Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

Last Week Tonight & John Oliver in the Media


  • Reply
  • Start Topic

Recommended Posts

Quote

 

“He was great. I was impressed by him as a stand-up. He was sharp, funny and instantaneous and clever and all those things. It was no surprise where he has ended up where he is.”

Iannucci believes that Oliver is in the exact right country for his talents, too, because he doesn’t think that he would have reached this level of fame, or honed his comedic voice in such a probing and hilarious fashion if he had remained in the UK.

“I think strong political commentary like that on UK shows tend to not come from one angle. They try to make it look neutral. There are more outlets in the US. Because there is a bigger audience. Which means they can try out new things. In the UK there is a much smaller audience, so everything is a bit more of a risk.”

 

John Oliver’s mentor recalls the comedian’s origins

  • Love 2
Link to comment

BBC: Marlon Bundo: John Oliver lampoons Mike Pence with LGBT book

Quote

one person called Oliver's book "petty" and "mind-numbingly stupid," among comments - mostly urging people to buy the unofficial parody - posted on the official Marlon Bundo Instagram account.

"Oliver's response book seeks to tear down Pence through his wife," read another criticism.

Variety: John Oliver Trolls Mike Pence With a Book About Gay Bunnies

Quote

On Monday, Oliver’s book is at the top of Amazon’s best-sellers list, while the Pences’ book is currently No. 11 on the list.

WaPo: John Oliver spoofs Pence family’s new kids’ book with gay-themed ‘Marlon Bundo’ book

Quote

Karen Pence is an award-winning watercolor artist and educator who believes in the power of art therapy.

EW: John Oliver comes after Mike Pence with surprise children's book about gay bunny

Quote

Pence has not responded to Oliver’s Sunday night segment — which in addition to revealing the Last Week Tonight children’s book also detailed Pence’s history of discriminatory stances, including an opposition to both same-sex marriage and gays in the military. But Oliver is pretty sure the vice president won’t love the book competition nor the fact that the proceeds support two LGBT-friendly charities. 

  • Love 1
Link to comment
7 hours ago, possibilities said:

I thought he talked about Pence's aversion to women in the military, not gays in the military, though I'm sure he's opposed to that as well.

He quoted something from a Pence website that indicated that Pence believed gays should NEVER serve in the military under any circumstances. And I'm sure Pence's stance about women in the military hits John VERY personally, since his wife is a vet.

Oh man, I can't stand the Ellen show but I'm tempted to tune in today to see her segment on the Marlon Bundo book.

  • Love 4
Link to comment
Quote

 

But given the fragile state of the media and government these days, it’s not too surprising that so many people pinned their hopes on a comedian.

“We expect more of a lot of pieces of the media, and that includes relying on satirists to hold the government in check,” Becker said.

“Expectations get piled up high precisely because a lot of people have lost faith in journalism to such a degree that they’ve moved their expectations previously held for journalists over to satirists,” Gray said. “When someone looks to John Oliver to save us, it’s because they’ve already judged regular journalists unequal to the task.”

 

And Now, This: How John Oliver’s ‘Legally Spicy’ Show Has Changed the Media Landscape
 

Quote

 

“The jobs of our 6,000 coal miners depend on me and my reputation,” the letter said. “I am a dying old man, but our employees will suffer as a result of your decision.”

Murray also complained of getting mocked by the show’s fans in letters that said things like “consume defecation, Bob” and “congrats on having HBO make you look like a big fat lardass loser in court. Idiot.”

The judge noted that Murray’s letter constituted improper contact with the judge, and the judge warned Murray and his attorneys to not send another lest he face sanctions from the court.

 

Coal baron mocked by John Oliver sends rambling, self-pitying letter to judge

Edited by OneWhoLurks
  • Love 3
Link to comment
Quote

 

That corporate affiliation is just one of several reasons Tribeca may have to walk a fine line on controversial topics. Festival leaders also found themselves in an uncomfortable position with talent when a seemingly benign anniversary screening of "Wag the Dog" in December, intended as a fundraiser, turned into a referendum on Hollywood's attitudes toward sexual harassment when moderator John Oliver grilled actor Dustin Hoffman over his alleged abuses.

The discussion was awkward for Tribeca executives, who have a close relationship with Hoffman and have had to reassure him and future guests they wouldn't be asked questions they didn't want to answer, according to a person familiar with the aftermath who spoke on the condition of anonymity and was not authorized to discuss the incident publicly.

"Let's not talk about that night," Rosenthal said when asked how she felt about the Oliver event.

 

Robert De Niro, worried about Trump, is making his festival the most activist yet

Link to comment
Quote

 

‘When I finally got my green card, I nearly cried. Which, of course, for a British person is actually crying a lot. I realised then that I had been worried about it every day, that it was the background noise to everything that happened in my life. And the more I loved it here, the more destabilising that felt, because I would just think, what if I don’t get to stay?’

I mention Chris Rock’s assertion in a recent documentary that late-night hosts are the new prophets, the only people telling the truth in an era of manipulation, misinformation and fake news. Oliver is typically self-deprecating.

‘What he says sounds impactful but there are a lot of people in journalism writing a lot of truth right now,’ he demurs. ‘But I think what we can do is call bulls***, call actual bulls***, without having to talk around it. You don’t have the handcuffs of any journalistic, moral responsibility. You can just hold something up and say: that’s f***ing bulls***.’

 

Comedian John Oliver is making waves in the USA

  • Love 9
Link to comment
Quote

HBO was also represented by “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.” Oliver profusely thanked HBO for its support, “not because I have to but because I want to and I have to.” He credited the pay cabler with unwavering backing especially when they pursue such quixotic story possibilities such as acquiring “Russell Crowe’s leather jockstrap.” He thanked the staff for persevering even though it is “almost humiliatingly difficult to make this show.”HBO was also represented by “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.” Oliver profusely thanked HBO for its support, “not because I have to but because I want to and I have to.” He credited the pay cabler with unwavering backing especially when they pursue such quixotic story possibilities such as acquiring “Russell Crowe’s leather jockstrap.” He thanked the staff for persevering even though it is “almost humiliatingly difficult to make this show.”

Peabody Awards: Issa Rae, John Oliver, Carol Burnett, Hasan Minhaj Celebrate the Power of Television

  • Love 6
Link to comment

Last Week Tonight has been nominated for 3 Primetime Emmy Awards:

Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series

Outstanding Variety Talk Series

Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series
Paul Pennolino 
For episode "421"

  • Love 3
Link to comment
Quote

 

Everything in the closing Blockbuster video stores in Alaska is for sale, except the celebrity jockstrap.

The Anchorage store is not yet selling the jockstrap worn by Russell Crowe in the 2005 movie "Cinderella Man" and other memorabilia previously owned by the actor, KTUU-TV reported .

The stores in Anchorage and Fairbanks, the last two stores in the state, closed for rentals this week and reopened for video liquidation sales planned to run through August.

 

Quote

 

"We're not selling the jockstrap at this time," said Kevin Daymude, general manager of Blockbuster Alaska. "But if you want, you can own the display cases it was placed in. We're selling all of those along with the store fixtures."

The fate of the items has not yet been determined, said Alan Payne, the owner of the stores.

"We've been very busy managing through the last store closures and have not made a decision on what to do with the Russell Crowe memorabilia," Payne said. "Will deal with it after the store closing sales are complete."

 

Blockbuster not yet selling Russell Crowe’s jockstrap

Link to comment
Quote

 

Obviously, Crowe's jockstrap should go to Bend, right?

"That is a legitimate question," an amused Oliver said early in his TCA session. "And that is one I definitely know more about than I probably should. In fact, the fact that that premise, the premise of that question makes sense to me is either a compliment or a heartbreaking reflection of myself. Now what's going to happen to it?  That's kind of, we're in the process of working that out."

Elaborating on the jockstrap's future location, Oliver said, "It's technically the property of, I mean it used to be the property of Russell Crowe, but that's very much no more the case.  So, yeah, they're selling some things from that store and I don't know exactly what has happened to the jockstrap in question."

 

John Oliver on whether Russell Crowe's jockstrap will go to Bend: 'That's a legitimate question'
 

Quote

 

“We initially bought it thinking this would be fun to do something with and then tried to force it on a Blockbuster in Alaska,” Oliver said. “They were extremely gracious in taking it and displaying it in the manner in which it deserves to be displayed. Sadly, it does not sustain that dying business model. But, you know, maybe that jockstrap will kind of orbit businesses like a Zelig in the future, just wherever there’s a problematic business seemingly in its last embers, Russell Crowe’s jockstrap will be there.”

John Oliver’s animal impersonations were a topic of conversation too. Raccoons aren’t the only creatures on his hit list.

“I’d like someone to impersonate a hippo and be honest that they’re killing machines,” Oliver said. “They’re one of the most dangerous animals on Earth, and I just don’t understand why they have such a prevalent friendly face in children’s literature. I have a tiny child, so it’s hard to see friendly hippos smiling in stories and not say, ‘You do realize how many people they kill, not for food, but just to watch someone die each year. These are monstrous animals who have no place in your book. Anyway, next page. It’s a giraffe. I’ve got no quarrel with them.’”

 

John Oliver on Investigative Journalism, Russell Crowe’s Jockstrap, Donald Trump, and Deadly Hippos

Edited by OneWhoLurks
  • Love 2
Link to comment
Quote

 

Furthermore, he’d like you to take pause before you cheerfully copy and paste that story about sharks/paedophiles/Hillary Clinton. “The act of passing on a piece of bulls*** information makes you complicit in it,” he says firmly. “And I wish people were more embarrassed when they passed on something that turns out not to be true.”

Oliver is on a mission to do precisely the opposite: to bust wide open the bulls*** that others blithely promulgate and dig beneath the bluster to find some nuggets of truth — however unpalatable. Over the past five years the Birmingham-born, Cambridge-educated comedian has risen to the top of the savagely competitive late-night comedy pile with his satirical HBO show, Last Week Tonight (screened in the UK on Sky Atlantic) — a position imbued with more importance than ever in a world in which the US President calls the free press “the enemy of the people”. 

We’re in a hotel room in Los Angeles where, a little earlier in the day, Oliver faced an audience of hundreds of just such “enemies of the people” — US television critics. Their uncharacteristically enthusiastic treatment of him in a panel session proves the high regard in which he is held. He has won six Emmy awards and two Peabodys so far, and is widely considered the Second Coming of a more comedic Jesus. 

 

John Oliver... the man making a mockery out of American politics

  • Love 3
Link to comment
Quote

 

The English funnyman joked that his new son “doesn’t do anything” of note at the moment aside from “sleeping, s—ing and crying, in perfect rotation,” but shared that his older child is hitting a big milestone.

“He’s going to start preschool. It’s going to be incredible,” Oliver said, adding of his own potential waterworks over his first child heading off to school, “As a British person, I don’t really have a middle ground — it’s either no emotion at all or I’m collapsing in tears.”

“So it will probably be the second one,” he quipped.

 

Emmy Winner John Oliver Reveals He and Wife Kate Welcomed Their Second Child Three Months Ago

Edited by OneWhoLurks
  • Love 6
Link to comment

A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo has made it to the semi-final round of the 2018 GoodReads Choice Awards. It's in the Best Picture Book category. If you're a member of GoodReads (or feel like signing up), you can vote for it here.

  • Love 6
Link to comment
Quote

 

On why he came to the U.S.: “In 2009, I will say in my defense, this was a different country, going in a different direction. Listen, when I got on this horse, it was galloping majestically, Seabiscuit-style. I didn’t realize it was gonna take a hard right turn to the glue factory.”

On posters for Last Week Tonight: “Each year, it’s been fun to come up with an image that my face is not in, because I don’t really like the ephemera of being on TV very much. I have to put these things on buses, so the last two years, I’ve been hiding behind the desk and then with my head on the desk, and the justification for it has been a joke, but really it’s just I don’t want to be there.”

 

Quote

 

On his safety during the recent mail bombs: “The bombs were still getting sent out, he hadn’t got caught, the guy, and I was walking between my office and home. Two separate people — this on like a ten-minute walk to a car — two separate people said, ‘Have you got one yet?’ I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Have you got one? I bet you’re on the list.’ We’re talking about an actual bomb!”

On the show’s animal mascots: “I love a mascot. Tim Carvell, who runs the show, he and I are big fans of the Muppets, and basically we’re just trying to make a Muppet show and failing.”

 

How John Oliver and Last Week Tonight Choose What Stories to Cover

  • Love 6
Link to comment
4 hours ago, OneWhoLurks said:

On posters for Last Week Tonight: “Each year, it’s been fun to come up with an image that my face is not in, because I don’t really like the ephemera of being on TV very much. I have to put these things on buses, so the last two years, I’ve been hiding behind the desk and then with my head on the desk, and the justification for it has been a joke, but really it’s just I don’t want to be there.”

That is so funny! His head on his desk is iconic.

Link to comment

The image of his head on the desk has definitely summed up my and many others' mood these past couple years, that's for sure :p.

Quote

On why he came to the U.S.: “In 2009, I will say in my defense, this was a different country, going in a different direction. Listen, when I got on this horse, it was galloping majestically, Seabiscuit-style. I didn’t realize it was gonna take a hard right turn to the glue factory.”

Certainly explains part of why he got so emotional during the recent immigration segment. It's got to be tough as hell watching a country that you were so eager to live in work so hard to destroy all the things that made you want to come here. 

Quote

On his safety during the recent mail bombs: “The bombs were still getting sent out, he hadn’t got caught, the guy, and I was walking between my office and home. Two separate people — this on like a ten-minute walk to a car — two separate people said, ‘Have you got one yet?’ I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Have you got one? I bet you’re on the list.’ We’re talking about an actual bomb!”

I worried so much about that, too. Same with Colbert and Meyers and Bee. 

On a lighter note, all the stuff with the mascots and him being a Muppets fan is just plain adorable :). Nice article. 

  • Love 2
Link to comment
Quote

 

“He talked about politics and how he didn’t know how long we were going to have to deal with Trump. He also said you know that the state of America is bad when Anne Hathaway is not the most hated person in America.

He talked about going to Yankee Stadium to see his favorite Liverpool soccer team and being invited to meet with the players in the locker room at the same time as Daniel Craig and then being perplexed as to how to react when the entire team came out of the showers naked.

He also talked about celebrities being overvalued and gave an example of how he saw the last space shuttle launch in Florida and someone wanted a picture with him instead of the astronaut and the person asked the astronaut to take the picture and if the astronaut knew how to use their phone.”

 

The New King of Late-Night Drops into UWS Comedy Clubs, Cracks an Anne Hathaway Joke

  • Love 2
Link to comment

Man, I can't imagine what it'd be like to get to interview your idols. That's cool that he got to do that, and that the experience was just as wild and true to the spirit of their work. Indeed, it doesn't surprise me one bit that he would be influenced by them :). Nice article.

In other news, we have an official return date for the show, so mark your calendars!:

Quote

HBO has announced that Last Week Tonight With John Oliver Season 6 will premiere on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 11/10c.

https://tvline.com/2019/01/03/neil-degrasse-tyson-startalk-pulled-cancelled-national-geographic-channel/

  • Love 3
Link to comment
Quote

One last question: If you had to undo either Trump’s election or Brexit — you could snap your fingers, and one of them didn’t happen …
Um, Brexit. Partly because it felt like that put some of the populist movement that got Trump elected in motion, and also the ramifications from that are going to be generational. It’s a total catastrophe, and it hasn’t even happened yet. It’s going to be horrendous.

That’s why we need mascots. Sometimes you just need a mascot at the end of something. It’s like the Kavanaugh thing — it was so depressing that week, having Gritty burst out did at least give the illusion of joy.

So maybe a Brexit mascot in the future?
Yeah, maybe.

John Oliver Really Just Wants Last Week Tonight to Be The Muppet Show
 

Quote

Rival networks didn’t earn a mention during Oliver’s 45-minute session, but he affirmed he is happy to be left alone at HBO. When the show was being tested and fine-tuned before its premiere, he said, the network did offer two key notes, suggesting he not feel obligated to fill an entire hour and also absolving him of having to do an end-of-show interview as per talk-show convention. “They said, ‘You can have another six minutes just for a story or telling jokes,'” Oliver recalled. “That freedom meant a lot to us and that did kind of affect the DNA of the show we were making.”

Over the run of the show, “We’ve not had much contact with” HBO, he added dryly, “I’m sure we irritate them a lot.”

Asked if any AT&T executives had ever been in touch, Oliver snorted and replied, “What do you think?! That would be a hard ‘no.’ AT&T have not come to us at all, and long may that continue.”

John Oliver Previews Sixth Season Of ‘Last Week Tonight,’ Weighs In On Show Format, HBO Relationship
 

Quote

At a Monday morning breakfast in New York City with assorted members of the press, Oliver was asked about which news stories caught his attention during his hiatus, and he had one quick answer. “The really honest answer to that is, there was a story about a British family terrorizing New Zealand, did you hear about that?,” he said. “There was a British family of tourists terrorizing New Zealand, and [executive producer] Tim Carvell and I were emailing back and forth, going, ‘actually, I wish we were back at work.’ But all the other stuff that wasn’t that? No, we were more than happy [to skip it]. We had a couple of weeks off over the holidays, but otherwise, we’ve been working the whole time, researching stories, so there’s been nothing in particular that really felt painful that we weren’t on TV for, other than the barbaric British family in New Zealand.”

He added, “It’s really worth looking up, it’s pretty amazing. I genuinely was disappointed that we weren’t around to show people what was happening there.”

There’s Only One Story John Oliver Is Sad He Missed During ‘Last Week Tonight’ Hiatus
 

Quote

In a press breakfast on Monday, the “Last Week Tonight” host was asked about his thoughts on the hyperbolic headlines surrounding his show, which he called “pretty dispiriting.”

“You can’t really help how [a ‘Last Week Tonight’ segment is] repackaged after the fact, you kind of just have to try and be confident with the piece in the context that exists,” Oliver said. “Then someone saying eviscerates or disembowels ― it can be a little bit sad when you’ve worked for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks or months and months on something, and then it’s ‘takes a sledgehammer to the face of person TK.’”

In 2014, Oliver launched his first epic takedown of headlines, using HuffPost as his personal piñata. Five years later, the “Last Week Tonight” host is still firmly on the side of those who decry headlines like “Watch John Oliver Verbally Pants Dr. Oz Over Dietary Supplements.”

John Oliver Disembowels People Who Say He Disembowels People

Edited by OneWhoLurks
  • Love 5
Link to comment

On Monday night, John was on Late Night with Seth Meyers, and it showed his first ever television role in an adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House (2nd video). To me, he resembles a young Prince Charles.

  • Love 5
Link to comment
Quote

How he and his team select what international issues to cover, often depends, he says, "on how much context you need to give, how much laying the table before you get into the meat of it".

But so popular has the show become abroad that Oliver now has a sizeable fanbase from Brazil to Bulgaria, many of whom want to see their own nation featured.

"One of my favourite parts of the job is countries around the world pitching their worst traits to us, saying, 'We are all garbage human beings over here, you should really do a piece on us'," he laughs.

John Oliver reveals why he can't go to Thailand
 

Quote

Honeyford (R-Sunnyside), primary sponsor of SB 5139, began his testimony Tuesday with a video from "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" that aired back in 2015. The 3-minute satirical clip called attention to daylight saving time's common misconceptions.

Oliver's "How Is This Still A Thing?" segment pushes back against the idea that DST was adopted in the United States for the benefit of farmers. At one point the video's voice-over hammered the point home by saying, "cows don't care what time it is."

“The idea that [the time change] is for farmers is very inaccurate because farmers work in the daylight and it doesn’t matter what the clock says, it’s what the sun tells them," Honeyford said. "I found out that the farmers and the dairy cows do not like the time switches. In fact, some will go so far as to change the milking time ten minutes every day until they gain the hour or lose the hour.”

Quote

Honeyford proposed a bill two years ago to end DST and move the state to Pacific Standard Time year-round. It was this bill that Honeyford said, received significant pushback. This time around, with a bill moving the state to DST, he said the majority of feedback has been positive. 

Sen. Mark Mullet (D-Issaquah) said Washington state can move to standard time today. But a change to DST needs federal approval. Mullet argued that a unified push by all coastal states would send a message to the federal government. 

Honeyford, Mullet and other lawmakers on the committee said they want to prioritize a move to daylight saving time in conjunction with California and Oregon.

Washington lawmaker asks why daylight saving time is 'still a thing'

Edited by OneWhoLurks
  • Love 4
Link to comment

Apparently, lots of people didn't like Marlon Bundo.   

John Olver's Parody Book Among Most Challenged Works

Quote

“Last Week Tonight With John Oliver Presents A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo,” in which the Pence’s family bunny turns out to be gay, was among the books most objected to in 2018 at the country’s public libraries. The best-selling parody ranked No. 2 on the list of “challenged” books compiled by the American Library Association, with some complaining about its gay-themed content and political viewpoint.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...