You’ll have to wait awhile for the reply to Maher — a long, long, long while — but it’s here, tucked away at the end of a 14-minute disquisition on … all kinds of stuff, really. Whatever you may think of the man, he’s touched a nerve: On Friday, he was number one in all of cable news in the coveted 25-54 demo, ahead even of Bill O’Reilly. With ratings like that, I don’t know how Fox can afford to keep him out of prime time. I’m expecting the announcement any day now that Special Report will be moving to 5 p.m., Shep to 6, and Beck to 7 to lead in to the Factor. God only knows what ratings he’d do with a real audience.

Exit question: Glenn Beck = Beale + Oprah + your crazy uncle?