AN ICONOCLAST'S LAST DAYS ON HIS LATE-NIGHT SOAPBOX

JUST before "Politically Incorrect" joined the ABC late-night lineup in
1997, its host, Bill Maher, got a call from a venerated television newsman
whose program would be preceding his five nights a week.

"I talked to Ted Koppel before I went on the air," Mr. Maher recalled. "It
was a friendly conversation. He read me a list of like 12 shows that had
had my slot. Rona Barrett had a show. Rick Dees had a show. Tom Snyder, I
think." Mr. Maher paused, chuckling to himself. "Maybe he was preparing me."

To the list of post-"Nightline" casualties, "Politically Incorrect" can now
be added. Five years after making its network debut, and nine years after
its initial bow on Comedy Central, Mr. Maher's lively talk show, in which
quartets of celebrities were invited each night to put their two cents in
about everything from O. J. to Osama, ends its provocative run on Friday.

ABC officials pulled the plug on "P. I." last month and announced that it
will be replaced by a program featuring the comedian Jimmy Kimmel of Comedy
Central's "The Man Show." (Mr. Kimmel's program will begin in January;
until then a half-hour spinoff of "Nightline" will fill the time slot.)
"Politically Incorrect" had been steadily drawing a fairly small audience
of about 2.5 million viewers a night. But Mr. Maher, 46, said he believes
that he simply wore out his welcome. "To them, 'Politically Incorrect' was
just, ooh, a cool title," he said of the network. "I don't think they
really got it, that I really was politically incorrect."

A comedian by trade, Mr. Maher had demonstrated a propensity over the years
for revealing how incorrect he could be. It is virtually impossible to
characterize his politics, except to say that he would easily be elected
chairman of the Contrarian Party. On the show last month, he articulated
his agenda: "I think religion is bad and drugs are good. I think America
causes cancer, longevity is less important than fun, and young people
should be discouraged from voting. I think stereotypes are true, abstinence
is a perversion, Bush's lies are worse than Clinton's and there's nothing
sexy about being old or pregnant."

He says that despite their differences on some issues, his biggest fans
tended to come from the right. "Those conservatives are the most upset
about the show going off the air," he explained, "because they totally get
it, that this is like the only place they can go on and air their views."

His bruising observations put him on the defensive from time to time. A
vulgar comment about Barbara Bush drew a flurry of protests, as did
disparaging references to Ronald Reagan and Katherine Harris, who gained
notoriety as Florida's secretary of state during the 2000 presidential recount.

By now, most viewers know that he had likely sealed his fate with a remark
on his Sept. 17 show. In an exchange with Dinesh D'Souza, the conservative
commentator, Mr. Maher offered a scathing assessment of the American
response to the terrorist threat from Afghanistan before Sept. 11. "We have
been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away," he said.
"That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say
what you want about it, it's not cowardly."

The words brought censure from no less than Ari Fleischer, press secretary
to President Bush. Mr. Maher later tried to explain that his point wasn't
that terrorists weren't cowards. In the following months, he tried to
distance himself from his remark by frequently sparring with guests who
professed sympathy for some of the goals of Islamic radicals. Still, the
damage had been done; major advertisers deserted the program, several
affiliates stopped broadcasting the show and the host found himself
isolated at ABC.

More powerful television stars do get away with a certain level of
iconoclasm: David Letterman's incessant needling of executives at CBS, as
Mr. Maher pointed out, never threatened his coveted late-night perch. Then
again, Mr. Letterman never exactly challenged the mettle of the American
armed forces. Mr. Maher said he knew there would be a cost for his blunt
style atop his national soapbox, and he seems more philosophical than
bitter now about having to give it up.

"The track record for people who have spoken their minds, who were ahead of
the curve, is not very encouraging," he said in a telephone interview from
Los Angeles, where he was taping his final shows. Calling Mrs. Bush a nasty
name lost "Politically Incorrect" its outlet in Houston; the ABC affiliate
there dropped the program.

"I really wish I had said she was 'Thatcheresque,' " Mr. Maher said, a bit
wistfully. "I'm not perfect either, and I should have picked a better
battle than that one. But still, for the people who watch the show, part of
the beauty is I'm not editing myself."

A lack of editing, in fact, could have been hazardous to his health. Over
the years, Mr. Maher said, he has attracted no shortage of detractors, some
of whom have made their antipathy known to him. "I have had many threats,
stalkers, death threats," he said. "Security people have had to live in my
house. I'm not on the world stage - I'm just a comedian who has a good
grasp of politics. But I'm fully aware that I pay a horrible price for
speaking out."

"Politically Incorrect" was built around the personality of its star. (It
originally began with Mr. Maher delivering a monologue, but that was
eventually cut back and later eliminated.) Each night four figures from the
worlds of entertainment, sports and politics, seated to his left and right
like junior members of a court, would mix it up. Some nights it looked as
if Mr. Maher's bookers had endured a rough afternoon on the phones, filling
the chairs with second-tier celebrities and ideologues from obscure
interest groups. Other installments could be inspirationally offbeat, as
when the host took the show on the road for a week of broadcasts inside a
prison.

There was a "who do they think they are?" factor, or, as Mr. Maher put it,
"Why do we need Pauly Shore on gun control?" Even so, Mr. Maher, enthroned
at the center of the action, was able to guide the discourse often enough
into funny nooks and crannies. The roots of the show, after all, were in
comedy.

"I did this show because I was bored with mindless celebrities not being
able to talk about anything," he said. "Try finding anything like it on any
other channel of any substance at all."

Mr. Maher doesn't point with pride to any particular installment. He did
make some friends, like Arianna Huffington and Ann Coulter, both
conservative commentators, and the comedian Christopher Reid, all of whom
will appear on the final episode. And though he is not sure of his next
move in television, he certainly has no problem accepting all the condolences.

"It's actually a nice thing getting canceled," he said. "You get so much love."