“I remember you from Willowbrook. I mean, you were one of the original crusading reporters and you care very much about your legacy being as a journalist, so I do have to ask: Why Fox News?’’

That’s how Bill Maher opened his “Real Time’’ interview with Geraldo Rivera on Friday night, referring to Rivera exposing abuse at the Willowbrook State School in Staten Island in the 1970s, and the heat rose from that moment on. It was the hottest TV I saw over the weekend — unless Sean Hannity and Jimmy Kimmel had a face-to-face that I don’t know about.

Rivera proceeded to call MSNBC the left-leaning version of Fox, to which Maher said, “But there is a big difference between MSNBC and Fox News — I mean, MSNBC sticks to the truth. They don’t make things up.’’

Rivera then said that MSNBC is making up the issue of Russian collusion, adding “You would blame them if they had Russian dressing on their salad.’’

The explosive subjects continued, with questions about Stormy Daniels, whether or not Trump gets more than his due of bad press, Trump’s tweets, who is responsible for the improvements in the economy, and Trump’s lies. Rivera was particularly defensive about his 40-year friendship with Trump, saying that he keeps his politics separate.

“I can separate the man who’s always been gracious to me, always been nice to my family, we were on ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ every day together for over six weeks,’’ Rivera said.

“[O.J Simpson] didn’t remain my friend when I felt he had a certain moral lapse,’’ Maher said.

The two bet $1,000 on whether or not there was Trump-Russia collusion, shaking hands. Stay tuned.

Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewGilbert.