'Hawk Tuah' Girl Haliey Welch Talks Future Steps, Family Life with Bill Maher

Haliey Welch 's fame has reverberated across generations it seems ... 'cause she sat down for an interview on Bill Maher 's podcast -- and pulled the curtain back on the real Haliey.

The "Hawk Tuah" Girl joined Maher on his 'Club Random' podcast in an interview published Sunday ... and, like the name suggests, the talk got really random -- ranging from working in a spring factory to family to country music.

HAILEY WELCH SOCIAL SHOTS

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One thread tied the whole convo together ... with BM telling HW early on he wants to help her figure out where her career's going from here -- a pretty serious move from a guy more used to cracking jokes about hard-hitting political subjects.

BILL MAHER THROUGH THE YEARS

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Maher -- acting as Welch's personal fame Yoda here -- asks Welch near the end of their talk how she'd feel about jumping on TV in some capacity ... and, Haliey admits she's considered television acting.

But, Maher's almost frustrated with the answer ... telling Welch it would be a shame for her to portray other people when her own personality's already stellar -- clearly, others agree since she recently discussed a reality show with several producers.

Welch's hilarious on-the-street interview catapulted her to viral fame features Hailey just being herself ... though, on 'Club Random' she admits she made the joke after a fair few drinks.

BTW ... the two yuck it up for much of the interview, but they get serious too -- with Welch opening up about her difficult relationship with her parents.

Bottom line ... there certainly seems to be more to Welch than her initial street interview might suggest -- and, Bill's helping the whole world see it.