Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (2014– ) User Reviews

Takes a Brit to bring US TV some wit

[Flattered_Flatulated · 9/10 · 15 May 2014]

No great offense meant to U.S TV, but most of its shows with hosts trying to make some fun of the recent affairs, politicians and all that jazz are usually crappy and saved by the "bring a funny and/or weird celebrity" bell. Of course, "The Colbert Report" and a few bits of the "Daily Show" are exceptions, but overall one must admit that even these don't really dwell too long in deep waters (meaning grave issues of major concern) like "Last Week Tonight" does.

A couple of examples of serious satire from the first episodes are the death penalty, the hypocritical stance of politicians towards people like the Sultan of Brunei or even the fun'n'serious interview of the ex-chief of the NSA. The fact alone that such significant and highly debatable subjects are discussed is a huge win for the show. The end result airing on HBO, comes as no surprise to me. Their only commitment I have seen so far show-wise, is quality and creativity, two traits this show seems to possess.

I am taken in by the first three episodes and honestly believe that this show has the potential to stimulate the brain and instigate belly-aching laughs at the same time. Hopefully, the creators will not take steps back, when possible pressure to "lighten" their material may arise - if and when a lot of people start watching the show.

{Quick note to those who may feel offended by the approach John Oliver has on the ignorance of some people from the States, when it comes to the rest of the world: If you know your way around a world map and have an idea of what is happening elsewhere in this vast place called Earth, lay back and enjoy the sarcasm. If you can't do that, take the bitter pill.}

intelligent, fair, and hilarious

[blowfly13 · 10/10 · 4 June 2014]

Loved John Oliver on Community and love him on this show. He's intelligent and sarcastic, and somehow manages to make topics that are completely horrific (e.g., the U.S. government's actions) not thoroughly depressing. I love how he will make fun of ANY political party; so many shows just spend their time panning Republicans, losing half the country as a result. Oliver must be a libertarian, because he very fairly simply makes fun of anyone who is doing something stupid, regardless of political affiliation. This is something that cannot be said of the unbearable John Stewart, or SNL, for example, but can be said of the awesome Lewis Black as well.

I also like his way of poking fun at the U.S. - it's not condescending or rude, it's just good humored teasing. The segment in which he shows the globe with countries marked as Not the U.S. is priceless.

Oliver's topics are well chosen, and his take on them is unique. I greatly hope HBO will continue this show as it's the best comedy late night hosted whatever genre you call this currently on TV.

Weekly awesome energy infused injection of peace and discussion!

[meltinzone · 10/10 · 12 May 2014]

The insane level of awesome energy John Oliver feeds the viewer can almost be felt! John cuts through the bullshit and touches on real news.

There's something about this show that I really genuinely like (and I'm an Australian). Perhaps it's the way most of us would like to already live in a world that does good and makes fun of the stupid and absurd, a bit like Japan perhaps!? Well John Oliver has us covered. Each week a much needed hit of vitality and rejuvenation gets subtly unveiled, then straight up sucker punched to us.

The views on issues are sublime, as though John has been on our planet in a future time of peace, then come back to help lube us all through the hole we're already headed for, the peace hole. The energy and views on the show are just like a pick me up to make us go a tiny bit faster.

I've just watched episode 3 and that episode alone sums up the type of people, media and just the general positive peaceful way I'd like to see humanity head.

10/10 for the sole fact we need to take a look at ourselves in a mirror and thankfully John Oliver's right there, holding up the mirror for us! If you enjoyed Chasers War On Everything, Newsroom, Real Time with Bill Maher or a slew of other 'younger trend news~ish' shows, I'd say this is well worth a look!

John Oliver is awesome

[asjad_imran · 10/10 · 30 June 2014]

John Oliver is involved in one of the most tasteful shows I have come across which is currently in production. John pulls through with a very unique flavor which leaves the viewer thinking about the show long after it is over. His insightful outlook and commentary on a wide variety of issues is well worth the half hour (plus internet content). In my opinion, John doesn't, or at least attempts not to alienate any viewership the show may achieve but the show is perhaps designed to engage those with an open mind. The humorously named "Last Week Tonight" is a lot more than cheap laughs, and then some. In the few episodes that have aired so far, John has proved, at least to me personally, that him and his staff are capable of having very sophisticated opinions on some very deep issues. Honestly, I hope I can hear a lot more from John Oliver and the writers/staff involved!

More rare than a lamb chop in Hell's Kitchen

[CarmaChan · 10/10 · 12 June 2014]

After the season finale of Game of Thrones, Veep, and Silicon Valley (whichever comes last), I was going to cancel my subscription to HBO. Now comes Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and I'm in a quandary. The history of television and big belly laughs for me is a rare combination. The best sitcoms every have mostly merely amused me. Laughing out loud so hard I can't stop and I have to get online and tell my friends to add this to their watch list is more rare than a lamb chop in Hell's Kitchen. John Oliver made The Daily Show funnier. It's great to see talent like that finally get its due share of hate mail.

So now, what to do... cancel HBO and pay $1.99 per episode to watch it on Roku? Yeah, that's how frugal I can be. But can I wait 24 hours for that kind of laughter? Therein lies the quandary.

I must take a moment to thank John Oliver and his creative team. Laughter is the best medicine. You're saving the planet--perhaps the multiverse. Boredom is hell. Torture is preferable to boredom. At least torture is something. So thank Fox for 24 hours of torture. But boredom will kill you to death. I didn't know what I was going to do after Dexter ended. Being Human relieves me for a few months, then it's agony. Hannibal comes along and I'm mesmerized for a few months, then I have to wait like a pregnant woman for the next amazing moment. OK, I admit, Wednesday nights in the summer are delicious because of the people who think they can dance. But you, sir, you are the kind of jester who comes along once in the history of an empire, and where would we be without you? Perish the thought.

Beats all the rest by a mile!

[Flyingblackswan · 10/10 · 29 September 2014]

Well first of all, I have always liked John Oliver. He is yet another talented comedian in a line of many others bred at the talent breeding grounds known as the Daily Show. For people who don't know, Oliver lured away the talented Tim Carvell, former head writer for the daily show, away from Jon Stewart. This was clearly a brilliant move and Stewart was nice enough to part with Carvell. Now that both Oliver and Carvell have a show on HBO with pretty much unlimited creative freedom, they are tackling the most important issues with a fearless tenacity that most comedians/hosts/shows can't afford to have. The reporting is concise and brilliantly edited, the delivery is sharp and witty, and the fact that the show is only 30 minutes long is long enough to hold most people's attention. Good job HBO on creating this gem!

So much more than the Daily Show clone it started out as

[cherold · 9/10 · 15 July 2021]

The first few weeks of Last Week Tonight, it was pretty much The Daily Show on HBO. Which was fine; it was funny and smart and you can never get too much of that.

But then the show began to find itself, dropping the interviews and devoting itself primarily to long pieces that are funny and insightful and often represent the best commentary on a particular subject, like their take on Ferguson and the militarization of the police, which was brilliant both as comedy and as advocacy.

I'm not sure how much good the advocacy does - the audience for this show probably goes in agreeing with Oliver - but it's nice to see something both so smart and so entertaining.

A refreshing, cosmopolitan alternative to the Daily Show

[a_imdb-314-8359 · 10/10 · 20 July 2014]

As someone utterly disillusioned by Jon Stewart's dogmatic chauvinism, I am so utterly relieved a talent as intelligent and insightful as John Oliver has been given the opportunity to have what is essentially a more educated, dialectical version of the Daily Show. Stoners reminiscing about Half Baked can keep TDS as their main source of news but at least now those of us willing to hear a different perspective on US issues and considerably more (and better) commentary on international affairs can at least have a weekly bit of entertainment. Only advice: Jon Oliver's audience is de facto more educated than TDS and we do not always need to laugh out loud to appreciate a segment, John Oliver does not need to mimic Jon Stewart's fear of silence and desperately reach out for trite laughs and non sequitur dick jokes whenever something isn't met with gut bursting laughter; America has youtube and getting high while watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force for that; sometimes being informative isn't (and does not need to be) outrageously funny.

Another Leap for Mankind

[puneethb-427-921938 · 9/10 · 9 June 2014]

Everyone probably should care about brutal dictators,net neutrality and,climate change and the scientific method. But we're apathetic(maybe even rightly so) to anything that doesn't entertain us. This show leaves you with no excuse to ignore anything anymore. Even topics as intractable as the death penalty legislation are skillfully delivered to the masses in an appealing way. It takes a stance where overwhelming evidence lies and doesn't pussy out like other news. Last night's castigation of UAE's policy(Qatar) and elaborate 'Fuck you' to Bashar Al-Assad sent me here to mindlessly jab the mouse pointed at the 10 star rating!

Love the "I used to like it, but..." reviews.

[hasansevik · 9/10 · 4 January 2022]

Especially because most of those reviews, conveniently mostly post-2016, will say things like 'He used to be balanced but now it's leftist/woke/agenda-driven. I've watched every episode of this show and it's ALWAYS been left-leaning. Social justice, pro-healthcare, anti-gun... That's what the US needs to hear specifically because the US is none of those things at the moment. Don't pretend that people like John Oliver used to represent everyone equally and then suddenly went Left. That's like suggesting that Tucker Carlson used to be more Centre and then suddenly, out of nowhere, he's become Right, when he's always been Right.

In saying that, I love that he provokes conversation and forces audiences to think beyond just the acceptable alternatives. Rather than increase funding in this, why not scrap it entirely and go with that instead? Sure, some will watch it and think, "Nup, that's going too far" or "That's so un-American" or even "He's pandering to this group or that ideal", but sometimes Americans need to hear those extreme views, especially when their own leaders are happy to implement even more extreme measures (like locking up kids because of their skin colour, building a wall much like the Berlin Wall, and labelling all Mexicans as "rapists and murders...and some, I assume, are good people").

I, for one, love that John is willing to push his views so far that it'll piss many people off, because, if nothing else, it starts a conversation. Since the US has seen absolutely no major social, political or financial reform in the last 50 years, the country needs to be shoved out of its racist, elitist apathy and shaken vigorously until actual change becomes part of the conversation.

Used to be great!

[chris_derenzis · 7/10 · 16 August 2020]

The early seasons of this show did a great job investigating topics you might not usually consider, with a fun comedic style. The later seasons seem to have turned down the comedy and turned up the political partisanship, which is a bit of a shame as the overall program is less entertaining as a result.

Yeah he's played his hand

[kcrateau · 3/10 · 18 October 2022]

I've got to say that well, I started out liking John Oliver, all the way back from his days on Comedy Central, that his brand of humor, while still fun in his satirical format, has almost run its course when there are no more original topics to pick from and we need to revisit five or six different types of stories, an tell the same jokes every time. I always found myself right in the middle of the road politically, but there are too many times that when John announces the main story, I already know I'm going to be rolling my eyes more than I'm going to be clapping my hands. And sometimes the jokes to start that damn funny. The long winded runoff of a side story with complete nonsense that has become his trademark. It's just not funny.

Again, I like his general brand of humor, and still seek out for parody of common blowhard news channels but I wish we got something a little more genuine and unique after a few years.

Why this show beats the Daily Show

[welfarechrist · 8/10 · 6 June 2014]

There have been a lot of comparisons to the Daily Show so I decided to point out some important distinctions. Aside from what one can only consider Jon Stewart's showbiz fatigue, there are two glaring differences between the Daily Show and Last Week Tonight.

First, Last Week Tonight is not only fresher, younger, and therefore has more to prove (and has been successful so far), but perhaps most importantly its on HBO. At first the difference didn't really strike me, then they did a long segment on Comcast and Time Warner Cable that was not only eye-opening in an investigative manner, but is a subject you would NEVER see on the Daily Show, probably because it is ultimately a subsidiary of a subsidiary of one of those two companies.

Secondly, and perhaps less importantly, Last Week Tonight is not, like its title suggests, a weekly show. Just look at its episode air dates. I'm not sure why so much time goes on between two episodes, but as long as they keep up what they've done so far I'm looking forward to it.

Primarily I'm excited to see a comedy news anchor go after the things that have been off-limits for comedy central personas due to their network status.

Much needed infotainment

[briancham1994 · 9/10 · 3 June 2020]

John Oliver uses his biting humour to bring light to important issues and events. His style involves a lot of mockery and rude jokes that alienated me a bit, but overall his incisiveness led me to want more.

Great show with intelligence and humor

[sese19 · 10/10 · 18 April 2021]

This show is a rare gem; it talks about problems of the world - not necessarily the biggest problems, although sometimes it tells commonly known issues that affect so many people -, it's sarcastic and very funny. John Oliver is a great comedian and an amazing presenter, he performed very well during the pandemic as well although he had to do the show from his 'void' without audience or staff members. Although I'm not from US, I find the presentation of topics related to US issues interesting as well, but my favorites are the episodes dealing with international problems. I also respect the producers and John Oliver because of crazy things they do to respond to corrupt people or authoritarians. It deserves all Emmys it got.

John Oliver is the most clever and funny person on television!

[renaekearse · 10/10 · 7 May 2018]

John is a comedic genius. I wish the show came on more often or was an hour long. Absolutely brilliant!

Best of the Best

[shreerajtheauthor · 10/10 · 12 October 2015]

Way way way better than Stewart, Colbert, Noah. The way he combines comedy with real life issues in America is just tremendous. His coverage of FIFA and embattled president Sepp Blatter was ahead of the curve. If you're not watching this show you're missing out big time.

Oliver uses dry British wit, combined with some light-headed mockery to expose stupid people, organizations, or general events. The fact that so many people he names choose to respond to his segment, show they are clearly uncomfortable with how bad he makes them look. It's utterly brilliant.

Deeper than the comedy though my hope is that the issues he discusses (like quality of sex education, censorship, food wastage), bring forward positive change. It's not enough to just talk about it. I hope lawmakers/officials are paying attention and act on the issues that Oliver exposes.

Verrry innaresting development in the progressive comedy news ecosphere

[rzajac · 10/10 · 14 July 2014]

I think the most important way to describe the emergence of Last Week Tonight (LWT) is to characterize how it alters the progressive comedy news ecosystem.

Here's my take, in a nutshell: The Daily Show (TDS) and The Colbert Report (TCR) do what they do and do it fairly well... and yet, LWT shows that a niche remains, and it can be summed up in these two points: 1) LWT shows that it's possible to dispense with the pop culture marketing accretion disk that has come to sort of weigh down TDS. I'm referring to the fact that, a) tho he still can "bite", Jon has become noticeably saddled with too much "lite" content--occasional bits involving current events that really don't have much relevance to the concerns of progressive political folk, and b) the occasional kowtow to absolute dawg flicks of Hollywood "hot properties". Oliver shows that you can resolutely dispense with this and still be total laff riot! He has put the lie to the assumptions of the suits that inflict their marketing-think on TDS.

And, 2) Oliver has put a fresh and long-overdue "world news" spin on the structure of his show. In fact (am I hallucinating?), it appears that TDS has, of late, responded to Oliver's spin, and has been injecting a little more global perspective into his content... too little, too late?

Note that I haven't mentioned TCR; and that's because, relatively speaking, it inhabits a separate space from both TDS and LWT.

Anyway, the crux, from my perspective, is that it appears Oliver found that "grail"; a portal to another media political content space which is exciting, while amazingly failing to be redundant! A tall order, but he fills it!

Add to this the arguable assessment that, while his first few episodes seemed to be struggling to get airborne, it's safe to say he is now properly aloft. Congrats! As long as Oliver keeps running as fast as he can to stay in one place (a la Carroll; and apologies for the mixed metaphor), he should continue to deliver a quality product.

A magnificent show that have already helped so much..

[fantom-56381 · 10/10 · 6 June 2019]

It's amazing, he could have chosen to do a show that only helped him gain money but he chose one that helps America (which isn't even his homeland) and it's people... I honestly want to get an HBO subscription just to watch him!! And above this he airs a lot of his episode on youtube FOR FREE!! And on top of that... The cherry on top of this Amazing meaningful show that helps improves people's lives and change laws for the better HE IS SO FUNNY AND INTERSTING!! Who would've imagined I'd ever be hooked on what is basically a news show... John Oliver is one of the few that truely deserves everyone's respect... ( This is the only time I ever rated a show .... If only I can do more for his show)

This show cracks me up

[AlsExGal · 9/10 · 23 October 2016]

John Oliver's show is one in which he intersperses current events with comedy. And to keep your audience laughing while looking at such events today is quite a feat. I've only been familiar with Oliver and his show since March of 2016, so I didn't know about the kerfuffle raised when he was not picked to host The Daily Show after Jon Stewart left. However, I think things turned out for the best because John in a weekly show where he gets to go deeper on issues is probably more useful and funnier than John only getting a monologue and a few one liners in on a nightly show.

John rarely has guests of any kind, so he has to be imaginative in his main segment or he risks getting preachy, which usually just consists of John talking to the audience with clips to illustrate the point he is making.

Oliver always maintains a sense of humor even when he is discussing some of the more heinous institutions of American life such as the concept of medical debt and medical debt collections. He doesn't sport a condescending smile but rather a "isn't it ridiculous that we do things this way" smile. He is quite unpretentious, describing himself as a "rat faced Brit" and his show as "a petting zoo with a desk".

Since I only started watching the show since 2016, John has been blessed with having Donald J. Trump as an unfortunate wealth of comic material. So far in the 15-18 months I have been watching the show, John has highlighted some really oddball third party presidential candidates in 2016, and in the most recent season he transformed his desk into a French Bistro to explain to the French people in their own tongue - while smoking! - why they should not vote for far right wing candidate Marine Le Pen, given a new train set to a local news show in Scranton - John is somewhat obsessed with local US news programs, and traveled to Pennsylvania to buy five wax figures of presidents from a presidential wax museum that was closing, one of them being Warren G. Harding. He then proceeded to show a trailer of a movie entitled "Harding" that could be made if one had access to a wax figure of the president, which his show did. It was actually the only trailer I've seen in the past two years that made me want to buy a movie ticket - and the film doesn't even exist!

Highly recommended if you want to see some horrifying things about American political and economic trends that you will definitely not see on the 24 hour news cycle, and get some creative laughs to somewhat counteract that horror. Highly recommended.

A once great show littered with Trump and his administration focus instead of in depth features

[shreerajshah · 6/10 · 20 August 2018]

I used to love this show and John Oliver remains one of the most genuinely funny people on television. But every week now it is the same jokes about Trump, Bannon, Manafort, Ivaka, Comny, Conway, Sanders. It's not that I like them or do not but I watch this show to get away from the usual drivel of politics and instead pay attention to issues that are otherwise out of scope. Predictable and not entertaining these days. John Oliver needs to get back to what he was doing best in seasons 1 and 2.

Amazing at first, now it's cringe and too bias

[aelso · 4/10 · 25 April 2020]

Had I rated this show in 2015 I might have scored it at least a 9. John Oliver's delivery of jokes whilst raising awareness of well-researched issues and fighting for the little guy was to be commended; It was a breath of fresh air and helped make the world just a little bit better. As a result I would "binge" on these YouTube clips.

Unfortunately the same can't be said today. His segments and certain jokes are now more often cringe, with a lot of lazy jokes and clips taken out of context. I don't know if I'm leaning more towards the right these days or he's just moving more and more towards the left on the political spectrum but this strong bias is becoming ridiculous. The constant Donald Trump bashing is getting quite old now and the show is staring to feel like liberal propaganda, which as a liberal myself I feel quite ashamed of.

It's not too late for the show to turn things around, but as it stands, John Oliver, someone who I regarded as a hero is now just plain annoying.

The one

[vatigue · 9/10 · 14 August 2019]

If you miss Jon Stewart's Daily Show, don't get comfortable with Trevor Noah's version and haven't found something similar to ease your need, check out Last Week Tonight.

Oliver's Twist on the News

[ianhyphen · 10/10 · 10 August 2014]

Intelligent and well researched, Last Week Tonight does some hard-hitting segments that leave most other news shows way, way behind.

I used to watch Comedy Central's back-to-back "news" shows every night. But, the formula for those shows has devolved into tedium. The writing is good and, luckily for them, there is always something incredibly stupid going on in politics. But, I can't watch those shows anymore; I don't even want to.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has the laughs. It has the "stupid politician does stupid thing" segments. But, those two aspects of the show are just the potatoes served alongside a thick, juicy slab of deep, serious news brisket. No subject is safe while the camera is on Oliver. He hits the nail on the head when discussing the death penalty, issues with advertising, the Ukraine situation, Net-Neutrality (thank you), equal rights in Uganda, and so many other issues.

I have two complaints: Sometimes the mic on the crowd sounds like a laugh track. It's not, though; the show is filmed in front of a live audience in NYC. Sometimes Oliver gets so carried away that he starts to doubt himself and you can see the cognition on his face. Just let it all out, John!

Those are the cons! Watch this show, it's worth every penny. And now, this...