CNN is partnering with comedian and news personality Bill Maher to bring his weekly post-show segment “Overtime” to the network starting this Friday.
The segment immediately follows his weekly HBO show “Real Time with Bill Maher.” In “Overtime,” Mr. Maher and his guests continue to cover the topics of the day and answer viewer questions, according to a press release from CNN.
The move comes as CNN struggles to generate viewership. According to entertainment news site The Wrap, the network suffered its worst ratings week in nine years when it averaged just 444,000 viewers in primetime.
CNN’s CEO Chris Licht — who most recently worked as the executive producer for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” — told the Los Angeles Times in an interview published Monday that he doesn’t have interest in trying to bring a comedy to CNN, similar to how Fox News did with the well-rated “Gutfeld!”
“I worked on a comedy show. And it took over 200 people to produce an actual comedy show,” he told the newspaper. “So no, I would not be so foolish as to, in one fell swoop, hurt the brand of comedy and news by trying to do a comedy show on CNN.”
The network has yet to permanently fill its 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. primetime slots after Chris Cuomo was fired at the end of 2021 and Don Lemon moved to CNN’s new morning show to co-anchor with Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins.
“Overtime” will debut Friday at 11:30 p.m. EST.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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