John Oliver's Last Week Tonight

I watched the video yesterday, and I felt it was really awful. For starters the video needs nearly 20 minutes just to establish that John Oliver keeps claiming that he isn't a journalist, but the appeal of his show are the facts and the stories he represents and less the humour. Which, yes, is true, but something I just explained in one sentences and could cover within 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how many clips I use.

But I also don't see how this is a huge revelation. The video seems to work on the premise that John Oliver is using this as some sort of get out of jail free card, the same way You Tube channels use the "I was just joking" excuse, but that doesn't line up at all. For one, it is not a web show, it is on HBO, and just because he is a comedian, it doesn't mean that the show can't be sued or hasn't been sued in the past. And it is not like the audience doesn't treat his segment as news either or isn't critical when it feels that he might be off the mark. I mean, we discuss what he presents all the time.

So the big revelation here is that for some reason John Oliver doesn't want to claim the title "journalist" for himself...which isn't exactly unusual. Rachel Maddow always insists that she isn't a journalist either, but a pundit, who lays out the work of actual journalists to the public.

So in the end it boils down to the definition of "journalist". And there are a LOT of people who say that only the people who do the research (and often risk their life in the process) and write the segments/articles are journalists, while the ones who present them are "just" pundits. Or comedians, if they joke around while doing it.

Basically, John Oliver doesn't call himself a journalist not because he thinks it's beneath him, but rather because he doesn't think he deserves to be called one.

Yep. And he is right, btw.

In fact, if you have watched any John Oliver at all, it's really clear that he doesn't think journalism is beneath him. In fact, he even went out to make a whole episode just dedicated to journalism.

That video is genuinely baffling.

John Oliver discusses the Mueller Report.

Well, kind of. It is a huge report, and Oliver sticks to a general overview. This is probably not the best format for digging through the entire thing.

Maybe he should have focussed more on the redactions and how the house will deal with it.

It is one of the most talked about news stories in the last month, so I don't know what Oliver could really bring other than his own opinion. I did hear about Buzzfeed making the exact same bodybuilder vs. government official mistake as a "scoop," and even has had a picture of the guy on their article since January.

Relatedly, a professor tweeted out a comment wondering how it would have gone down if the Starr report on the Clinton administration was summarized and redacted like this, and Monica Lewinsky replied "If. Fucking. Only."

Well, even the news has its bloopers. And I'm not sure what John could possibly add on this one, either.

John Olliver has a new video on Chiitan, and becomes the last man on Earth to make a Pokemon joke in reference to Japan.

And if you thought that was not crazy enough, Chiitan has now challenged Chii-John to a fight, WWE style.

Edited by Redmess on Apr 28th 2019 at 8:43:24 PM

What the everloving fuck?

And someone here thought the psychics episode wasn't relevant.

I don't know why I love this so much, but I do. It's just one of life's mysteries.

I have to admit that this seems totally up John's ally. I could see him playing the mascot himself.

Oh, I don't think he'd do that. Wearing one of those mascot costumes is hard, hot physical work.

You saying John is a lazy bum?

I'm saying he's a TV personality, not young any more, and probably doesn't have a rigorous physical training regimen.

Who knows? Maybe I'm wrong and he's secretly jacked and pumped. None of my business. But I doubt it.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 28th 2019 at 7:01:56 AM

X6 That was a main segment, this was just a side segment for fun, the side segments are always the silly stuff, it’s where they’ve done the mascot stuff before, the dog court, the wax presidents, ect...

Oh, that explains a lot. Those don't often seem to make it to the youtube channel, though.

Yeah the side bits aren’t normally uploaded, but they obviously had lots of fun with this one.

The episode was a little bit strangely constructed. Normally he has a few small segments and then a big segment, but this one was all about the Mueller report in the first half and then all about this mascot in the second half.

So you guys are watching a different show than I am, basically.

There are always some complete versions on Youtube since the show doesn't seem to be overly concerned about copyright infringement.

I kinda wish they'd just post full episodes on the official channel.

Edited by speedyboris on Apr 29th 2019 at 9:37:16 AM

Yeah but that would rustle HBO since they want you to subscribe.

There has to be some sort of understanding between John and HBO, where HBO wants to retain control of the full episodes so they get all the sweet subscription money, but the big segments still get released on YouTube.