I’ve been watching Bill Maher for decades — first on “Politically Incorrect” when I was in college, then on “Real Time” as my life got real — and I’m endlessly fascinated by the reactions to him. Many of his critics, particularly on the left, believe he has changed over the last decade. His response is a familiar one: Like many people accused of changing, Maher insists that he’s essentially the same person he’s always been, while the political culture around him has gone off the rails, with both the left and the right sealing themselves inside insular, extreme ideological bubbles. Maybe it’s because I just wrote a book about how people change (and how the rest of us react, not always coherently, to those changes), but I was initially drawn to that tension. Has Maher changed? If so, how? Then came the drama surrounding the Mark Twain Prize, Donald Trump, the Kennedy Center and the White House, and the story became something larger. In the end, this piece is part inside account of how Maher came to receive comedy’s biggest award — including previously unreported details about the selection process — and part portrait of a man who, at 70, seems more adept than ever at infuriating his critics. I spoke with people who know him well — Jerry Seinfeld, Sean Penn, Nikki Glaser, Arianna Huffington — and found a side of Maher that rarely enters the public conversation: a fiercely loyal friend who is often the first to show up when someone he loves is struggling. I also found a man who is prickly, defensive and, despite a long career of skewering others, not especially amused when the joke’s on him. Stay in touch: Like this email? Forward it to a friend and help us grow. Loved a story? Hated it? Write us a letter at magazine@nytimes.com. Did a friend forward this to you? Sign up here to get the magazine newsletter.
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