Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

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 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!

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.

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.

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.