Bill Maher is Swiss this Weekend!

Let this be the first blog to support all efforts to make political satirist Bill Maher an honorary Swiss Citizen! The man deserves it. Now that's promotion! Thanks, Bill!

By FRAZIER MOORE
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Comedian Bill Maher is chuckling, but miffed.

He's miffed, he tells the crowd, after "apparently voting in a completely different election than most of the country. I thought we were having a rational discussion about how best to protect ourselves in perilous times. And actually, it was a referendum on boys kissing."

There he goes again. And fans of his impish insightfulness will surely delight in this new comedy special, "Bill Maher: I'm Swiss," which premieres 10 p.m. Saturday on HBO.

Taped before a live audience in Portland, Ore., the 90-minute concert follows right on the heels of last November's election.

And, at least for the losing side, Maher brings brilliant clarity to the outcome. (Declaring himself embarrassed by our nation's direction, Maher shares his secret for saving face: He will claim to be Swiss.)

The famously iconoclastic comic (who returns next month with a new season of HBO's weekly "Real Time with Bill Maher") also tackles homeland security, our culture's sexual squeamishness, the war on drugs and the war in Iraq.

"I'm not one of those people who says that Iraq is Vietnam," Maher assures his audience, explaining slyly, "In Vietnam, Bush had an exit strategy."

It's a righteous performance, and -- for slightly less than half the electorate, at least -- an exercise in hilarious good sense.