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Did a Famous Actor Punch Bill Maher on TV Back in the Day?

The ‘Real Time’ host took a minor hit during a game show appearance years ago

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Bill Maher has gotten into plenty of heated debates in the 30+ years that he’s been on television—just ask Ben Affleck, who went viral after engaging in one with the Real Time host in 2014. Thankfully for Maher, none of those exchanges resulted in him being physically assaulted. That’s not to say that he never expected to be; surely the thought must’ve crossed his mind when “Rowdy” Roddy Piper took offense to his suggestion that wrestling was fake on Politically Incorrect years ago:

But although Maher has managed to avoid getting hit by anybody on his own shows, he wasn’t as lucky when he made an appearance on an episode of Alan Thicke’s Pictionary in 1997. A couple of months before the show in question was scheduled to air, newspapers were reporting that CHiPS star Erik Estrada had punched Maher in the nose as they were filming. The headlines may have been a bit misleading, but there was some truth to the story. However, the catch was that this wasn’t some kind of angry attack on Estrada’s part; the whole thing was actually just an accident.

Estrada had simply gotten a little too excited about the game they were playing and threw his arm in the air, unintentionally clocking Maher, who was seated right behind him. It doesn’t look like much, but Estrada hit Maher hard enough that he even fell off the couch he was sitting on. There was some debate afterward as to whether or not Maher was knocked unconscious, with his reps insisting that he was “just stunned.” Estrada, on the other hand, said that Maher “sure looked ‘out’” to him. 

Whatever the case may be, Maher still had to apply a cold compress to his nose because of the wallop, which Estrada later said he was “truly sorry” for. “What are you on, Ritalin? I want a rematch,” Maher joked. Apparently, Maher’s people requested that the segment not be broadcast, but the network appears to have ignored them and aired it anyway. Following the hit, a title card saying, “Pictionary is temporarily interrupting this broadcast” was shown. The show then returned with Thicke explaining what happened as Maher sat there tending to his nose.

Check it out for yourself at the 10-minute mark below.

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