Comedy

He's just published When You Ride Alone You Ride With Bin Laden: What the Government Should Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism. It's a coffee table book of post-Sept. 11 political posters, with slogans such as "Political Correctness is Dangerous...Demand Real Security" and "Put a Flag on Your Car...It's Literally the Least You Can Do/Empty Gestures Don't Win Wars." For nine years, Maher was the host of the TV talk show Politically Incorrect" which aired first on Comedy Central and then on ABC.

Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller, authors of the new book, Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live (Little Brown and Company). The book is a history of the late-night comedy mainstay, which first aired in 1975. Shales and Miller interviewed the shows' producers, writers, cast members and guest hosts, including Lorne Michaels, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Al Franken, Will Farrell, Tom Hanks and many more. Tom Shales is the Pulitzer Prize-winning television critic of The Washington Post and a movie critic for NPR's Morning Edition.

Comedian Dave Attell . He*s the host of Comedy Central*s Insomniac with Dave Attell. It airs Wednesday nights at 10:30 pm. Attell explores American after-hours culture, traveling to many cities to film his show.

Arab-American stand-up comics Ahmed Ahmed and Maz Jobrani. They've changed their routines since Sept. 11, cracking jokes about attending flight school and the like. Both have had small parts as terrorists in action films. Jobrani was in a Chuck Norris film and Ahmed was Terrorist #4 in Executive Decision. They live in Los Angeles.

Satirist Al Franken has a new book that spoofs how-to-succeed books. His new book is Oh, The Things I Know! A Guide to Success, or, Failing That, Happiness (Dutton). Franken is former co-producer of Saturday Night Live where he created the self-help guru Stuart Smalley. He's also the author of Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations.

Actor and comedian Denis Leary. He currently starring in the ABC comedy series, The Job. He also known for his work in films such as The Thomas Crown Affair and The Ref. Leary has completed over 20 feature films, several cable specials, a book, a CD, and he has an international hit song. He got his own production company, Apostle.

Actress, writer, comic Ellen Degeneres is soon to begin a stand-up tour. Her five-year sitcom Ellen won an Emmy for her much-anticipated coming-out episode. At the same time Degeneres' character realized she was gay, the entertainer revealed her own sexual orientation. Degeneres talks about coming out, her former relationship with actress Anne Heche, and why she resists becoming a lesbian role model. Degeneres is the author of the book, My Point... And I Do Have One.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews two new Fox comedies: Andy Richter Controls the Universe and Greg the Bunny.

Rob Siegel and Carol Kolb of The Onion. It's a weekly national newspaper and Web site. The satirical tabloid-style dispatch has headlines like "Lowest Common Denominator Continues to Plummet" and "U.S. Vows to Defeat Whoever It Is We're at War With." Siegel is The Onion's editor-in-chief and Kolb is the senior editor. The Onion began in 1988 as an alternative weekly newspaper and went online in 1996.

Comedy Central begins a five-part look at the "Heroes of Black Comedy" next week. This week Fresh Air features interviews with comedians.

Comedian Bernie Mac has traced his own path to the top, staying in Chicago and other spots — anywhere but Los Angeles. Now he's the star of The Bernie Mac Show, a sitcom on Fox. As his book I Ain't Scared of You is released, we talk with Mac about his days honing his craft, his ideas about what makes a star — and who's better, Sinatra or Williams.

Writer/producer Judd Apatow. His new series for FOX is called Undeclared. He's billed as the creator/executive producer. It's about a group of geeky college freshmen. Apatow also worked on the Emmy award winners Freaks and Geeks and The Ben Stiller Show. He was a writer for The Larry Sanders Show. He began as a stand-up comic and he wrote jokes for Roseanne, Jim Carrey and Garry Shandling.

Author Jonathan Franzen joins Fresh Air to discuss his latest novel, The Corrections. The story revolves around the lives of three children who live far away from their aging parents. The parents' health problems have made it difficult for them to take care of themselves. The children then have to decide how willing they are to change their own lives to care for their parents.

Shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, Onion editor Rob Siegel and writer Todd Hanson produced two issues of the paper which featured articles including "U.S. Urges Bin Laden to Form Nation It Can Attack," and "Security Beefed up at Cedar Rapids Public Library."

Satirist and host of the public radio program Le Show, Harry Shearer on how he's been dealing with the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on his show.

Will Ferrell is a regular cast member of Saturday Night Live. Last weekend the show began the new season in a somber tone, opening the show with Mayor Giuliani surrounded by a group of New York fire fighters, police and EMT workers. Ferrell has portrayed President George Bush on the show as well as Janet Reno, Alex Trebek and Robert Goulet; his other send-ups include musical middle school teacher Marty Culp, and Spartan cheerleader Craig.

Editor and writer Walter Kirn's new novel Up in the Air (Doubleday) is about 35 year-old Ryan Bingham, a well-traveled business man who has a goal of accumulating one million miles in his frequent flyer account. Kirn is the literary editor for GQ and a contributing editor to Time and Vanity Fair. His fiction and non-fiction work has appeared in The New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine. He also the author of two other novels, and a selection of short stories.

Writer David Rakoff is a regular contributor to Outside, the New York Times Magazine, and public radios This American Life. One of his peers, writer Paul Rudnick says of him, –Rakoff is a comic saint... an ideal mix of the crabby and the debonair.— Rakoff has a new collection of essays, Fraud. He's also appearing in Amy & David Sedaris new off-broadway show.

Meadows was a regular on TVs Saturday Night Live for some 9 years. Leon the Ladies Man, a swinging politically incorrect radio love doctor that he played on the show, is featured in the film The Ladies Man which is now out on video.

Bob Newhart's been a part of the American comedy landscape since 1961 when his debut comedy album "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart" became a surprise hit. Since then he's starred in three TV shows, including the Peabody award winning original "The Bob Newhart Show." And appeared in numerous films. There's a new Rhino anthology of his classic routines, "Something Like This. . .The Bob Newhart Anthology." Recently Newhart was honored at the Aspen Comedy Festival. This Fall Newhart is scheduled to co-star in a pilot for a new TV show.