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Kevin Nealon, Ray Kurzweil, Ross Douthat on Real Time with Bill Maher

By April MacIntyre Jun 17, 2011, 5:32 GMT

Kevin Nealon and Sarah Silverman - Celebrity Sightings on Hermosa Avenue in Hermosa Beach on March 23, 2010 - Hermosa Avenue - Hermosa Beach, CA, USA © Amanda Meredith / PR Photos

Friday night sees Bill Maher host columnist Ross Douthat, communications expert Gretchen Hamel and news anchor Chris Matthews. Author and inventor Ray Kurzweil and actor Kevin Nealon are interview guests.

Recently Douthat argued against the late Dr. Jack Kevorkian's assisted suicide work. He wrote in his op-ed for the NYTimes: “the moral case for assisted suicide depends much more on our respect for people’s own desire to die than on our sympathy for their devastating medical conditions...It is not considered merciful to prescribe an overdose to a cancer victim against her will, or to gently smother a sleeping Alzheimer’s patient,” because they didn’t request it. To Kevorkian’s defenders, “free choice is what separates assisted suicide from murder.”

Gretchen Hamel is the executive director of Public Notice, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to providing facts and insights on the economy.

The show is in its ninth season and features an opening monologue, roundtable discussions with panelists, and interviews with in-studio and satellite guests.

Other HBO playdates:  June 19 (1:30 p.m., 1:15 a.m.), 20 (8:00 p.m.) and 22 (11:00 p.m.)

 HBO2 playdates:  June 17 (2:30 a.m.), 18 (9:30 a.m., midnight), 19 (7:00 p.m.) and 21 (10:00 p.m.)

A favorite of subscribers since his first special on the network in 1989, Maher has starred in nine solo specials on HBO, including the hour-long presentations “Bill Maher…But I’m Not Wrong,” “The Decider” and “I’m Swiss” (both nominated for an Emmy® in the Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special category), “Victory Begins at Home,” “Be More Cynical,” “The Golden Goose Special” and “Stuff That Struck Me Funny,” and two half-hour stand-up specials, plus the HBO specials “30 Seconds Over Washington” and “Comic Relief VI™.”

Maher was the creator and host of “Politically Incorrect,” which was produced by HBO Downtown Productions and debuted on Comedy Central in 1993.  The series moved to ABC in 1997 and ran through 2002.