Entertainment

WHAT WOULD BILL MAHER WATCH?

SOMEONE order 3 million “Hail Marys” and 2 billion “Our Fathers” for Bill Maher. His upcoming documentary “Religulous” – a combination of the words “religion” and “ridiculous” – is a scathing (though funny) look at organized religion, and the film is sure to earn the 52-year-old comedian the collective stink eye from America’s God-fearing majority. Directed by Larry Charles (“Borat,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm”), “Religulous” finds Maher traveling to the world’s most holy places (Jerusalem) and its least (Washington, DC) to interview and confront believers about the absurdity of their faith.

“It’s the most controversial, taboo topic ever,” Maher says. “And no one really has ever made a movie like this or called religion out. I’ve done it on TV for 15 years, but it’s a little different when it’s a movie. All the points we’re making are marshaled together one after the other.”

Although “Religulous” doesn’t come out until Oct. 3, the bad juju is already flowing.

“I was doing a stand-up show in Indianapolis the other night, and there was quite a protest outside the theater. There were hundreds of people with candles, praying, singing hymns,” Maher says. “People have fax machines. They send each other messages: ‘The devil is coming to Indianapolis. We have to stand outside the theater and pray him away.’ It’s hard to answer that logically.”

Of course, Maher’s main job isn’t reality-checking religion – it’s reality-checking politics on his HBO series “Real Time.” As such, we asked him to weigh in on some of the more political releases of the fall.

Battle in Seattle

(Sept. 19, about the 1999 WTO protests)

“In general, I’m for free trade, but I do understand the argument is that it’s stacked too much for the rich countries. I get where [the protestors] are coming from. I’m not sure it would inspire me to throw a chair through a plate-glass window at a store in Seattle though. The inequality of wealth in the world is becoming a giant problem. At some point, it’s going to incite even worse violence than in Seattle.”

W

(Oct. 17, biopic on President Bush)

“I’m just an enormous fan of Oliver [Stone], especially his political movies. ‘JFK’ and ‘Nixon’ are some of my favorite movies. I have high hopes for ‘W.’ I think it’s going to be at the very least very entertaining.”

Crossing Over

(Oct. 24, about illegal immigration)

“It’s depressing that people in America don’t stand up for the immigrants more than they do. And not to always be carping about the Republicans, but Republican voters want their politicians to reinforce the idea that the Fantasyland of America that they remember from the 1950s can be brought back. The most ridiculous is that we can somehow get rid of 12 million illegals. Why would we even want to get rid of 12 million illegals, when Consuela is taking your kids to school and wiping their ass and doing the dishes for $8 an hour? That’s not a problem – that’s a bargain. You listen to people like Lou Dobbs about how immigrants are bringing in leprosy. I’ve had gardeners in California for 25 years. Not once has anyone’s arm fallen off.”

Frost/Nixon

(Dec. 5, from the stage adaptation of David Frost’s historic interviews with Richard Nixon)

“I remember watching the interviews in college and having people over to watch them. It was a different era where, I think, politicians – Nixon being the epitome of this – didn’t feel the need to be that human. I can’t see Nixon sitting still for some of things that politicians today sit still for. Like that interview that Obama and McCain did with Rick Warren. Can you see Nixon sitting down with that guy? I can’t. Nixon is an endlessly fascinating figure who, if he hadn’t been the victim of his petty demons, could have been remembered as quite a good president. He certainly ran the country in a more efficient way than any Republican has since. We could have done a lot worse. He doesn’t even compare to Bush.”