Bill Maher tackles Paris attacks, Bill Cosby on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’

Bill Maher hasn’t been on vacation long — his show ended its 12th season in late November, but it’s clear he’s champing at the bit to get back to work, as evidenced by his appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Wednesday night.

The terror attack in Paris, in which masked gunmen stormed the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and killed 12 people, including several prominent French political cartoonists and the magazine’s editor, was topic No. 1 for Kimmel and Maher.

LIVE UPDATES: Terror attack in France

Maher, a prominent critic of organized religions and Islam in particular, was eager to bring up the religious aspect of the shooting, something the much less controversial Kimmel was reticent to bring up.

“You’re the host, you gotta tell them the bad news,” Maher told Kimmel, who appeared to want to cede the information delivery to Maher.

“We have to not avoid who did this,” Maher said. “Who did this, Jimmy?”

“Well, we presume-” Kimmel began.

“No, it’s not a presume!” Maher responded. “No, it’s Muslim terrorists.”

One of the two suspects being sought by French police, Cherif Kouachi, was previously convicted of terror-related charges in 2008 for recruiting fighters for the insurgency in Iraq.

The magazine had been the source of outrage in the Muslim community for its satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

“This happens way too frequently,” Maher said. “It’s like ‘Groundhog Day,’ except if the groundhog kept getting his head cut off.”

Maher’s HBO show, “Real Time With Bill Maher,” returns on Friday night and one of his guests will be author Salman Rushdie, who knows first-hand the wrath of the Muslim world after the Supreme Leader of Iran called for his assassination in 1989 after the publication of his novel “The Satanic Verses.”

Closer to home, Kimmel also raised the ongoing Bill Cosby controversy, in which more women continue to come forward to accuse the entertainer of sexually abusing them.

Maher put the Cosby accusers in the context of other recent sex abuse accusations against celebrities, namely Woody Allen and Michael Jackson. And while we won’t print exactly what he said about Michael Jackson and how it relates to the time Maher was beat up by bullies on the playground in 1968, we can suggest you jump to the eight-minute mark on the video above and watch Maher send Kimmel into uncontrolled giggles.

Safe to say, Bill Cosby will not be a guest on Maher’s show. Now or probably ever.

Follow me on Twitter: @patrickkevinday

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