realtimewithbillmaher

"When we decide as a nation to go to war, it shouldn't be: We're sending the military to war," Rachel Maddow said on 'Real Time With Bill Maher' (Fri., 10PM ET on HBO). "The country should feel like we are at war."

Her concern is that by distancing our men from the dangers of war might distance Americans from the very fact that we are at war. It's certainly an interesting argument, though the counter-argument could be made that Americans have been disconnected from the fact that we are at war right now now and that soldiers are in danger every day.

Penn Jillette is known for being outspoken, intelligent and opinionated. As such, it's not much of a surprise when people find themselves rather unsure what to say when he starts presenting potentially controversial views on issues. On 'Real Time with Bill Maher' (Fri., 10PM ET on HBO) he presented his take on morality.

"My feeling about morality is if you're doing what you're doing for reward and punishment, it's not really morality," he said. In case there was doubt he was referring to religion, he further clarified, "When you add everlasting life as the reward and everlasting torment as the punishment, there can be no morality."

Seth MacFarlane has certainly never backed down from making fun of everyone and everything, but there is also a noticeable, and unapologetic, liberal slant to his satire. On 'Real Time with Bill Maher' (Fri., 10PM ET on HBO), he talked about a shift he sees happening in the Republican Party.

When Bill Maher mentioned that one in four Republicans believe Obama might be the Antichrist, MacFarlane said that this was a type of rhetoric we never heard during the Clinton administration. He would like to think that most Republicans are still sensible people, but that's not what he's seeing in the media anymore.

"Either they've now turned nuts," he said of the Republican party, "Or they've allowed the crazies to get control of their mouthpiece and let the rest of us think that they are."

Louis C.K. got into a bit of trouble last year when he learned that rum, coke, airplanes and Twitter don't mix very well. Unless your goal is to upset people by trashing Sarah Palin. The comedian talked about the experience,and how he feels about it now, on 'Real Time with Bill Maher' (Fri., 10PM ET on HBO).

"I don't know what to tell you," he said. "I was drunk."

More specifically, he laid out what really happened. "I was drunk. She's weird."

C.K. then went on to explain that being on an airplane creates an altered sense of reality. The example he cited was that he cried after a viewing of 'Mrs. Doubtfire' on a plane. When the panel suggested it's the different oxygen levels at that altitude, C.K. latched on to that as an explanation.

Would you rather have a great meal or mediocre sex? That's one of the questions Bill Maher lobbed at Anthony Bourdain during the latest episode of 'Real Tim With Bill Maher' (Fri., 10PM ET on HBO).

The noted chef, author and 'No Reservations' star dropped by Maher's show to chat about food, sex and everything else that's currently inhabiting his headspace.

Bourdain joined Maher and filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and journalist Joan Walsh on a panel to discuss the current state of the American Dream.

It's interesting that an actor would use a musical analogy to talk about modern politics, but John Turturro presented a pretty intriguing visual on 'Real Time with Bill Maher' (Fri., 10PM ET on HBO). You could also interpret his statements as support for musicians being so vocal about politics.

The way it should be done is something they're inherently familiar with. "Musicians have to listen to each other to create harmony and the melody," he said. "Otherwise it doesn't work. And that doesn't happen in the political arena. People really don't hear the other point of view."

Of course you can extrapolate the analogy further and talk about what happens when the members of any band start getting their own unique vision and ideas that perhaps differ from other members. Usually, when that happens, the band breaks up.

Entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban joined columnist Dan Savage and Reuters editor Chrystia Freeland on Friday's episode of 'Real Time With Bill Maher' (Fridays, 10PM on HBO).

While trying to make a point, a passionate Cuban knocked his drink across the table – Whoops! – and faced a tough crowd who disagreed with his assessment that most people would rather volunteer to fight in a war than pay higher taxes.

HBO is prepping to spend more time with Bill Maher.

According to the Live Feed, the network has renewed the Emmy-nominated talk-show 'Real Time With Bill Maher' for a ninth season under a whopping 35-episode deal.

"Bill Maher is one of the most sought-after opinion makers on TV. I'm delighted that this fearless and provocative observer will return to HBO next year," HBO said in a statement, according to the report. "By presenting an increased number of episodes in 2011, we'll be able bring this live, topical show to our subscribers almost year-round."

Blend together Seth MacFarlane, Bill O'Reilly, Sarah Palin, and a Down syndrome actress, and things are probably going to get a little touchy.

On 'Real Time With Bill Maher' (Fri., 10PM ET on HBO), MacFarlane discussed a 'Family Guy' clip depicting a character with Down syndrome talking about her parents -- an accountant and the former Governor of Alaska.

The actress who voiced the part actually has Down syndrome and released a statement. "It was basically saying Sarah Palin has no sense of humor," said MacFarlane. "What Sarah Palin, I think, was doing was coming out and saying 'I'm here to defend you,' and what Andrea the actress had said was 'I don't need you to use this piece of cartoon footage to inspire phony pity for me, because I'm very happy and very content with my life.'"

Thoughts on this? Is the 'Family Guy' clip funny or offensive? Was Palin right to try and defend the actress?

Watch the video after the jump.

All this talk of Emmy snubs has overshadowed the biggest snub, numerically speaking: Real Time host and professional Ann Coulter wrangler Bill Maher.

The man has been nominated a staggering 21 times for his late night talk shows and stand-up comedy specials and never won a single award, as many as soap star Suan Lucci's 21 (although she finally did snag one).

That number will probably keep growing since his show faces some stiff competition for a little gold statue. And despite my (and your) personal approvals and disagreements with the man's various opinions and philosophies, it's time he got something for his work.

Oh boy, I can already hear the fast and furious fingers of fury from the peanut gallery typing out angry, fiery, spittle flinging comments as I write this. Before you take up the torches and the pitchforks, hear me out.

A lot of dissecting and exploratory surgery has been done on the jokes that David Letterman made about the Palin family. Even after Dave apologized and Palin accepted, people still want to perform a comedy autopsy to figure out what Dave's intent was and why Palin was so vocal in her reaction to it.

The problem is it's an unnecessary surgery and it fails to attack the root of the problem while the real cancer spreads like a California wildfire. E.B. White once said about such procedures that, "Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it." The only reason this frog hasn't died is because someone wants to keep it alive and no one has dared to touch the heart.

This is the side I will debate in the never-ending Letterman vs. Palin "Joke-gate" controversy while our very own John Scott Lewinski will offer a rebuttal later in the day that a public figure's children should always be off-limits.

Bill Maher recently brought up the tour-de-frump that is the Susan Boyle phenomenon on his HBO Real Time show, along with an interesting observation on her runaway success.

Now I'm not a regular watcher of these flashy Gong Show remakes like American Idol, America's Got Talent or America's Got Nothing Better To Do Than Watch This Crap, so maybe my opinion doesn't count in the court of reality show watchers. It seems to me that every few years or so, a phenomenon will bust out of one of these shows for reasons other than their ability to do whatever it is they do on these shows. These shows feed on humiliation like great white schadenfreude sharks.

Enter Mrs. Boyle, the "lovely Scottish troll with the voice of an angel," as Maher put it. But Maher feels her success is due to the unconscious guilt everyone secretly feels from watching these bottom-feeding talent shows.

I know I've been asking this question a lot, but what the hell is going on here? Have we entered the bizarro world? Is up now down? Has black become white? Did Dr. Sanja Gupta accept Barack Obama's offer to be the next U.S. surgeon general after Dr. Pepper turned him down?

Last week, we reported on Apple's refusal to include a new South Park iPhone app. The white hot anger could be felt from coast to coast. We here at TV Squad were worried that the uproar it could have caused could have landed us in "Enemy Combatant Land" for disturbing the peace and inciting a riot, which technically would be Apple's fault.

Then an interesting little story popped into my view that seemed to contradict the claims Apple had made and as always, television helped show me the way.

'Monk' and 'Psych'
(9PM & 10PM, USA) 7th season finale and 3rd season finale
The crimes they're investigating hit a little too close to home for Monk and the 'Psych' fellas, which makes for a pair of emotional season finales for the USA characters.

On 'Monk,' the OCD snoop tries to track a city official who disappeared while trying to stop the demolition of a city parking garage, which just happens to be the site where Monk's wife was killed by a car bomb.

On 'Psych,' Shawn's mom (Cybill Shepherd) and his love interest Abigail (Rachael Leigh Cook) return, but he and Gus have to focus their attention on helping the police capture the notorious serial killer Yin Yang ... who's made Shawn his next target.

'Real Time With Bill Maher'
(11PM, HBO) 6th season finale
Is Maher worried that he's losing his favorite punchline in lame duck President George Bush? Perhaps.

We have been spoiled, first with Bill Clinton and then George Bush," Maher joked to Larry King after Barack Obama's election win. "And here's a president now who, he's not stupid. He's not angry. He's not a phony. He's not fat. He's not cheating on his wife. Who needs a jerk like that around for the next four years?"

Maher, no doubt, will find new targets for his jabs when he returns for season seven, including the president-elect. "Look, he's going to be the president and we're going to have to get over our nervousness about making fun of a black person. He's not a black person. He's the president."