Bill Maher and Jay Leno, May 20

Soon Jay Leno's time as host of the Tonight Show will be over. He's been having some of his regulars on as guests for his final shows.

On Wednesday, it was Bill Maher's turn.

It was his 50th appearance on the show.

This is sort of strange with Leno moving to prime time. His stint as host of the Tonight Show is ending, but he's not leaving NBC. He'll still be on five nights a week, just a little earlier.

It's a goodbye, but it's not. Weird. NBC certainly isn't hyping Leno's final shows. The end of his Tonight Show is almost a nonevent.

Back to Maher....

During Leno's monologue, he referred to Maher in one of his "bad economy" jokes. He said that the economy is so bad Bill Maher is going to church just for the free bread and wine.

Not particularly funny, in my opinion.

Nonetheless, that joke did give Maher the opportunity to bash religion as soon as his segment began.

Maher said, "People know that I hate religion." Yes, we do.

After some in the audience cheered in agreement with Maher's disdain for religion, he said that it used to be unacceptable to trash people of faith.

"It used to be the love that dare not speak its name, and now people are smarter than that."

Is that entertainment, bashing believers in God? I don't think so.

To honor Leno as his show winds down, Maher said, "You are truly the Bob Hope of our generation."

Leno was grateful for the kind remark, but then Maher explained, "When I say that mean an elderly gentleman who our fathers laughed at."

Leno turned to one of his favorite topics: Audiences are unreceptive to Obama jokes.

I don't think it's that the audiences aren't ready to laugh at Obama. It's that Leno's jokes suck.

Maher said that when he does Obama jokes his audience boos him, but he feels it's his job to hold Obama's feet to the fire.

He dissed his audience saying that he doesn't think they really follow politics that much.

"All they know is Obama - good, Bush - bad."

"Obama is not some infallible chocolate Jesus," Maher went on. "That's Kanye West you're thinking of."

Giving an example of an Obama joke that didn't go over well, on a recent Friday the 13th, Maher said, "There's a black cat in the White House."

People found that offensive. He said that people need to get used to that fact that when he makes a joke about Obama, he's not making a joke about all black people.

"The same way as when I made a joke about Bush it was not a swipe at all retarded people."

(Note: The word "retarded" is silenced. Not bleeped, just not heard.)

Disgusting, in my opinion. Nonetheless, the audience cheered wildly. I'm reminded of the Special Olympics joke that Obama made when he was Leno's guest. Leno and the audience liked that one, too.

The mentally challenged seem to be considered fodder for humor on the Tonight Show. I think it's inappropriate.

Then they discussed conservatives and liberals and their willingness to laugh at their own.

Maher said he does a lot of charity events. Liberals don't want to laugh at themselves.

"I hate charity, Jay," Maher stated.

He explained that he doesn't hate charity. He hates charity events because of the people who attend. He complained about the rudeness of limousine liberals. It was a little odd for Maher to whine about limousine liberals when so many are his buddies.

When Leno asked Maher his opinion of how Obama is doing so far, Maher expressed some dissatisfaction. Maher criticized Obama for not being the "change guy" he promised to be.

Maher said, "At the end of the day the president is, above all, a television character. And for eight years, the channel was stuck on Hee Haw.

Lame.

Maher commented on what a young energetic guy Obama is. He got up and hopped around a bit. Then, he demonstrated how John McCain moves. Maher hunched over and pretended to be using a walker.

Again, lame.

Leno and Maher talking health care was a joke.

On health care, Maher complained about a for profit system.

Maher declared, "Most civilized countries do not have a for profit health care system. We're the only one that does."

That may be so, but no civilized country has made the medical advances and contributed more to improving the health and quality of life of human beings as much as our country has.

When discussing the closing of Gitmo, Maher said that everything Obama did by executive order was terrific.

He didn't complain about abuse of power or Obama being an imperial president.

No. Maher said, "As soon as he got into office, he got a big can of Bush-B-Gone, and sprayed the whole country."

Maher mocked President Bush on embryonic stem cell research. In the process, he made a fool of himself. Maher complained, "For eight year, President 'Jesus Loves Me' wouldn't allow any stem cell research, until they sat him down and explained about stem cell research. They said to him, 'Mr. President, when a daddy loves a mommy very much.'"

More lies.

He talked as if he were an expert on the subject. That, of course, was ridiculous.

He asked Leno if he knows what an embryonic stem cell is. Leno kind of stuttered. Then Maher began his BS lecture.

He called the stem cell "a little specklet of goo" without mentioning that to get that goo an embryo is destroyed.

He didn't mention that an embryo is a genetically complete human being. There's a lot of value in that "goo."

Maher said an embryonic stem cell is "a two-day old dividing cell, or as conservatives call it: a baby."

Lie.

He called the embryos used in stem cell research "leftovers" at fertility clinics.

"Somebody doesn't finish their eggs, and the busboy, instead of clearing... That's where they get stem cells."

About the research, he said, "This is something that can help people who are really alive."

At no point did Leno question Maher's claims or note that adult stem cells have been used to successfully treat and cure disease. Embryonic stem cells have not.

In fact, Leno said he agreed with Maher.

Together, like good propagandists, Leno and Maher perpetuated the myths.

Leno ended the interview by saying he's always been proud to have Maher on the show, even when he wasn't popular and even though he started as a little speck of goo.

Unfortunately, Leno plans to have Maher appear on his prime time show.