Politically Incorrect
| Politically Incorrect | |
|---|---|
Title card used during the ABC run | |
| Genre | Talk show |
| Written by | Scott Carter Bill Maher |
| Starring | Bill Maher |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | HBO Downtown Productions Comedy Central Productions (1993–1997) Brillstein-Grey Entertainment (1997–1999) Brad Grey Television (1999–2002) |
| Original release | |
| Network | Comedy Central |
| Release | July 25, 1993 – November 5, 1996 |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | January 5, 1997 – July 5, 2002 |
| Related | |
| Real Time with Bill Maher | |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Politically Incorrect (stylized as POLITICALLY INCOrrECT) is an American late-night, half-hour political talk show hosted by Bill Maher that aired from July 25, 1993, to July 5, 2002. It premiered on Comedy Central in July 1993 and aired for three seasons until November 5, 1996; amid its success on Comedy Central, ABC expressed interest in bringing the show to the network to shore up its late-night lineup, moving there on January 5, 1997.
The show first originated from New York City, but soon moved to Los Angeles. 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 co-host Robin Quivers, Republican Party strategist Ed Rollins, and comedian Larry Miller. Frequent guests included Dave Matthews, Arianna Huffington, Michael McKean, Ann Coulter, Carrot Top, and Christine O'Donnell.
On September 17, 2001, Maher criticized United States foreign policy on the show, saying of the perpetrators of the September 11 terrorist attacks, "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." and while Maher later apologized and clarified the meaning behind his comments, major advertisers pulled their ads from the show. As a result, the show was canceled in June 2002.