For what it's worth, I don't know how Maher, relatively benign faults though he has (though liked or disliked), remotely ranks on the danger/batshit crazy areas Weinstein and Heying often hit, especially outside their specialities (though I guess their specialities since Evergreen have been what?..."free speech", "identity politics", "gender", "popular culture", and everything else?) Maybe they're mutating though as this is the first time I've seen them go three minutes straight without spiraling out to kookyland, as you mentioned. They really are smart Jordan Petersons and that's not a compliment. But yeah, Maher sounds especially out of his element here. Not sure from the info, if this episode was caused by a few recent popular articles, but here's one - https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/coronavirus-lab-escape-theory.html