One of the most frequent (and amusing) guests Bill Maher has ever hosted on Real Time was Christopher Hitchens. The late writer made many appearances on the HBO show over the years, arguing his support of the Iraq War and his strident opposition to religion, even being so bold as to flip off the entire audience in the middle of a show. And frequent Real Time watchers might remember when Hitchens showed up, armed with only his wit and a drink in his hand. Agree with Hitch or not, he was a clever debater.

Before his death last week, writer Christopher Hitchens sat down for a final interview with fellow atheist Richard Dawkins for British publication New Statesman. Obviously, their skepticism about faith came up frequently in the conversation, but they also touched upon a variety of other subjects that Hitchens took on over his life.

The editorial sphere has encountered a challenge in remembering Christopher Hitchens. Not because he’s slipped away from our collective memory, but because, really, he hasn’t. Hitchens’ comments, ideas and observations — long at the forefront of many a discussion or holiday brawl with family — make the man terribly difficult to place into a box. [...]

Author, journalist and Vanity Fair contributor Christopher Hitchens has passed away tonight from pneumonia, a complication of his long-standing battle esophageal cancer, at Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Surprise! Christopher Hitchens is annoyed by something. In the January issue of Vanity Fair, Hitchens penned a caustic essay titled “Tea’d Off,” in which he offers some of his many thoughts on Ross Douthat, the Tea Party, and Glenn Beck. It’s Beck, he says, who deserves the blame for “canalizing old racist and clerical toxic-waste material” in America.

Early this summer, prolific writer and provocateur Christopher Hitchens revealed that he has terminal esophageal cancer. Since then, he’s been remarkably open about his condition—he even sat down with Anderson Cooper to discuss the disease in August. During that interview, the atheistic Hitchens also gave his opinion about the numerous people who have said that they would pray for him.

The news that legendary polemic Christopher Hitchens had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer earlier this summer struck at the heart of Washington, and after officially announcing it in Vanity Fair, Hitchens sat down with Anderson Cooper tonight to talk about how he is handling it, and the prayers for and against his good health.

Tonight is Saturday Night Live’s second-last show of its 35th season, and also, hands down, its biggest: Newly-recelebrated old-school superstar Betty White is hosting what has become the Mother’s Day show featuring SNL’s history of funny, funny ladies, which means the return of some top alumnae like Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, and Molly Shannon. And of course Tina Fey. The “women aren’t funny” meme is pretty dead by now, killed by the relentless dominance of Fey in pretty much every comedic endeavor she tries, plus people like Poehler, and Sarah Silverman, and Chelsea Handler, and Jenna Fischer, and Wanda Sykes, and Kristen Wiig, etc. etc. etc. — but the wildly-unequal ratio in the biz still lives on.

On Saturday night, Wanda Sykes‘ new talk show debuted on Fox at 11pmET. Sykes started off by laying out what the show would and wouldn’t be, and she took some delight in its context: “In honor of my first talk show, let me be the first person on Fox not to pick on President Obama.”

I remember when Christopher Hitchens wrote that ridiculous Vanity Fair piece about how women aren’t funny. I wrote a screed about it and got in a public scrap with Graydon Carter after at a very awkward luncheon. What can I say, this line of reasoning has always irritated me. Women aren’t funny? Really?

This past Thursday Mediaite celebrated its one month anniversary. A couple of people have since asked us if we could break down our over all traffic numbers and publish the most trafficked Power Grid pages since July 6. The answer is yes! Turns out the results are actually sort of fascinating: who knew Christopher Hitchens had so much Power Grid game! Check out our inaugural Top Ten Power Grid Players after the jump.

Historians generally agree that Watergate was a great moment for the press – and for the Washington Post, which published the scoops of that would eventually take down a president. But the July 17th issue of the Economist points to a more unorthodox take: That the Washington Post was selfish, irresponsible, and directly responsible for thwarting the World Peace that Richard Nixon would certainly have won.

Do you love topical panels, lectures, and seminars, but can’t seem to find the time to attend them? Do you want to know what your favorite columnist had to say about her newest project, even if you don’t live in New York City? Would you be interested in reading about the five most captivating moments [...]