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Contrary to urban myth and the Republican Tea Party, Bill Maher loves America. It's the people running America that make him see red.

Over the past decade, Maher has made a career out of railing against the American political machine – be it Bush or Obama at the helm – and rarely holds back his vitriol toward organized religion, the war against terror, marijuana laws and, oddly enough, the H1N1 flu shot. Or consider the recent debate in the U.S. regarding a public option for health care.

“It's all so ridiculous,” Maher says on a recent stop in Toronto.

“It's called option – it's just an option. And yet there were people protesting in the streets and in town halls: ‘We're Americans! We're the people of liberty and we demand fewer choices!' What was that about?”

Bill Maher: 'George Carlin once had a wonderful routine about how people in America think they have all these choices. Sure, we have 28 flavours of ice cream, but there are only two political parties, and they're way too much alike. Americans don't really have any choices.'

Conversely, ask Maher his opinion of Canada and he's happier than an American handed free health care for life.

“I love Canada and Canadians because they like me, and we think alike,” he says. “Let's face it, America is not the wisest country in the world and my sensibility is not the mainstream American sensibility. I just think Canada has a more sophisticated populace. It's more liberal. They get me here.”

The great provocateur returns to his standup roots in the special Bill Maher: But I'm Not Wrong (Saturday, HBO Canada at 10 p.m.).

Broadcast live from the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in North Carolina, the hour-long special is expected to feature Maher expounding on a typically topical range of subjects, including fake patriotism, Iraq and Afghanistan, the death of Michael Jackson and why Obama needs a posse instead of the secret service. The fact that Maher hasn't stepped into the standup spotlight since his 2007 HBO special The Decider doesn't concern him in the least.

“It's not like doing standup comedy is something you forget,” says Maher, who recently turned 54. “I was doing standup when I started Politically Incorrect in 1993 and it's still one of my first loves. There's still no better forum for getting your point across to a large group of people.”

Running from 1993 to 2002, Politically Incorrect was the vehicle that established Maher's contrarian rep. The format was simple and brilliant: Four guests from the fields of showbiz, politics and pop culture sitting in chairs opposite each other, debating the issues of the day, with Maher in the middle as host and referee. Maher himself described the concept as “The McLaughlin Group on acid.”

Not for the first time, Maher's mouth got him into trouble. In the wake of 9/11, Maher took the devil's-advocate stance regarding America's position in the then-new war on terror.

“We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly,” Maher said on one broadcast.

Several advertisers pulled their ads and some affiliates stopped airing the show. Soon after, ABC pulled the plug on Politically Incorrect.

“While it lasted, it was a great show and of its time,” says Maher. “That time just ended a little early.”

ABC's loss was cable's gain. One year later, HBO launched Real Time with Bill Maher – back for its eighth season next Friday night – which was more or less the same show as Politically Incorrect, without the network censors and with more eclectic guests.

One memorable Real Time show from last September featured filmmaker Michael Moore, economist Paul Krugman, film director John Waters and disgraced ex-governor Eliot Spitzer in a panel discussion focusing on gay marriage, marijuana reform and the housing market, among other topics.

“It's not a talking-points show, it's a talking show,” insists Maher.

“In the early seasons we felt a need to have this pronounced ideological disparity each week, but at some point I decided we weren't going to book another conservative to rehash old theories about how Saddam Hussein was in league with Al Qaeda. We're past that. It's old.”

Toward the same contrarian cause, Maher wrote and starred in the 2008 documentary Religulous, which deconstructed organized religion. The film stirred up controversy in the U.S. Bible belt and turned a tidy profit for its makers.

All of this appears to greatly amuse Maher, who entered show business to become an actor and whose resume includes two appearances on Murder, She Wrote (playing two different characters). Like every good American, Maher realizes he never really had a choice on his evolution to TV punditry.

“America itself is a very conformist country,” he says reflectively.

“George Carlin once had a wonderful routine about how people in America think they have all these choices. Sure, we have 28 flavours of ice cream, but there are only two political parties, and they're way too much alike. Americans don't really have any choices.”

Also airing

Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony (CTV, TSN, CFMT, 7 p.m.; NBC, 7:30 p.m.)

Finally, it begins. The Vancouver Winter Games get off the ground with the customary opening ceremony, always a grandly overblown affair. The setting for tonight’s live broadcast is B.C. Place, which has a capacity of 60,000. All told, more than 4,500 athletes, dancers and performers from around the world will appear in the mega-budget show. Expect the TV coverage to focus on faces in the crowd, which are expected to include U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, astronaut Buzz Aldrin and George Clooney.

The Wild Chef  (Food Network, 8 p.m.)

Montreal Restaurateur Martin Picard is the lively tour guide of this road-trip series that rolls through Quebec in search of unique food experiences. The proprietor of the Montreal restaurant Au Pied de Cochon, Picard is most often accompanied by his sous-chef Hugue Dufour on his culinary journeys. Tonight, the unkempt cooks fly off to the northernmost corner of la belle province. Once landed, they hop on snowmobiles to explore the Arctic landscape, where they also take time out to cook up fresh mussels and render some seal blubber. Bonne appétit.