Bill Maher

William Maher, Jr. - born on January 20, 1956, is an American humorist, actor, writer, and producer. He hosted the late-night TV talk show 'Politically Incorrect' on Comedy Central and ABC, and is presently doing the star of Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. in addition he also hosts an internet-exclusive talk show on Amazon.com - Amazon Fishbowl.

He is famous for his political burlesque and sociopolitical commentary, comprising on various issues from the right-wing to the left-wing, bureaucracies, political rightness, Hollywood, the mass media, political executives and social elites, among many others. He is in favor of legalizing cannabis and furthermore is highly against marriage.

Maher was born in New York City but grew up in River Vale, New Jersey. He graduated from Pascack Hills High School in Montvale, New Jersey. Maher is the half-Jewish and half -Catholic. He received his Bachelor of Arts in English from Cornell University in 1978.

Maher has a significant career as a slapstick comedian. He was host of the New York City comedy club Catch a Rising Star in 1979. He has also appeared on Johnny Carson's and David Letterman's shows in 1982 and also in several films, usually having a comic role. The list includes D.C. Cab (1983), Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (1988), and Pizza Man (1991).Maher's made a contentious remark on-air, along with guest conservative political commentator Dinesh D'Souza, as a result of which ABC decided not to renew the contract for Politically Incorrect (2002).although it was D'Souza who had brought up the topic in the first place: the transcript published on the Politically Incorrect page on the ABC-TV website showed that Maher's contentious remark was, infact, a repeating of what D'Souza words. This remark ended up loss of some financial supporters, including FedEx and Sears Roebuck pulled their advertisements from the show, costing the show more than it returned. Ari Fleischer, who was the Press Secretary of the George W. Bush administration at the time, responded to a reporter's question about Maher's comments by saying that people "need to watch what they say".

Therefore, the show got called off on June 16, 2002, while the Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBG) had dropped the show from its ABC-affiliated stations months before that. On June 22, 2002, six days after the termination of Politically Incorrect, Maher received the President's Award (for "championing free speech") from the Los Angeles Press Club. Maher has also sat on the board of judges for the PEN/Newman's Own free expression award.

Maher's comment about the cowardice of terrorists followed another controversial comment he made on Politically Incorrect earlier that year where he compared dogs to retarded children in which he, reportedly, said, "Dogs are like retarded children."

William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has noted that Maher "has consistently been listed in the Catholic League's Annual Report on Anti-Catholicism" for acts of prejudice. Donahue says that among his offensive acts, Maher has a habit of "slandering all priests as molesters and mocking the Eucharist". In the League's 2003 report, it claimed "no one insulted Catholics more than Bill Maher". In 2002, on Politically Incorrect, Maher himself stated "I have hated the church way before anyone else."

A short lived relationship between Maher and republican media voice Ann Coulter was confirmed by them on Fox News' O'Reilly Factor which occurred in 1994, on his tour to California.

During shooting of an episode of Pictionary, Erik Estrada accidentally punched Maher in the face in a moment of excitement, briefly knocking him out cold (1997).

In November 2004 Maher was charged a ransom of 9 million dollars by his ex-girlfriend, Coco Johnsen, for breaching a non-marital relationship contract. Johnson claims that Maher did not fulfill promises made to her and that he physically and verbally abused her. Maher denied her allegations on Larry King Live on November 23, 2004. His lawyer responded to the lawsuit with a claim that Maher is a "confirmed bachelor" and never promised to marry or support Johnson and that "California law doesn't allow for the palimony suit brought by Ms. Johnson." Resultantly, a superior court judge dismissed the lawsuit on May 2, 2005.

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