Bill Maher Explains Emmy Shutout: People Won’t Vote For an Atheist

As host of ABC's Politically Incorrect and HBO's Real Time, Bill Maher has accumulated 22 Emmy nominations — the record for most nods without a win. The 54-year-old political commentator/comedian attributes his losing streak to something other than a Susan Lucci-esque curse.

HBO renews Real Time with Bill Maher for Season 9

"A panel of like 10 people watches one tape. If half of those people are religious, that probably eliminates me right there," Maher told The Hollywood Reporter. "A lot of people wouldn't vote for such an outspoken atheist, someone who made Religulous."

Maher has been vocal about his beliefs throughout much of his career. On The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Monday, Maher said he was against having a mosque built at lower Manhattan's ground zero, because he's against all houses of worship. "These are houses of worship, which means they are places where people go to re-tell nonsense stories," he said, "and perpetuate mass delusion."

Watch Maher's interview with Jay Leno

Maher's 2008 film Religulous documented, and mocked, religious extremes around the world.

Maher was interviewed Tuesday to celebrate receiving his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. At the unveiling, Maher said he wanted to thank George Bush, Sarah Palin, and the pope, according to The Associated Press.