ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 4, 1997 TAG: 9701070116
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KINNEY LITTLEFIELD THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
HE'S the new Buzz Boy of late-night TV, since David Letterman got dull.
He's talk host/stand-up comic Bill Maher - and ABC is touting his fevered, free-ranging talk show, ``Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher,'' like it's the second coming, as the irreverent show preps to premiere post-``Nightline'' on Monday (late night at 12:05 a.m. on WSET-Channel 13).
In fact, this is the second coming of Maher, who launched ``Politically Incorrect'' on cable's Comedy Central in 1993. With his pickup by ABC, Buzz Boy Maher now is Big League. But ``PI'' will stay the same heady TV cocktail, down to its wild mix of guests, crumbling-Acropolis set and Maher's satirical monologues - which once included a goofy eulogy for serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer - as Maher continues the show's unusual seriocomic bent.
``Shows that bounce back and forth between comic and serious are the rarest thing on television,'' Maher, 40, said from Los Angeles.
``Mostly on talk shows people are deathly afraid of turning serious for even a second. It's like some sword will come down and cut your head off. On my show, I don't want anyone to ever have to try to be funny.''
Not that anyone could easily out-funny Maher, who seems to prefer performing - being on - to staying serious in the face of yet another bunch of questions from yet another TV critic.
Besides, Maher's sizzling roster of coming guests is structured for serious shivers as well as silly. On Monday, premiere night, it's rapper Coolio with former Watergate conspirator-turned-radio-talk-host G. Gordon Liddy. On Wednesday, it's hot film/TV star Janeane Garofalo with tepid sitcom star Tony Danza and outspoken Rep. Pat Schroeder, D-Colo., who once was bleeped for explicit language on Comedy Central's ``PI.''
And no, ``PI'' won't be taming its adult verbiage for broadcast TV. The show, which tapes at 6 p.m. Mondays-Fridays in L.A., airing the same night, was already tamed down - well, most of the time - for basic cable, which wields stricter language codes than premium cable does.
And it gets better: Maher's guests Jan. 10 include humorist Fran Lebowitz, comic Paul Rodriguez, who uses his Hispanic heritage as comedic fodder - and mad-as-hell Rep. Robert K. Dornan, the Orange County, Calif., congressman. Dornan, never a shy guy, lost his congressional seat to Loretta Sanchez, who was supported by many Hispanic voters, in a bitter-tears election in November.
Dornan and Rodriguez together?
``I'm not going to have to talk a lot that night,'' Maher said with relish.
Will you and ``Nightline'' cross over, share any guests or topics?
``I assume when there's something really big we'll be on the same page as `Nightline,' covering the same story. Any additional interaction is up to them. No one has broached it yet.''
Of course, ``PI'' will suffer no shortage of stormy topics. Maher knows how to mix conversational mayhem. In the past he's jibed, barbed and slung with the likes of Roseanne, Arianna Huffington, Quentin Tarantino, Dr. Dre, Kelsey Grammer, the late liberal attorney William Kunstler, President Clinton's half brother, Roger, and Dr. Joyce Brothers. He's chomped on ``Hate Crimes,'' ``Women Are Vicious, Too,'' ``The Whitewater Scandal,'' ``Kill Shrinks,'' ``Needles and Condoms'' and ``Kill Santa.''
Then there's Maher's signature opening shtick that ends with a challenging ``Does anyone have a problem with that?'' - ``that'' being anything from ``I'm saying that without hate speech, some people wouldn't share at all'' to ``I believe it's likely O.J. Simpson committed the crime [the slaying of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman] because superstar athletes spend a lifetime believing they can get away with anything - and usually they can.''
You were really on O.J.'s case. Will you continue?
``Well, it seems like every time I'm off for a couple of months there's an O.J. trial. This guy just has incredible timing.''
And Simpson's civil trial will probably still be going on when ``PI'' premieres.
Is anyone too nice to have on your show? Maybe Mother Teresa?
``No. I'm not trying to create a chair-throwing spectacle. Of course, if I know someone has an opinion, and they wimp out on me, that really ticks me off. To me that's what politically correct is.''
So who makes the best guests - actors, comedians, politicians?
``I've had comics who froze. Politicians are used to this type of show, opinion shows. But they get on camera, and they can decide to take the middle ground - suddenly this right-wing person is in the middle of the road. Someone like Bob Dornan, you don't worry about.
``Now celebrities are used to being spoon-fed questions, and they're pre-interview, and we don't do that. We're a very different rhythm and situation. Sometimes if they come back for a second show they go, `Oh, this is just like home, I should just talk.' We're actually an easier show to do, but it takes them a show or two to understand that.''
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ``Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher'' will premiereby CNBlate night Monday at 12:05 a.m. on WSET-Channel 13. color