Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

While broadly within the categories of political satire and late-night talk shows, Last Week Tonight has taken a more specific approach to deeper dives into systemic issues which intend to illustrate both the wider socio-political context and the complex interconnections and embeddedness of public policies in social outcomes.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver episode clips can be seen internationally on YouTube. It is broadcast on premium channel HBO Canada that is simulcast with HBO in the U.S.; around the same time it is shown on the international HBO channels. It airs in Australia on The Comedy Channel hours after the U.S. airing[34] and airs in New Zealand on SoHo.[35] In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it is broadcast on Mondays on Sky Comedy.[36] In Belgium, it is broadcast on Thursdays by the Telenet cable-only channel PRIME Series.[37] It airs in South Africa on M-Net[38] and in Portugal on RTP3.[39] In India, the show is streamed on Disney+ Hotstar.[40] In Greece, the show airs on Cosmote TV's Cosmote Series HD.[41]

Oliver often makes use of joke hashtags to facilitate the viral spread of his videos on Twitter and Facebook, as with the hashtag #NotMyChristian, which he used in 2014 to complain about the casting of actor Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey in the feature film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey. The hashtag became a recurring punchline on the show, mentioned in both serious stories and casual segues.[31]

Last Week Tonight has a YouTube channel where videos are intermittently (depending on series) added after a show has aired.[42] Most of the videos are of the main segment from each episode. Some extended clips are also available on the show's YouTube channel, as are "Web Exclusives" that are produced solely for the channel, such as a July 2016 video in which Oliver responded to negative comments left on the channel itself.[31][7][43]

A YouTube video of a segment on the show supporting the UK remaining in the EU was found to be the single most shared video clip on Twitter during the run-up to the 2016 EU membership referendum.[44]

The show's production has also created content specifically for fan use. For the March 19, 2017, episode, which reported on Bolivia's growing coalition of workers clad in zebra suits to educate civilians about traffic laws, the show's production recorded 23 minutes of a person in a zebra costume dancing and gesticulating before a green screen so that viewers could edit it into other videos for humorous effect.[45] A similar video called "Real Animals, Fake Paws" for use in reenacting U.S. Supreme Court cases was released after the October 19, 2014, episode where dogs were used instead of justices to make listening to oral court cases more amusing to the general public and to increase interest in the subject.[46]

By April 2015, the channel had attained over a million subscribers.[31] That number had risen to 3.6 million by July 2016,[47] and over 5 million by May 2017. As of January 2023, the channel has over 9 million subscribers and more than 3.5 billion views.[48]

Oliver's debut show garnered 1.11 million viewers. The number of viewers online, through websites such as YouTube showing extended clips of different segments, have steadily climbed into multiple millions. The show's YouTube channel also features Web Exclusives which are occasionally posted when the main show is taking a week off. Across the TV airings, DVR, on-demand and HBO Go, Last Week Tonight averaged 4.1 million weekly viewers in its first season.[49]

Last Week Tonight has received widespread critical acclaim. Matthew Jacobs of The Huffington Post named Oliver's program as 2014's best television show, writing "the year's most surprising contribution to television is a show that bucked conventional formats, left us buzzing and paved the way for a burgeoning dynasty. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is 2014's crowning achievement."[50]

Hank Stuever of The Washington Post compared Oliver's program with The Daily Show several times in his review of Oliver's debut:

Another scathing, stick-it-to-'em critique of American mass media and politics shellacked in satire and delivered by a funny if almost off-puttingly incredulous man with a British accent ... Exactly like The Daily Show, the goal is to make elected and appointed officials, as well as just about any corporate enterprise, look foolish and inept while slyly culling together television news clips that make the media look equally inept at covering such evident truths.[51]

James Poniewozik of Time similarly compared Last Week with The Daily Show, but also wrote that the "full half-hour gives Oliver the room to do more," and praised Oliver's "sharper tone and his globalist, English-outsider perspective," as well as his "genuine passion over his subjects." Poniewozik wrote that Oliver's debut was "a funny, confident start."[52]

The Entertainment Weekly review began by ringing the same changes: "The fear with Last Week Tonight is that it's The Daily Show except once a week – a staggered timeline that would rob the basic news-punning format of its intrinsic topical punch ... The first episode of his HBO series didn't stray far from the [Jon] Stewart mothership, stylistically ..." However, the reviewer, Darren Franich, liked that Oliver has "a half-hour of television that is simultaneously tighter and more ambitious, that the extra production time leads to sharper gags but also the ability to present more context" and thought that the debut had "plenty of funny throwaway lines." Franich appreciated Oliver's coverage of the 2014 Indian election, which the American press was largely ignoring,[53] and, like Poniewozik, praised Oliver's "passion." Franich concluded that Last Week Tonight "suggested the sharpest possible version of its inspiration" and that it "should feel like an experiment" but "felt almost fully formed."[54]

David Haglund of Slate was ambivalent, writing that the show is "obviously a work in progress" and that one segment "felt like misplaced overkill," but also that it is "good use of a weekly show, and it was funny to boot."[55] Gawker's Jordan Sargent claimed Last Week Tonight was "the new Daily Show,"[56] while simultaneously criticizing the Daily Show for abandoning those "who have moved on from caring about Fox [News] and Republicans." By the series' fourth season, some commentators Haaretz,[57] indicated that show has become increasingly focused on then-president President Donald Trump, noting the "show had exhausted itself and its supply of jokes about the president", becoming repetitively focused on Trump's scandal-ridden presidency to a somewhat tiresome degree.

A number of commentators from mainstream media outlets, including The New York Times,[58] The Huffington Post,[59] Time,[60] and Associated Press,[61] have described Oliver's style of reporting as journalism or even investigative journalism. Oliver himself disagrees, stating that "it's not journalism, it's comedy – it's comedy first, and it's comedy second."[62]

Last Week Tonight has received generally positive reviews[lower-roman 1] and been nominated for numerous major awards, including 61 Primetime Emmy Awards (26 wins), 2 Peabody Awards (both won), 9 Producers Guild of America Awards (8 wins), 8 Writers Guild of America Awards (6 wins), 6 Critics' Choice Television Awards (3 wins), 9 TCA Awards (4 wins), 10 Dorian Awards (2 wins), 5 GLAAD Media Awards (2 wins), and 4 Webby Awards (2 wins). Oliver has received 3 nominations for hosting (winning 1), the writing team has received 9 consecutive nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series (winning 6), and the editors have received 13 nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming (winning 5).

On several occasions, show segments on major societal issues, such as the "Chickens" or "Bail" segments, were soon followed by real-world change and action on said issues by the public, policymakers and/or other institutions. Several media outlets, noticing this pattern, suggested that attention from the show had instigated these changes, going so far as to dub the phenomenon the "John Oliver Effect".[71][72]

A June 2014 segment about net neutrality in the United States was thought to spur over 45,000 comments on the Federal Communications Commission's electronic filing page about a net neutrality proposal that, if implemented, would have priority "lanes" for certain internet traffic. The FCC also received an extra 300,000 comments in an email inbox designated specifically for the proposal.[73][74] It was thought that Oliver's segment had a major role in the FCC's ultimate reversal of stance on that proposal,[75] with the FCC instead implementing net-neutrality rules that prohibited priority "lanes".[76] A sequel in 2017 inspired over 150,000 comments on a subsequent proposal to scrap the new net neutrality rules.[77]

In a segment about public defenders and how some offices are extremely underfunded, the New Orleans Public Defense office's crowdfunding efforts to improve their conditions were featured. In the days following the episode's broadcast, thousands of dollars were donated to the office by the show's fans, helping them reach their goal four days after the show aired.[78]

Oliver himself does not believe the effect to be real and has openly ridiculed the idea on the show, even calling the term "completely meaningless".[79]

"Tobacco" is a segment about the tobacco industry, which aired on February 15, 2015, as part of the second episode of the second season. During the eighteen-minute segment, Oliver discusses tobacco industry trends and practices. He also introduces Jeff the Diseased Lung, a mascot he created for the American global cigarette and tobacco company Philip Morris International, the makers of Marlboro brand of cigarettes. The anthropomorphic diseased lung, who smokes and coughs, has been compared to Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man. Oliver and his team promoted the cartoon character by sending shirts with Jeff's image to Togo and displaying billboards in Uruguay, and by encouraging use of the hashtag #JeffWeCan, which trended on Twitter following the broadcast.

The segment received widespread media coverage, with several outlets praising Oliver's ability to launch successful marketing campaigns and change perceptions about smoking through the creation of the mascot. The mascot later made an appearance at a protest organized by the "Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids" in New York City in May 2015.[80][81]

Philip Morris International issued a response to the segment, stating that it included "many mischaracterizations" of the company.[82]

In August 2015, after delivering his "Televangelists" segment, Oliver hired a professional tax lawyer to set up a church called Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption as a legal entity. He did this partly as a way to demonstrate how "disturbingly easy" it is, in terms of paperwork, to set up a tax-exempt religious organization as viewed by the Internal Revenue Service. As Oliver explained, the requirements needed to be defined as a "church" are quite broad. Since regulatory guidelines require an established location for a church, Oliver chose his studio location in New York City as its official location,[83] although he registered the nonprofit organization in the state of Texas.[84] Oliver's "megachurch" had a toll-free phone number which allowed callers to donate to the church, and said that any money collected would be redistributed to the charitable relief organization Doctors Without Borders.[85][86] Oliver announced the formation of his church on the episode of the show that aired on August 16, 2015.[87]

Matt Wilstein, writing for Mediaite, saw Oliver's stunt as being along the same lines as comedian Stephen Colbert's setting up of a 501(c)(4) organization – Colbert Super PAC – as a way to "test the absurd limits of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision"; Oliver's megachurch, in contrast, is a way to test whether the IRS might view his "megachurch" as a tax-exempt organization.[83] Steve Thorngate, writing in The Christian Century, suggested that the question of the religious exemption from taxation was more difficult and nuanced than Oliver portrayed, and not a simple matter of government regulation, describing Oliver's pivot to IRS policy as "unhelpful." However, Thorngate agreed that Oliver's exposure and criticism of "manipulative sleazeballs" who "fleece the faithful" is "spot-on".[88] Leonardo Blair, writing for Christian Post, described Oliver's segment as a "brutal takedown" of televangelists and churches which preach "the prosperity gospel," a message that dupes people into thinking that cash donations will solve medical or financial problems, while in fact the donations go to the personal aggrandizement of televangelists who buy expensive jets or large mansions.[89]

A week later, on the following episode, Oliver devoted a short segment to the donations the church had received, which included money from around the world. Oliver said he had received "thousands of envelopes with thousands of dollars" from donors. Displayed were several US Post Office containers full of mail. Oliver told viewers that the more money they sent in, the more "blessings" would be returned to them, adding that "that is still something I'm – amazingly – legally allowed to say."[90][91]

Oliver announced that the Church would be shutting down during his show on September 13, 2015. All monetary donations have been forwarded to Doctors Without Borders.[92]

"Donald Trump" is a segment discussing American businessman Donald Trump. It aired on February 28, 2016, as part of the third episode of the third season. During the 22-minute segment, Oliver discusses Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and his long career in business. He also reveals that the Trump family name was changed at one point from the ancestral name 'Drumpf'. Although the changing of names was once a common practice among many non-English immigrants to the United States, the segment popularized the term "Donald Drumpf" and started a campaign urging viewers to "Make Donald Drumpf Again," a play on Trump's own campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again." The segment garnered more than 85 million views on Facebook and YouTube combined which, an HBO spokesman has said, "is a record for any piece of HBO content."[93] Throughout the 2016 presidential election and following Trump's inauguration, Oliver made additional segments regarding Trump.

"Debt Buyers" is a segment discussing the business and questionable practice of debt buyers. It aired on June 5, 2016, as part of the fourteenth episode of the third season. Oliver announced he had purchased nearly $15 million in medical debt that belonged to 9,000 debtors. He did this through a company he had created, called "Central Asset Recovery Professionals Inc." (CARP), which he described as being "for the bottom-feeding fish." Oliver stated that it was "pretty clear by now [that] debt buying is a grimy business, and badly needs more oversight" and went to point out that starting such a business was "disturbingly easy."[94] It cost him $50 to register the business in Mississippi, while it cost less than $60,000 to purchase almost $15 million in bad debt, medical debt from Texas. Oliver forgave the debt in its entirety, and claimed that it was the largest single giveaway in the American television history, eclipsing that of General Motors on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2004 where it gifted cars to Winfrey's studio audience, worth an estimated $8 million in total.[95] Writing for Slate, Jordan Weissmann disputed the $15 million figure: "[Oliver] says CARP paid around $60,000 ... for its paper, which was 'out-of-statute' – meaning the debts were so old that creditors technically couldn't even sue over them anymore. That suggests the seller thought the debts were worth no more than, well, $60,000."[96] The show partnered with RIP Medical Debt, Inc. to abolish the debt.[97][98]

On June 18, 2017, Last Week Tonight's main segment was about coal mining and Bob Murray. In his segment, Oliver talked about safety conditions inside coal mines, specifically the 2007 Crandall Canyon Mine collapse, which killed six miners. Oliver criticized Murray for claiming the collapse was caused by an earthquake, despite all evidence demonstrating otherwise.[99] The show ended with a costumed squirrel named "Mr. Nutterbutter", portrayed by Noel MacNeal, offering Murray with an oversized check for "3 acorns and 18 cents" with the phrase "Eat Shit, Bob" in response to Murray's company presenting its employees with low sums of money as bonuses – to which many retaliated by returning the checks, including one who returned theirs with that exact phrase written on it – and in reference to a claim that Murray supposedly got the idea to start his company from a talking squirrel.[100] On June 22, Bob Murray presented a lawsuit against Oliver, HBO, and Time Warner for defamation. HBO believed Last Week Tonight had done nothing wrong, with a First Amendment lawyer describing the lawsuit as "frivolous."[99] In February 2018, a West Virginia judge stated that he planned to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Murray as unfounded.[101]

After Murray's appeal to the West Virginia Supreme Court was delayed due to the impeachment of its judges, Murray offered to drop the charges and HBO accepted.[102] On November 10, 2019, Oliver discussed the case in a segment about SLAPP suits, revealing that the suit cost HBO $200,000 in legal costs and tripled the show's libel insurance fees. Oliver acknowledged that, despite the segment being vetted, the content would likely lead to another lawsuit, and that he would stand behind his team if it were to happen.[102] The segment ended with a five-minute, Times Square-set musical number featuring crude and ludicrous fictional anecdotes about Murray. The musical number, entitled "Eat Shit, Bob",[102] was later nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics in 2020.[103]

On March 18, 2018, Oliver announced the publication of a children's book, A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, which parodies a book that Mike Pence's family wrote about their family rabbit, Marlon Bundo. Oliver used his book as a platform to criticize Pence's positions on LGBT issues, as it featured a rabbit in a same-sex relationship.[104] The book became the number-one book and e-book on Amazon the next day, and the top-selling audiobook on Audible.[105][106]

Russell Crowe's jockstrap was purchased by the Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and then donated to a Blockbuster Video shop. The jockstrap reappeared in a skit in the final episode of the 2018 season of the show.

The main story of the August 11, 2019, episode was Turkmenistan and its autocratic leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. The last portion of the segment centered around Berdimuhamedow's obsession with Guinness World Records, with the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat being home to the most buildings with white marble cladding, the largest indoor Ferris wheel, and the largest statue of a horse's head, among others. Oliver found that Guinness World Records received sums of money ranging from US$12,000 to US$500,000 from companies and authoritarian nations to set records for publicity. He ended the show with a 600 square foot marble cake adorned with a picture of Berdimuhamedow falling from a horse; he had requested a Guinness adjudicator to certify it as the world's largest marble cake, a record previously set by Betty Crocker in Saudi Arabia in 2017.[107] Guinness refused, stating that because their brand was "aligned with kids and families", they would not send an adjudicator; Oliver mockingly commented that he did not "run a brutal enough dictatorship to meet Guinness World Records' high ethical standards". Oliver claimed that Guinness offered to certify it after the fact only if he signed an agreement not to criticize their practices on the show, which Oliver dismissed as "ridiculous".[108][109] Guinness called Oliver's allegations "false and unfair", claiming that they did not send an adjudicator because they felt the cake was specifically for the purpose of mocking a record holder, stating it was their policy "not to partake in any activities which may belittle their achievements or subject them to ridicule".[110]

John Oliver extensively satirized Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in a segment which was broadcast on February 23, 2020, calling him a "temporary symbol of hate."[111] This was during a visit of US president Donald Trump to India, and in an organized rally that coincided with large-scale violence in Delhi.[112] He criticized Modi's "increasingly controversial reputation and widespread protests against his government's citizenship measures", as well as the BJP's condoning of widespread violence against Muslims in India.[112]

Disney+ Hotstar, an Indian streaming service who holds rights to HBO programming in the country, refused to stream the episode, leading to criticism by local viewers (including Hotstar's apps being review bombed with 1-star reviews).[113] Oliver addressed the censorship in the March 8, 2020, episode, also noting that since the acquisition of Hotstar by The Walt Disney Company (which occurred as part of its acquisition of 21st Century Fox),[114] Hotstar had begun to censor jokes regarding Disney characters from the program, such as his "factually-accurate" claim that Donald Duck had a corkscrew penis.[115]

Sign at the John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant

John Oliver satirized the city of Danbury, Connecticut on a broadcast that aired on August 16, 2020, by making fun of the general quaintness of the town, starting a feud with the town that would last a few weeks, involving the Mayor of Danbury Mark Boughton, the city's hockey team called Danbury Hat Tricks, and other various content creators in Danbury. The mayor of Danbury, in response, revealed that they would rename their sewer plant, which makes up more than 80% of their $127 million budget, the "John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant", saying "it's full of crap, just like you [John Oliver]". The mayor reneged on this statement later in the week, claiming it was a joke, but after John Oliver offered $55,000 to local charities on a broadcast that aired on August 30, 2020, in exchange for the sewage plant actually being named after him, Danbury accepted the offer.[116][117][118]