Funnier Than Fiction: Bill Maher

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YOU CAN'T SAY BILL MAHER IS AFRAID of offending people.

After the "Real Time With Bill Maher" host's broadcast show, "Politically Incorrect," got pulled off the air after some of his post-9/11 comments, he took his political humor and commentary to a more receptinve audience at HBO. But it's stand-up Maher prefers.

"Telling jokes to strangers is pretty much my favorite thing to do ... and, of course, Washington is pretty much the greatest city in the world to do my act, because national news is local news."

And good news for Washingtonians, as Maher performs at Constitution Hall on Thursday. On the agenda: current events — no two shows are exactly alike. But you can bet the presidential election will be on Maher's mind.

"I feel like my theory is being borne out," he says. "This year, people can't afford to vote barbecue" — the candidate Americans would rather grill a steak with. "People are wising up to the bull[***] nonissues."

The comic isn't interested in pulling punches. Maher joked that Pope Benedict XVI "used to be a Nazi" — a joke he later apologized for. "The Catholic League, whose job it is to get offended, quibbled about me calling the pope a Nazi, but did not quibble about the main thrust of what I was saying, which was if he had been ... CEO of a day care center who, had employees caught molesting children and covering it up, he would be in jail. They didn't even argue that point."

» Constitution Hall, 18th & D streets NW; Thu., 8 p.m., $52.50-$68.50; 800-551-7328.

Written by Express contributor Rachel Kaufman
Photo by Sam Jones