A Member of Congress (MC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into some official body called congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature.Member of Parliament (MP) is an equivalent term in other jurisdictions.

In the United States, the term Congress refers jointly to both houses of that country's national bicameral legislature, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Members of the Senate are typically referred to as "Senator," whereas members of the House of Representatives are referred to as "Representative." Whereas the term Member of Congress applies to members of both houses, the terms Congressman or Congresswoman are usually used to refer to Representatives and not to Senators.

Alan Mark Grayson (born March 13, 1958) is a former U.S. Representative for Florida's 8th congressional district, serving from 2009 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district Grayson represented lies in central Florida and includes portions of Orange Lake, Marion, and Osceola Counties. Most of Orlando is in the district, including Walt Disney World. Grayson was defeated for re-election in 2010 by Republican Daniel Webster.

Grayson was born in the Bronx, New York City, New York, United States, to a Jewish family, the son of Dorothy Ann (née Sabin) and Daniel Franklin Grayson. He graduated from Bronx High School of Science in 1975 and worked his way through Harvard College as a janitor and nightwatchman, graduating in 1978 in the top two percent of his class, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with an A.B. in economics. After working two years as an economist, he returned to Harvard for graduate studies. In 1983, he earned a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and a Masters of Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Additionally, he completed the course work and passed the general exams for a PhD in government.

William "Bill" Maher, Jr. ( /ˈmɑːr/; born January 20, 1956) is an American stand-up comedian, television host, political commentator, author, and actor. Before his current role as the host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher hosted a similar late-night talk show called Politically Incorrect originally on Comedy Central and later on ABC.

Maher is known for his political satire and sociopolitical commentary, which targets a wide swath of topics including religion, politics, bureaucracies of many kinds, political correctness, the mass media, greed among people and persons in positions of high political and social power, and the lack of intellectual curiosity in the electorate. He supports the legalization of marijuana and same-sex marriage, and serves on the board of PETA. He is also a critic of religion and is an advisory board member of Project Reason, a foundation to promote scientific knowledge and secular values within society. In 2005, Maher ranked at number 38 on Comedy Central's 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time. Bill Maher received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star on September 14, 2010.