You could cast a dozen Hollywood blockbusters with the celebrities who never did "Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher."
The show, which debuted on Comedy Central on July 25, 1993 (guests on the first broadcast were Jerry Seinfeld, Larry Miller, Robin Quivers and Ed Rollins), moved to ABC in 1996. It was canceled a month ago, to be replaced weeknights at 12:05 a.m. with a show hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. But that program won't debut until after the 2003 Super Bowl; in the interim, ABC will run an extended version of its 11:30 p.m. "Nightline."
Maher's last show is Friday, when he will have on "the four best friends I made from the show": Arianna Huffington (who will have done the show 42 times), Christopher "Kid" Reid, Ann Coulter and Michelle Phillips.
This is not a booker's dream, but then, it has always been thus for a talk show that asked its guests to have an opinion, all while someone like Ted Nugent was free associating into their left ear.
Publicists worried that star clients would misspeak, get insulted or, worse, appear bereft of thought as a conversation went whizzing over their heads. For Hollywood, the business at hand--plugging the movie, the CD, the TV series, yourself--was more easily accomplished on any number of more high-profile talk shows. Plus, Maher could be cantankerous and unpleasant. He could never bring himself to watch the show, he said, but evidently he would look disgustedly at his guests.
Over lunch recently, as he prepared to take "a long vacation," Maher played a game of "Did the Celebrity Ever Do Your Show?"
Julia Roberts? No. Jennifer Aniston? No. George Clooney? Once. Brad Pitt? Close, around the time of "Fight Club," but no. Matt Damon? No. Ben Affleck? "Ben Affleck is truly a great guest," Maher said, brightening. "Even if he was the third lead on a crappy sitcom, I would say, 'Rebook him.' " Gwyneth Paltrow? No. Bill Murray? No. Dustin Hoffman? No. J.Lo? Maher laughed. John Travolta? "He took five minutes one night to tell me he watches it. He at least made an effort to tell me why he felt uncomfortable." Jim Carrey? "Those are the ones that really hurt," Maher said. "Robin Williams has never done the show. All my comic buddies." Madonna? "She wasn't even very nice when I asked her," Maher said. "I asked her at a party once."
