The $47,000 chair
In a spurt of one-upsmanship befitting the most rancorous talk show on TV, two and possibly more bidders drove the price of one guest appearance on "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher" to heavenly heights Monday.
In the last few hours of the the eBay auction, the bidding spiraled up furiously from the $25,000 mark. New bids came in at thousand-dollar increments for the privilege of sitting in a leather chair mere steps from host Bill Maher.
Finally, it appeared that at 12:08 p.m. Pacific time -- 10 minutes before closing -- the winning bidder put in an order for his bid to automatically increase every time it was exceeded. Up to what point, we won't know until someone interviews the winner (eBay concealed the names of all bidders). But the tactic worked. When the auto-bid jacked to $47,000, either the other bidders dropped out or the clock ran out on the auction.
Now somebody's got a date with the camera and Maher has his first topic of the night: Who the hell would pay 47 grand to be on a late-night talk show?
Kevin Hamburger, executive producer of "PI," told TV Barn that the winner will be identified on Monday. The winner and a friend will be flown to L.A. next week for a show taping Thursday that is expected to air Friday.
In other "Politically Incorrect" news, the show will tape two weeks of shows at Howard University in our nation's capital next month. Shows airing Feb. 5-9 will focus on supposedly "anti-establishment" guests: invited are Michael Moore, Ralph Nader, Gordon Liddy, Bill Press, Gary Bauer and Richard Belzer. Shows airing February 19 through 23 will look at race and African-American culture with panelists Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah, Tommy Davidson, Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., Shaggy and Ja-Rule, and others. For tickets call (877) 311-5678.
MP3 Download: How The Grinch Stole The Election (2.0MB)
