Comedian and political satirist Bill Maher will host a stand-up comedy show at 8 p.m. Saturday at Stephens Auditorium.

Tickets range between $25 and $90 – different levels are $25, $39, $52, $65 and $90 – and seats are still available. Tickets are available for purchase via Ticketmaster and can be purchased from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Iowa State Center Ticket Office. Tickets are additionally available 90 minutes before the show at the box office for weekend shows.

Maher is best known for his show “Real Time with Bill Maher,” which airs weekly on HBO, and “Religulous,” a documentary that spoofs on extremist religions across the world.

Before becoming a well-known television host, Maher was a child who knew he wanted to be a comedian.

“I was a very young kid when I already knew what I wanted to do in this world,” he said. “I was way too shy to ever share this with anybody, but all through my childhood I knew when I got out of school, I was going to try to be a comedian.”

Maher said he strived to be like his father, the “living room comedian.”

“I think that’s just a natural thing, to want to emulate the things that you like about your parents and you see what makes them popular,” he said.

With his shyness, Maher still worked on his comedy. He said if he could get the teacher at school to laugh, it was a tremendous advantage.

Comedy was not the only goal of Maher’s. He said he also knew from a young age that he wanted to be on TV.

“When I was a kid, I imagined myself in a traditional talk show,” he said. “Johnny Carson was the reigning king of comedy and he was a hero of mine.”

Maher’s goals began to shift as he grew up, and he gained an interest in politics.

“But as I got older, I liked doing political material more,” he said. “It was more challenging and I think if I had wound up doing a normal talk show, it would bore me to death.”

As for his comedy, Maher said he was never a comedian who did the trivial sort of humor.

“I’ve always liked to talk about things that matter like politics and religion,” Maher said. “You know, [what] no one wants to talk about at a polite dinner party.”

Real Time With Bill Maher first aired in February 2013. It airs live at 10 p.m. EST Friday and typically features a panel of guests to discuss current events or issues.

Maher previously hosted “Politically Incorrect” from 1993 until its cancellation in 2002. The late-night political talk show ran four nights a week and had a similar format as “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

Maher said since his current show is only on TV once a week, the show itself is better than any single show of “Politically Incorrect.”

“The panel is not a bunch of whoever we could get; the panel is smart people,” Maher said. “You may not always agree with them, but they’re people who know their stuff and who could talk about [subjects] in an intelligent way.”

At its core, “Real Time” is entertainment, so Maher works to make it entertaining.

During the week when preparing for a show, Maher thinks about the audience who chooses to watch the show.

“I always think, ‘OK, that person is watching on Friday night for the recap of the week in an entertaining way. I want to make sure that I include everything that I think was important to know that happened that week.’ Then, make it entertaining,” Maher said.

Maher said “Real Time” only covers topics that are important. He said he believes the media doesn’t talk about things that are important. Things that are important, he said, are “where the real issues are” such as climate change, income inequality and health care.

“I don’t spend a lot of time on stories the media covers,” Maher said. “I haven’t spent a hell of a lot of time talking about Hillary [Clinton]’s emails because I don’t think it matters and I don’t think it’s an issue.”

Maher said he chooses and discusses topics of importance because it affects real lives.

“I care about this country and I care about what happens to it and the people in it and my place in it,” Maher said.

Does Maher believe his show makes a difference in the world?

“That’s for other people to decide,” he said. “My job is to be funny, be entertaining and to inform people of what happened that week. My job is to get people to look at the story in a different way, and if need be, challenge them.”

For more information about Maher’s performance, visit the Iowa State Center’s website for the show.