Politically Incorrect
Encyclopedia
Politically Incorrect is a late-night, half-hour political talk show
hosted by Bill Maher
that ran from 1993 to 2002. It premiered on Comedy Central
from 1993 to 1997, and later on ABC
in 1997, which cancelled it in 2002.
The show first originated from New York City, but soon moved to Los Angeles to make it easier to get "stars" as guests. The New York episodes were shot at the CBS Broadcast Center
and the Los Angeles episodes at CBS Television City
, where it remained even after its move to ABC. The first episode featured comedian Jerry Seinfeld
, Howard Stern
sidekick Robin Quivers
, Republican Party
strategist Ed Rollins
, and comedian Larry Miller
. The show won a 2000 Emmy Award
for Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video for a Series, and was nominated for seventeen others, including one for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series every year from 1995 to 2002, and one in 1997 for Maher in the category of Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Music Program. The show also won two CableACE Award
s in 1995 and 1996 for Talk Show Series, and was nominated for a third in 1997. It was also nominated for two Writers Guild of America
awards for best Comedy/Variety series in 2001 and 2002.
The show's writers included Scott Carter, Al Franken
, Arianna Huffington
, Chris Kelly, Kevin Bleyer
.
Frequent guests included Dave Matthews
, Arianna Huffington
, Michael McKean
, Ann Coulter
, Carrot Top
, and Christine O'Donnell
.
The show began with a brief topical monologue from Maher. Then Maher introduces the guests individually, promoting their current projects. Four guests appear, usually a mix of individuals from show business
, popular culture
, pundits, political consultants, and occasionally regular people in the news, discussing topics in the news selected by Maher. Maher moved the conversation along and encouraged guests to be themselves. Maher described the program as "The McLaughlin Group
on acid
."
On rare occasions, Maher would interview a single guest. The show was pioneering in mixing political figures and entertainers. Maher tried to air all points of view, especially controversial ones. Guests could be both aggravating and insightful, with the conversation similar to a cocktail party
with quick-witted guests.
and elsewhere, U.S. President George W. Bush
said that the terrorists responsible were cowards (included in the September 11 attacks was the crash of American Airlines Flight 77
, upon which frequent guest Barbara Olson
was traveling to a Politically Incorrect taping; Maher left a panel chair empty for a week afterwards). On Politically Incorrect's September 17 show, Maher's guest Dinesh D'Souza
disputed Bush's label, saying the terrorists were warriors. Maher agreed, and according to a transcript replied "We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly".
While similar comments had been made in other media, Maher's comments became a major controversy. Some advertisers withdrew their support and some ABC affiliates stopped airing the show temporarily. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer
denounced Maher, warning that "people have to watch what they say and watch what they do."
Maher almost immediately apologized, and explained that he had been criticizing U.S. military policy, not American soldiers. He pointed out that whether the attacks were cowardly was irrelevant to whether they were morally right or wrong.
The show was canceled the following June, which Maher and many others saw as a result of the controversy, although ABC denied that the controversy was a factor and said the program was canceled due to declining ratings. Maher said that the show struggled for advertisers in its final months.
Maher now hosts an hour-long program on HBO called Real Time with Bill Maher
, which follows a similar format.
Christine O'Donnell
won the Delaware Senate primary in 2010, Maher reminded the media (on Larry King Live
) that O'Donnell had been a frequent guest on Politically Incorrect and on that Friday's Real Time, Maher showed an old clip of O'Donnell saying she dabbled in witchcraft, threatening to show more clips from the show until she came on his show. O'Donnell has said she doesn't plan to appear on Real Time.
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
hosted by Bill Maher
Bill Maher
William "Bill" Maher, Jr. is an American stand-up comedian, television host, political commentator, author and actor. Before his current role as the host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher hosted a similar late-night talk show called Politically Incorrect originally on Comedy Central and...
that ran from 1993 to 2002. It premiered on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
from 1993 to 1997, and later on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in 1997, which cancelled it in 2002.
The show first originated from New York City, but soon moved to Los Angeles to make it easier to get "stars" as guests. The New York episodes were shot at the CBS Broadcast Center
CBS Broadcast Center
The CBS Broadcast Center is a television and radio production facility located in New York City, New York. It is CBS's main East Coast production center, much as Television City in Los Angeles is the West Coast hub.-Overview:...
and the Los Angeles episodes at CBS Television City
CBS Television City
CBS Television City is a television studio complex located in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles at 7800 Beverly Boulevard, at the corner of North Fairfax Avenue...
, where it remained even after its move to ABC. The first episode featured comedian Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the situation comedy Seinfeld , which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons,...
, Howard Stern
Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern is an American radio personality, television host, author, and actor best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style...
sidekick Robin Quivers
Robin Quivers
Robin Ophelia Quivers is an American radio personality, most notable for being the long-running news anchor and co-host of The Howard Stern Show. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Quivers graduated from the University of Maryland with a major in nursing. In 1975, she joined the United States Air Force...
, Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
strategist Ed Rollins
Ed Rollins
Edward John "Ed" Rollins is a Republican campaign consultant and advisor who has worked on several high-profile political campaigns in the United States. In 1983-84, he was National Campaign Director for the Reagan-Bush '84 campaign, winning 49 of 50 states...
, and comedian Larry Miller
Larry Miller (actor)
Lawrence J. "Larry" Miller is an American actor, voice artist, comedian, podcaster, and columnist.-Early life:Miller was born in Valley Stream, New York, attended Valley Stream South High School graduating in 1971. He attended Amherst College...
. The show won a 2000 Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video for a Series, and was nominated for seventeen others, including one for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series every year from 1995 to 2002, and one in 1997 for Maher in the category of Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Music Program. The show also won two CableACE Award
CableACE Award
The CableACE Award was an award that was given from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in American cable television programming...
s in 1995 and 1996 for Talk Show Series, and was nominated for a third in 1997. It was also nominated for two Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
awards for best Comedy/Variety series in 2001 and 2002.
The show's writers included Scott Carter, Al Franken
Al Franken
Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....
, Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington is a Greek American author and syndicated columnist. She is best known as co-founder of the news website The Huffington Post. A popular conservative commentator in the mid-1990s, she adopted more liberal political beliefs in the late 1990s...
, Chris Kelly, Kevin Bleyer
Kevin Bleyer
Kevin Bleyer is a multiple Emmy award-winning writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, co-author of the #1 NY Times Bestseller Earth: The Book, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.-Television writing:...
.
Frequent guests included Dave Matthews
Dave Matthews
David John "Dave" Matthews is a South African–born American musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band...
, Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington is a Greek American author and syndicated columnist. She is best known as co-founder of the news website The Huffington Post. A popular conservative commentator in the mid-1990s, she adopted more liberal political beliefs in the late 1990s...
, Michael McKean
Michael McKean
Michael John McKean is an American actor, comedian, writer, composer and musician, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Squiggy's friend, Leonard 'Lenny' Kosnowski, on the sitcom Laverne and Shirley; and for his work in the Christopher Guest ensemble films, particularly as David St...
, Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Hart Coulter is an American lawyer, conservative social and political commentator, author, and syndicated columnist. She frequently appears on television, radio, and as a speaker at public events and private events...
, Carrot Top
Carrot Top
Scott Thompson , better known by his stage name Carrot Top, is an American comedian known for his bright red hair, prop comedy, and self-deprecating humor.-Early years:...
, and Christine O'Donnell
Christine O'Donnell
Christine Therese O'Donnell is an American Republican Party politician who founded two advocacy organizations. She has been an advocate for nonprofit clients and nonprofit causes for nearly 20 years. A Tea Party favorite, and with strong financial support from the Tea Party movement, she defeated...
.
Format
Show business
Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz, is a vernacular term for all aspects of entertainment. The word applies to all aspects of the entertainment industry from the business side to the creative element ....
, popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
, pundits, political consultants, and occasionally regular people in the news, discussing topics in the news selected by Maher. Maher moved the conversation along and encouraged guests to be themselves. Maher described the program as "The McLaughlin Group
The McLaughlin Group
The McLaughlin Group is a syndicated half-hour weekly public affairs television program in the United States, where a group of five pundits discuss current political issues in a round table format. It has been broadcast since 1982, and is currently sponsored by MetLife...
on acid
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
."
On rare occasions, Maher would interview a single guest. The show was pioneering in mixing political figures and entertainers. Maher tried to air all points of view, especially controversial ones. Guests could be both aggravating and insightful, with the conversation similar to a cocktail party
Cocktail party
A cocktail party is a party where cocktails are served. Women may choose to wear what has become known as a cocktail dress.Although many believe the inventor of the cocktail party to be Alec Waugh of London, who in 1924 found a need for this pleasant interlude before a dinner party, an article in...
with quick-witted guests.
Controversy and cancellation
In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade CenterWorld Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
and elsewhere, U.S. President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
said that the terrorists responsible were cowards (included in the September 11 attacks was the crash of American Airlines Flight 77
American Airlines Flight 77
American Airlines Flight 77 was American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental flight, from Washington Dulles International Airport, in Dulles, Virginia to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California...
, upon which frequent guest Barbara Olson
Barbara Olson
Barbara Olson was a lawyer and conservative American television commentator who worked for CNN, Fox News Channel, and several other outlets...
was traveling to a Politically Incorrect taping; Maher left a panel chair empty for a week afterwards). On Politically Incorrect's September 17 show, Maher's guest Dinesh D'Souza
Dinesh D'Souza
Dinesh D'Souza is an author and public speaker and a former Robert and Karen Rishwain Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is currently the President of The King's College in New York City. D'Souza is a noted Christian apologist and conservative writer and speaker....
disputed Bush's label, saying the terrorists were warriors. Maher agreed, and according to a transcript replied "We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly".
While similar comments had been made in other media, Maher's comments became a major controversy. Some advertisers withdrew their support and some ABC affiliates stopped airing the show temporarily. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer
Ari Fleischer
On May 19, 2003, he announced that he would resign during the summer, citing a desire to spend more time with his wife and to work in the private sector...
denounced Maher, warning that "people have to watch what they say and watch what they do."
Maher almost immediately apologized, and explained that he had been criticizing U.S. military policy, not American soldiers. He pointed out that whether the attacks were cowardly was irrelevant to whether they were morally right or wrong.
The show was canceled the following June, which Maher and many others saw as a result of the controversy, although ABC denied that the controversy was a factor and said the program was canceled due to declining ratings. Maher said that the show struggled for advertisers in its final months.
Maher now hosts an hour-long program on HBO called Real Time with Bill Maher
Real Time with Bill Maher
Real Time with Bill Maher is a talk show that airs weekly on HBO, hosted by comedian and political satirist Bill Maher. Much like his previous show, Politically Incorrect on ABC , Real Time features a panel of guests that discuss current events in politics and the media...
, which follows a similar format.
Christine O'Donnell
After RepublicanRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Christine O'Donnell
Christine O'Donnell
Christine Therese O'Donnell is an American Republican Party politician who founded two advocacy organizations. She has been an advocate for nonprofit clients and nonprofit causes for nearly 20 years. A Tea Party favorite, and with strong financial support from the Tea Party movement, she defeated...
won the Delaware Senate primary in 2010, Maher reminded the media (on Larry King Live
Larry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
) that O'Donnell had been a frequent guest on Politically Incorrect and on that Friday's Real Time, Maher showed an old clip of O'Donnell saying she dabbled in witchcraft, threatening to show more clips from the show until she came on his show. O'Donnell has said she doesn't plan to appear on Real Time.