It’s official
From what I can tell, Maher seems to have a good relationship with his writers, despite your disdain. Two shows have already aired, the latest one last Friday, and the third coming up this Friday, and the writers are on top of their game. Maybe Drew Barrymore didn’t have a good relationship with her writing team, or there were other issues.
I don’t want to sound like a Maher fanboi because he does piss me off sometimes. For a guy who can deliver pretty biting humour and sarcasm, I thought he was annoyingly sycophantic when interviewing Ron DeSantis on that first show. He had no trouble laying into Rick Santorum some years ago, but I guess DeSantis is a bit too high-profile for him even though I’m sure Maher hates his guts. Frankly these days I’m enjoying John Oliver more.
I seem to remember that Maher put out a couple press releases where he kissed his writers’ asses. Given his take before that, I suspect that was either mandated or part of an attempt to make nice. Barrymore seems a lot more clueless on that, as she was apparently blindsided by the fact that people didn’t approve of her actions originally.
I also suspect Maher writers are in a better position than Barrymore’s writers, as his show has existed longer. They may have more perks.
All in all, he has more experience and knows how the game is played. And he’s got writers who are used to his provocative nature.