Bill Maher has announced that his show will be trying to oust a sitting member of Congress — for real.
Maher told the New York Times on Friday that "Real Time With Bill Maher" will ask its viewers to persuade the show that their representative is the worst in the entire House. "Real Time" will then select whichever congressperson it thinks is both terrible enough and in a competitive enough race to earn the "honor" of its ire.
"Mr. Maher will make occasional visits to that member’s district to perform stand-up and generally stir up hostile feelings toward the show’s target," the Times' Bill Carter wrote.
Maher has never been shy about his political leanings, and he's made high-profile interventions into elections before. Most notably, he donated $1 million to a Super PAC supporting President Obama in the 2012 race. Moreover, comics have a long history of making mischief around election time. (In recent years, Stephen Colbert has both tried to run for president and set up his own Super PAC.) But this latest move represents perhaps Maher's most direct effort yet to tip the scales in a particular race.
Read the Times' full report here.
UPDATE: Maher informed viewers Friday night that the new initiative would be named "Flip a District" and encouraged viewers to use #FlipADistrict to explain why their congressperson should be ousted.