S01.E22: Jane Goodall

[Athena]

John Oliver talks about a Russian submarine in Sweden, Ebola in New York, added sugar in food, Rob Ford's brother, and interviews Jane Gopdall.

[trow125]

From the Twitter feed:

Last Week Tonight ‏@LastWeekTonight 
On tonight's show, John Oliver sits down with Dr. Jane Goodall, a Person Who Thinks Good.

[Fremde Frau]

Oh, she is one of my idols. I admire her work so much.

[dcalley]

Ditto! I'm excited.

[Victor the Crab]

No Ollie! No, no, no, no! I have too many friends living in Toronto who are disgusted and terrified at the thought of Doug Ford becoming the city's next mayor.

 

What's really infuriating about this was that Doug and his brother Rob had months earlier filed paperwork for Doug to enter the mayoral race should anything happen to Rob that he would be forced to leave. Then, back early in September, it was revealed that Rob was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of cancer in his abdomen. But instead of just walking away and have the family focus their entire energy on Rob's well being, Doug steps in to replace his little brother and use his cancer as a rallying cry for his campaign. And to top it off, his 22 year old, wet behind the ears nephew is filling in for Uncle Doug to run for his alderman's seat.

 

If God forbid Doug Ford wins tomorrow night's election, they really should rename the city Crazytown. Doug is like his brother without the "charm".

[peeayebee]

I was hoping that Jane Goodall would do the chimp sound of happiness, where their mouths are open and they make huffing sounds. My sister's dog (and probably all dogs, I guess) makes that sound when she's happy.

[Fremde Frau]

I wasn't feeling the segment on sugar. Oh, well. They can't hit a home run every week.

 

The Jane Goodall interview was cute. For anyone who missed it:

[dusang]

The sugar piece was okay, although between Salt, Sugar, Fat and Fed Up! I've pretty much heard it all before.  I have never seen a Circus Peanut before but they don't look like they could individually weigh 5 grams, let alone contain that much sugar.

 

I do wonder how they prep their interview subjects.

Edited October 27, 2014 by dusang

[The Luvly Junkie]

I wanna chime in and say that while the Sugar piece didn't hit home for some people, I feel like it hit right in my sugar-filled heart in a awkward position. I've become more self-conscious about how much brown sugar I add in my oatmeal. My college doesn't call it an all-you-can-eat cafeteria for nothing.

 

I'm just a little sad no one is commenting about Playboy's Sexy John Oliver costume. Ollie-Scone even gestured if anyone can answer him in the midst of confusion. Is it wrong to feel a little turned on while there is a possibility that the real Ollie-Scone wears nothing underneath his desk?

 

I really liked the Jane Goodall interview, especially at the end with the banana. Kinda reminds me of Stephen's iconic banana skit, but cuter with more grunting.

[Fremde Frau]

His interview with Goodall was very much like a Colbert interview, where the two are sort of trolling each other. I kind of wish it had been more insightful and about the content of her work because it's kind of an easy running joke that ape language involves grunting, but, on the other hand, a couple of million people now see how cool she is--and, by extension, how cool primatology and anthropology are. Everyone knows Indiana Jones, but everyone should know Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birutė Galdikas.

[attica]

I've become more self-conscious about how much brown sugar I add in my oatmeal.

 

I think the culprit isn't what you add to your oatmeal, it's what the oatmeal manufacturer is adding to your oatmeal before you even get to it. You can see what you're adding; you can't see what they're adding.

[Jamoche]

Added sugar is worth knowing about, but it's not exactly rant-worthy. Yeah, cranberry juice is bitter and "unpalatable" - so's lemon, that's why we add sugar and call it lemonade. Or add it to cocktails, which is the only thing I'd do with cranberry juice either.

 

And from my very vague memory of getting those peanuts in trick-or-treat bags 40 years ago, you could not convince me there was any significant amount of sugar in it - until he had a bowl of them I'd managed to repress the memories, so seeing a bunch of weird shaped peanuts on a package would not say "added sugar" to me. It might say "deadly poison to my co-worker", though.

[dusang]

I've become more self-conscious about how much brown sugar I add in my oatmeal.

 

I'm just a little sad no one is commenting about Playboy's Sexy John Oliver costume. Ollie-Scone even gestured if anyone can answer him in the midst of confusion. Is it wrong to feel a little turned on while there is a possibility that the real Ollie-Scone wears nothing underneath his desk?

 

 

I think the culprit isn't what you add to your oatmeal, it's what the oatmeal manufacturer is adding to your oatmeal before you even get to it. You can see what you're adding; you can't see what they're adding.

 

Yes, the sugar added by the manufacturer is the larger problem (unless you're eating sugar with a light dusting of oatmeal, in which case you may have a larger problem).  The problem is processed foods -- any meal helper/timesaver/convenience item at the grocery store.  So basically anything that's not on the outer circle of the store (assuming your local grocery follows the principle of veg, meat, and dairy along the edges).  The only way to know what you're eating is to buy the basic elements of food and cook for yourself.  But that's just sooooo much effort.  (I'm not being sarcastic --  I can hardly remember the last time I cooked for myself without using some form of pre-prepared food item.)

 

The Sexy John Oliver is hilarious and exceptionally disturbing.

[Hanahope]

I remember when this one agency tried to point out how bad certain foods were by saying the fat,salt,calories in X item was the same amount as, like say 10 Big Macs.  Started making me think that hey, if X food is so bad because its 10 Big Macs, I guess just one Big Mac isn't so bad.  Not sure that was the intended affect.

 

But yeah, the problem is sugar, especially HFCS, is in so many foods, foods you wouldn't necessarily expect, and its definitely prevalent in all the packaged foods, that more and more people eat because they lack time to cook.

[Jamoche]

I'm just a little sad no one is commenting about Playboy's Sexy John Oliver costume.

Well, it's nothing compared to Sexy Ebola Health Worker. I was expecting that to be the punchline.

[Eegah]

I've adored Jane Goodall ever since hearing the story about the Far Side cartoon that called her a tramp. She loved the cartoon herself, but one of her associates threatened to sue Gary Larson without her knowledge, which she didn't find out about until she asked for the cartoon to be included in a compilation of her work.

[iMonrey]

Just in case anyone else is as big a dork as I am, "showusyourpeanuts.com" is not a real website.

[ganesh]

Well, I actually like cranberry juice. It helps you pee good!

 

I liked the sugar piece because we have a measure on the ballot taxing sugary drinks. It's a public health problem and it's not covered enough. It's hard to avoid foods, but there's still more people can cut out. I avoid a lot of sugary things, and you don't really need it. 

[Sharpie66]

(FYI, it was #showusyourpeanuts, not showusyourpeanuts.com, so it's for Twitter.)

[dcalley]

 

The problem is processed foods -- any meal helper/timesaver/convenience item at the grocery store.

Yep. I make my own chicken broth sometimes, but sometimes I used boxed broth, and they have added sugar. It's a small amount (the label on my current box says there's 0 g of sugar in a 1 cup serving), but it's there--unnecessarily, in my opinion. The sodium is a big problem, too, but at least they make lower-sodium ones.

 

I enjoyed the Goodall interview but wish they had spoken more about chimps used in entertainment. Don't buy that birthday card with a grinning chimp on it!

[ganesh]

The kick in the ass is, if you avoid processed foods and cook more, it's actually cheaper, takes the same amount of time for the most part, and you can control content. I don't cook with salt at all, for example. 

[Guest Accused Dingo]

I think the culprit isn't what you add to your oatmeal, it's what the oatmeal manufacturer is adding to your oatmeal before you even get to it. You can see what you're adding; you can't see what they're adding.

The same with salt. In an age where obesity is on the rise, it is not too much to ask for manufacturers of food I eat to tell me exactly what I am eating. If they are worried about teaspoons and grams it sounds to me that they are worried that we will do the math. That does not bode well and makes me want to do math....

Edited October 27, 2014 by Accused Dingo

[dusang]

No Ollie! No, no, no, no! I have too many friends living in Toronto who are disgusted and terrified at the thought of Doug Ford becoming the city's next mayor.

 

What's really infuriating about this was that Doug and his brother Rob had months earlier filed paperwork for Doug to enter the mayoral race should anything happen to Rob that he would be forced to leave. Then, back early in September, it was revealed that Rob was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of cancer in his abdomen. But instead of just walking away and have the family focus their entire energy on Rob's well being, Doug steps in to replace his little brother and use his cancer as a rallying cry for his campaign. And to top it off, his 22 year old, wet behind the ears nephew is filling in for Uncle Doug to run for his alderman's seat.

 

If God forbid Doug Ford wins tomorrow night's election, they really should rename the city Crazytown. Doug is like his brother without the "charm".

Well Doug is out but Rob is still on council. Fucking Ward 2, how dare you!

[walnutqueen]

Jane Goodall is a Goddess.   :-) 

[Traveller519]

I was kind of hoping he'd do something on the Canadian Parliment shootings this week and the corresponding Canadian and American coverage. But the show was still great.

[dusang]

I was kind of hoping he'd do something on the Canadian Parliment shootings this week and the corresponding Canadian and American coverage. But the show was still great.

 

I feel like a) that might have been a too-quick turnaround for them and b) although the coverage is a separate thing, that's kind of a serious, downer subject to address, especially on a quick turnaround.