Bill Maher Calls Charlie Sheen a ‘Legitimate Folk Hero’ During 2011 ‘Winning’ Era

During a recent appearance on Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast, Charlie Sheen reflected on his infamous 2011 public meltdown, an era host Bill Maher described as turning Sheen into a “legitimate folk hero.”

When Maher brought up the “Torpedo of Truth” tour, Sheen joked, “No, no, I had the worst idea ever years ago. What was the torpedo tour? So that box has already been checked.”

Maher explained his “folk hero” assessment, noting the public’s intense reaction at the time. “That’s what you were at that moment,” Maher said. “People were like, ‘This guy, maybe he’s nuts, but boy, I am so connected to someone who is giving the finger to the establishment’… It just the feeling of it was electric. And it was also cathartic to people.”

Sheen agreed with that assessment, stating the public reaction was what propelled the situation far beyond his expectations. “I think it was that reaction to it that really fueled it in a way that I wasn’t anticipating,” Sheen said. “I mean, that that thing could have gone on for a couple days and petered out, and, you know, ‘Thanks for tuning in,’ but it kind of took on a life of its own.”

Maher compared Sheen’s status at the time to that of historical figures like Bonnie and Clyde, who became folk heroes because they were seen as “f–king the banks” during the Depression.

Sheen described the period as a disorienting experience. “The world I woke up into wasn’t the one I said good night to six hours earlier. And I woke up into folk ballads and rap songs and people on the march,” Sheen recalled. “I didn’t really get a vote… It was just, it was just happening… it was, it was a lot of energy to absorb and, you know, pretty crazy wave to just try to navigate.”