Real Time with Bill Maher — Season 7

Aired 20 February 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Financial Times editor Chrystia Freeland, journalist Tina Brown, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA); via satellite, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), journalist Brigitte Gabriel Topics: The economy, President Obama's first month in office

Aired 27 February 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Actor Alan Cumming, political satirist and journalist P. J. O'Rourke, Mayor Gavin Newsom (D-San Francisco); via satellite, political correspondent George Stephanopoulos, author Robin Wright Topics: Obama's speech, Bobby Jindal, marijuana, home ownership, Iraq, Afghanistan and troops, future of the Rep. party, Vatican and indulgences

Aired 6 March 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Businessman T. Boone Pickens; Mayor Cory Booker (D-Newark); news anchor Erin Burnett; author Peter Singer Topics: The economy, green energy, charity and philanthropy, socialism

Aired 13 March 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Comedian Sarah Silverman, professor Michael Eric Dyson, author Andrew Breitbart, columnist Steven Pearlstein Topics: State of the Rep. party, racism in America, the Teachers' Union, stem cell research

Aired 20 March 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Fmr. Sec. of State Madeleine Albright, television host Keith Olbermann, actress Kerry Washington, senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin Topics: AIG bonuses, the crisis, Teenage pregnancy in America, Glenn Beck, right-wing power

Aired 27 March 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Senator Bill Bradley, author Christopher Hitchens, rapper Mos Def, author Salman Rushdie Topics: Banking crisis, Legalization of marijuana, Nuclear proliferation

Aired 3 April 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Joe the Plumber, Journalist David Frum, comedian Carol Leifer, writer Reihan Salam, reporter Sam Donaldson Topics: 2009 G-20 London summit, tax cut, health care, Carbon tax, nuclear energy

Aired 10 April 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Filmmaker Ron Howard and novelist Gore Vidal Topics: Bill conducts one-on-one interviews

Aired 24 April 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Ex-gov. Howard Dean (D-VT), comedian Dana Gould, writer Randy Cohen, author Bethany McLean, ex-CIA agent Robert Baer Topics: Obama's first 100 days, torture memos, economy, gun control, environment and global warming, children's health

Aired 1 May 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), journalist Fareed Zakaria, NBC News foreign correspondent Richard Engel, former FDA chief David Kessler Topics: 2009 swine flu outbreak, state of the Republican Party, terrorism, Souter's resignation, Arlen Specter's party switch, Israel

Aired 8 May 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Democratic consultant James Carville, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, author Naomi Klein, journalist Matt Taibbi, author Reza Aslan Topics: Tax evasion by big companies, torture, Pakistan & Taliban, US military handing out bibles, gay marriage

Aired 15 May 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Creator of The Wire David Simon, economist Elizabeth Warren, conservative commentator Amy Holmes, National Review's Richard Brookhiser, columnist Dan Savage Topics: Torture, climate change, gay marriage, War on Drugs

Aired 22 May 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Nobel Prize-winner Muhammad Yunus, Pulitzer Prize-winner and Newsweek editor Jon Meacham, M.I.T. economist Simon Johnson, and rapper M.I.A. Topics: Global economic crisis, the progress of the Obama administration, Dick Cheney, religion in the United States

Aired 29 May 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Actor Hill Harper, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, former House Representative Heather Wilson, documentarian Michael Pollan Topics: State of the Republican Party, torture and Guantanamo Bay, North Korea's nuclear weapons threat, nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, and California Supreme Court's decision regarding California's Proposition 8

Aired 5 June 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Actor and comedian D. L. Hughley, Council of Foreign Relations president Richard Haass, novelist Paula Froelich, journalist Jeremy Scahill, Fortune editor Matt Miller Topics: Obama's visit to the Middle East, terrorism, abortion debate and the murder of Dr. George Tiller, gay marriage, health care reform in the United States

Aired 12 June 2009 • 60 min

Guests: CNN host Larry King, MSNBC host Chris Matthews, former White House Homeland Security advisor Frances Townsend, NAACP President Ben Jealous, humorist P. J. O'Rourke Topics: 2009 digital television transition, Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting, racism, affirmative action, nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, terrorism, car culture in the United States, socialism

Aired 19 June 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Commentator Paul Begala, BBC reporter Katty Kay, blogger Meghan McCain, columnist Joel Stein, writer Hooman Maj Topics: Iranian presidential election, 2009, health care reform, David Letterman joke controversy, sexuality and infidelity in politics, 2009 imprisonment of US journalists by North Korea

Aired 26 June 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Actress Cameron Diaz, director Oliver Stone, actor Billy Bob Thornton Topics: Bill conducts one-on-one interviews

Aired 17 July 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Joe Scarborough, actor Jason Alexander, actress/playwright Anna Deavere Smith, Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT), Markos Moulitsas. Topics: Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings, racism and the Republican Party, clean coal electricity debate, health care reform in the United States, recent sex scandals involving politicians, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, death of Michael Jackson, drug use in the United States, death of Walter Cronkite (news broke shortly before tonight's show began), 40th anniversary of the Apollo Moon Landing

Aired 24 July 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano (via satellite), Iraq War veteran and California congressional candidate Anthony Woods, Susan Eisenhower, journalist John Heilemann, writer Matt Taibbi Topics: 2009 Henry Louis Gates, Jr. arrest by Cambridge police, racism and the Republican Party, Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories, health care reform, military-industrial complex

Aired 31 July 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Journalist Jeff Sharlet, CNN foreign correspondent Michael Ware, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, economist Niall Ferguson, humorist Joe Queenan Topics: 2009 Henry Louis Gates, Jr. arrest by Cambridge police, health care reform, current economic crisis, resignation of Sarah Palin as Governor of Alaska

Aired 7 August 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington, Georgia congressman Jack Kingston, California congressman Darrell Issa, Dr. David Scheiner, President Obama's doctor in Chicago Topics: Health care, town hall mobs, Sarah Palin's 'death panel' comments, confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor, prescription drugs, children's health, bailouts, criticism of Bill Clinton's role in freeing American journalists.

Aired 14 August 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Actor Ashton Kutcher, fmr. Commander in Chief of U.S. Central Command Gen. Anthony Zinni (ret.), journalist and blogger Ross Douthat, comedian Dana Gould (also reporter), actor Brad Pitt Topics: 'Death panel' claims, healthcare, income inequality, the current state of the Republican party, John Brennan 'ending' the war on terror, town hall discussions, mobs comparing Obama with Hitler, climate change.

Aired 21 August 2009 • 60 min

Guests: TV host Jay Leno, journalist Chuck Todd, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), author Sam Harris, journalist Jeremy Scahill Topics: Health care reform, protesters bringing guns to town halls, lack of information and explanation of issues by the media, controversy over private military contractors like Blackwater, politicization of the terror alert level system in the 2004 presidential election, lack of employers offering vacation and sick leave pays in the United States

Aired 28 August 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Rapper Jay-Z, journalist Bill Moyers Topics: Bill conducts one-on-one interviews

Aired 11 September 2009 • 60 min

Guests: New York representative Anthony Weiner, comedian Kathy Griffin, author and veterans advocate Paul Rieckhoff, journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran, former counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke Topics: Healthcare reform, eighth anniversary of 9/11, response to terrorism, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, race and criticism of Barack Obama, the media, global warming skepticism

Aired 18 September 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Actor and comedian David Cross, law professor Annette Gordon-Reed, journalist Jeffrey Toobin, journalist Matthew Continetti, fmr. health insurance executive Wendell Potter Topics: Health care reform, racism

Aired 25 September 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Filmmaker Michael Moore, fmr. New York governor Eliot Spitzer, economist Paul Krugman, director John Waters Topics: Capitalism, the economy, the housing market, gay marriage, marijuana reform, terrorism

Aired 2 October 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Columnist Thomas Friedman, EPA Chief Lisa Jackson, actress Janeane Garofalo, Ohio congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, author Richard Dawkins Topics: Criticism of Barack Obama, health care reform, the senate, Iran's nuclear capabilities, religion in America, terrorism, Hollywood defending Roman Polanski

Aired 9 October 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Former senator Bill Frist, actor Richard Belzer, professor Cornel West, former senator Lincoln Chafee, comedian Sarah Silverman Topics: Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Iran, peace, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, the economy and the job market, income inequality.

Aired 16 October 2009 • 60 min

Guests: Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) , Actor Alec Baldwin, comedian and actor Garry Shandling, Hardball host Chris Matthews, Maryland governor Martin O'Malley Topics: Balloon Boy incident, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, health care reform, H1N1 vaccination concerns, ongoing efforts to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, sexual harassment in the military, Rush Limbaugh's failed bid to buy the St. Louis Rams, steroid use in professional sports