My Dinner with Adolf
{{Short description|2025 satirical essay by Larry David}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Merge into|Larry David|discuss=Talk:My Dinner with Adolf#Notability?|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox short story|author=Larry David
|title=My Dinner with Adolf
|image=File:My_Dinner_with_Adolf.jpg
|caption=Lia Darjes' "Plate VII", which is the article's cover image
|published_in=The New York Times (guest essays)
|pub_date=April 21, 2025{{efn|Appeared in print on April 25, 2025.}}}}
"My Dinner with Adolf" is a satirical short story by American comedian Larry David originally published in the opinion section of The New York Times in 2025. Written in first person, it takes place in 1939, telling the story of a man who has dinner with Adolf Hitler despite being his detractor. It was seen as a repudiation of comedian Bill Maher, a vocal Trump critic who dined with Donald Trump.
Background
On March 31, 2025, comedian Bill Maher had a dinner with Donald Trump, Dana White, and Kid Rock at the White House.{{cite news |last1=Diamond |first1=Dan |title=Trump charmed Bill Maher. The comedian's fans don't find it funny. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/14/bill-maher-donald-trump-dinner-kid-rock/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=April 28, 2025 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250414101122/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/14/bill-maher-donald-trump-dinner-kid-rock/ |archive-date=April 14, 2025 |date=April 14, 2025}} The dinner was planned by Kid Rock, an ally of Trump. Maher explained on the March 23, 2025 episode of his podcast Club Random, that Kid Rock organized the meeting after appearing on the podcast as well as Real Time with Bill Maher earlier in the year.{{cite web |last1=Mwachiro |first1=Mark |title=Bill Maher to Meet With Donald Trump |url=https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/bill-maher-to-meet-donald-trump/ |website=Adweek |access-date=April 28, 2025 |date=March 24, 2025 |archive-date=April 10, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250410114319/https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/bill-maher-to-meet-donald-trump/ |url-status=live }}
On the April 11, 2025 episode of Real Time, Maher recounted his experience, praising Trump as "gracious and measured".{{cite web |last1=Timotija |first1=Filip |title=Maher praises 'gracious and measured' Trump after White House visit |url=https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/5246225-bill-maher-donald-trump-white-house-visit/ |website=The Hill |access-date=April 28, 2025 |date=April 12, 2025}} The dinner was criticized by León Krauze and Keith Olbermann.{{cite web |last1=Davis |first1=Clayton |title=Keith Olbermann Slams Bill Maher for 'Prostituting Himself' Over Trump Dinner Praise: 'This Is So He Can Keep His HBO Show' |url=https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/keith-olbermann-slams-bill-maher-trump-dinner-1236368141/ |website=Variety |access-date=April 28, 2025 |date=April 12, 2025}} In a Washington Post opinion piece, Krauze compared Maher's remarks to similar praise given to authoritarian figures such as Fidel Castro, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong.{{cite news |last1=Krauze |first1=León |author1-link=León Krauze |title=Bill Maher went to Washington. He got played. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/04/14/trump-maher-private-meeting-controversy/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=April 29, 2025 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250414203100/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/04/14/trump-maher-private-meeting-controversy/ |archive-date=April 14, 2025 |date=April 14, 2025}}{{cite web |last1=Kornick |first1=Lindsay |title=Larry David mocks Bill Maher's meeting with Trump as 'My Dinner with Adolf' in NYT satire |url=https://www.foxnews.com/media/larry-david-mocks-bill-mahers-meeting-trump-my-dinner-adolf-nyt-satire |website=Fox News |access-date=April 28, 2025 |date=April 21, 2025 |archive-date=April 24, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250424082901/https://www.foxnews.com/media/larry-david-mocks-bill-mahers-meeting-trump-my-dinner-adolf-nyt-satire |url-status=live }}
Synopsis
In early 1939, the unnamed narrator receives an invitation to have dinner with Adolf Hitler at the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. Although a vocal critic of Hitler, he accepts, despite the objections of his own supporters.
He arrives at the Chancellery two weeks later, where he joins Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Göring, Leni Riefenstahl, and Edward, Duke of Windsor. When Hitler enters the room, the narrator is surprised by his friendly demeanor. During dinner, the narrator is impressed by Hitler's sense of humor; the Führer makes a teasing joke at Göring's expense about killing Jews, Romanis, and homosexuals. Throughout the meal, Hitler engages the narrator in mundane personal conversation, for example, asking about his recent breakup and offering advice.
After dinner, Hitler and the narrator acknowledge their political differences, but opt to remain cordial. The narrator gives Hitler a Nazi salute and leaves.
Analysis
Although the essay never mentions Maher or Trump by name, multiple outlets reported the opinion piece as a satire of Maher's dinner with Trump and his subsequent praise of him.{{cite web |last1=Silow-Carroll |first1=Andrew |author1-link=Andrew Silow-Carroll |title=Larry David's 'My Dinner with Adolf' essay skewers Bill Maher's meeting with Trump |url=https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-850996 |website=The Jerusalem Post |access-date=April 28, 2025 |language=en |date=April 22, 2025}}{{cite web |last1=Dunn |first1=Jack |title=Larry David Spoofs Bill Maher's White House Visit With 'My Dinner With Adolf' Essay: 'Private Hitler Was a Completely Different Animal' |url=https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/larry-david-bill-maher-donald-trump-dinner-with-adolf-essay-1236374517/ |website=Variety |access-date=April 28, 2025 |date=April 22, 2025}}
Patrick Healy, deputy opinion editor at The New York Times, confirmed this in a companion piece that was published in the Times. He said that while the paper maintains strict editorial standards for satire—especially regarding Nazi references—David's essay was accepted because it commented on the broader human tendency to misinterpret limited personal interactions as meaningful reflections of character.{{cite web |last1=Healy |first1=Patrick |title=Opinion Today: Larry David Imagines a Private Dinner With Hitler |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/opinion/larry-david-dinner.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2025 |date=April 21, 2025 |archive-date=April 27, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250427124653/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/opinion/larry-david-dinner.html |url-status=live }} Healy emphasized that David was not equating Trump with Hitler, but illustrating the danger of mistaking surface-level civility for moral decency.
Reactions
Representative Jared Huffman shared the essay and opined on Twitter that it was a necessary read for people, including Maher, who think "normalizing and humanizing Trump is a good idea".{{cite web |last1=Arkin |first1=Daniel |title=Larry David mocks Bill Maher's dinner with Trump in an op-ed for The New York Times |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/larry-david-mocks-bill-mahers-dinner-trump-op-ed-new-york-rcna202332 |website=NBC News |access-date=April 28, 2025 |language=en |date=April 22, 2025}} Scott Jennings critiqued the essay on air on CNN, characterizing it as an effort to intimidate comedians and others on the left from engaging with Trump in the future.
=Bill Maher=
File:Bill Maher (48171054251).jpg]]
The piece drew sharp criticism from Maher. In an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored on April 24, 2025, Maher called the essay "insulting to 6 million dead Jews," arguing that invoking Hitler in this context was inappropriate and inflammatory.{{Cite magazine |last=Murphy |first=Chris |date=April 25, 2025 |title=Bill Maher Thinks Larry David's Harsh Jokes About Him Are "Kind of Insulting to 6 Million Dead Jews" |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/bill-maher-thinks-larry-davids-harsh-jokes-about-him-are-kind-of-insulting-to-6-million-dead-jews |access-date=April 29, 2025 |magazine=Vanity Fair |language=en-US}} Maher stated, "The minute you play the 'Hitler' card, you've lost the argument," and defended his meeting with Trump as an honest reporting of his personal impressions without abandoning his political criticisms.{{Cite web |last=Wulfsohn |first=Joseph |date=April 24, 2025 |title=Bill Maher fires back at Larry David over 'My Dinner with Adolf' op-ed, says it insults '6 million dead Jews' |url=https://www.foxnews.com/media/bill-maher-fires-back-larry-david-over-my-dinner-adolf-op-ed-says-insults-6-million-dead-jews |access-date=April 29, 2025 |website=Fox News |language=en-US |archive-date=April 26, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250426020704/https://www.foxnews.com/media/bill-maher-fires-back-larry-david-over-my-dinner-adolf-op-ed-says-insults-6-million-dead-jews |url-status=live }}
Maher also said, "Nobody has been harder, and more prescient, I must say, about Donald Trump than me. I don't need to be lectured on who Donald Trump is. Just the fact that I met him in person didn't change that. The fact that I reported honestly is not a sin either."{{Cite news |last=Jefferson |first=Dee |date=April 25, 2025 |title=Bill Maher calls Larry David's satire of his Trump dinner 'kind of insulting to 6 million dead Jews' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/apr/25/bill-maher-calls-larry-davids-satire-of-his-trump-dinner-kind-of-insulting-to-6-million-dead-jews |access-date=April 29, 2025 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} Maher also confirmed that he and David had not spoken since the essay's publication but left open the possibility of reconciliation.{{Cite web |last=Segarra |first=Edward |title=Bill Maher blasts Larry David for alleged Hitler comparison: 'It's kind of insulting' |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2025/04/24/bill-maher-larry-david-essay-adolf-hitler/83259690007/ |access-date=April 27, 2025 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US |archive-date=April 26, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250426031511/https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2025/04/24/bill-maher-larry-david-essay-adolf-hitler/83259690007/ |url-status=live }}
See also
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/opinion/larry-david-hitler-dinner.html?unlocked_article_code=1.BU8.Nd0x.T2OSvTnKflXq&smid=re-share Larry David: My Dinner With Adolf] ({{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20250531000036/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/opinion/larry-david-hitler-dinner.html|date=May 31, 2025}})
{{Larry David}}
Category:Criticism of Donald Trump
Category:Cultural depictions of Adolf Hitler
Category:Works originally published in The New York Times