Bill Maher’s Cheney death joke draws groans

Comedian Bill Maher drew awkward silence followed by groans on his show when he made a joke about Dick Cheney just day just days after the former vice president’s death.

The comedian started his latest “Real Time with Bill Maher” HBO show by making a joke about defeated Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, riffing that the perennial candidate and Guardian Angels founder who lost to mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo was dogged by accusations of “we thought you were dead.”

Then Maher pivoted to talking about Cheney, who died Monday at 84 after serving as George W. Bush’s VP, secretary of defense, White House chief of staff, and a member of the US House of Representatives. “Speaking of we didn’t know you were dead, Dick Cheney died,” Maher snarked.

The line brought awkward silence followed by groans from the crowd. Then Maher kept digging. “How many people thought he was dead? Come on!” he implored.

That followed with another quip by Maher, who recently credited President Trump for the Gaza peace deal.

He called Cheney a “simple man” who “wanted to be put in the ground to live his dream of slowly turning into oil,” referring to his time as an oil industry exec and a top advisor during the second Iraq War.

President Trump drew notice this week for failing to issue a public statement on Cheney’s death. The White House put flags at half staff, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt noting it was done so “in accordance with statutory law.”

Cheney denounced Trump during his daughter Liz Cheney’s (R-Wyo.) failed bid to keep her House seat in 2022.