up in protest.

"There are pockets where that happens, usually within 300 miles of the Westboro Baptist Church," Maher said. "But generally when money is involved — people's politics, if they don't like you, get left at the door."

And tickets for Maher, who appeared at the Washington Pavilion in 2015, have been selling at or a little faster than the rate they did back then, said Regina Ruhberg, director of performances and events at Washington Pavilion.

"We're always excited to have a caliber of entertainer such as him come to the Pavilion," she said. "And to get people out on a Sunday night? That's always fun."

The political comedian and host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, now in its 17th season, said that most of his material on this tour will — unsurprisingly — focus on politics.

"If you want to get specific, there's a lot of stuff about Trump, because people are just hungry for that," Maher said. "They've heard a million Trump jokes, but not quite as mean as the way I tell them."

Real Time was recently reviewed by the president himself, who in a tweet said he "Got to see, by accident, wacko comedian Bill Maher's show" and accused him of lying about his trip to an El Paso hospital.

Even still, Maher said he hopes Trump isn't our president come 2020. Not just because, as he says, "what we're living through with Trump is a nightmare," but also because he feels like he's been there, done that.

"I don't want to make Trump jokes for another four years," Maher said. "I've done it all. I do not want another four years of having to say things about this guy."

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But Maher's got another target in Democrats — especially the "ultra-woke left," as he calls them.

"All you have to do is claim the center and don't look crazy," said Maher, who named Joe Biden and Amy Klobuchar as candidates he'd want to see face off against Trump in 2020.

"If you want to run on 'we're taking your money, guns and healthcare, vote for me,' then great, we can look forward to another four years of Trump," he continued.

And while South Dakota might be a red state, he thinks the people who will be heading to his show are his kind of crowd.

"Those are old-school liberals," he said. "Not the super-eye-roll-wokey people. I'd much rather play to that crowd, not the ones who groan trying to cover the bases in case there was something to groan about."

"Those are the people I can't stand," Maher said, "and they don't live in South Dakota."