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My Dinner with Adolf
2025 satirical essay by Larry David. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"My Dinner with Adolf" is a 2025 satirical essay by American comedian Larry David that was published in the opinion section of The New York Times. The essay, written in first person, takes place in 1939 and tells the story of a man who has dinner with Adolf Hitler despite being a vocal critic of him. The essay was seen as a repudiation of comedian Bill Maher, a vocal critic of Donald Trump, who similarly had a dinner with President Trump.
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Many such articles appeared in real life regarding "the private" Hitler, often in The Daily Mail and in particular by David Lloyd George in 1936.
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Background
On March 31, 2025, comedian Bill Maher had a dinner with Donald Trump, Dana White, and Kid Rock at the White House.[1] The dinner was planned by Kid Rock, who is 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 Club Random as well as Real Time with Bill Maher earlier in the year.[2]
On the April 11, 2025, episode of Real Time, Maher recounted his experience and praised Trump as "gracious and measured".[3] Maher's dinner with Trump was criticized by León Krauze and Keith Olbermann.[4] 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.[5][6]
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Synopsis
In the spring of 1939, the narrator receives an invitation to have dinner with Adolf Hitler at the Old Chancellery. Although he is a vocal critic of Hitler, the narrator accepts the invitation, despite the objections of his own supporters.
Two weeks later, the narrator arrives at the Old Chancellery 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, Romani people, 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.
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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.[7][8]
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.[9] Healy emphasized that David was not equating Trump with Hitler, but illustrating the danger of mistaking surface-level civility for moral decency.[9]
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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".[10] Scott Jennings critiqued the essay on air on CNN, he characterized it as an effort to intimidate comedians and others on the left from engaging with Trump in the future.[10]
Bill Maher
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The piece nevertheless 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.[11] 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.[12]
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."[13]
He also confirmed that he and David had not spoken since the essay's publication but left open the possibility of reconciliation.[14]
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See also
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