Bill Maher: “The NRA Should Just Change Its Name To The Assassin’s Lobby”

The folks in the audience for Jay Leno’s safe-for-all-audiences Tonight Show clearly would’ve rather had a visit from some cuddly zoo animals than what they got: an extended and at times awkwardly tense visit from HBO’s Bill Maher.

Talking about the shootings in Arizona and Fox News chief Roger Ailes‘ reported instructions to his staff to tone down language after Tucson, Maher argued it would never happen, as “that’s the rhetoric they love. The right wing loves- the go-to rhetoric for them is ‘wouldn’t it be fun to kill the people we disagree with.’”

When the audience groaned, Maher challenged them: “Do you read?”

As the relationship between Maher and the Tonight Show audience became openly hostile, Leno–true to form–retreated, saying nothing other than soft “yeahs” and “mm-hmms.”