There are numerous late night hosts that never fail to make the public laugh. One host in particular has made a joke that has topped Amazon’s bestseller chart. John Oliver recently wrote “A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo,” a children’s book following the life of Mike Pence’s rabbit. In the book, Marlon falls in love with another male rabbit, taking a jab at Pence’s overwhelmingly homophobic views.
This is just one example of why John Oliver is special to late night television. He has several segments on “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” that deserve some attention. Here’s a list of moments on his show that still make us laugh.
1. Net Neutrality
In 2014, John Oliver brought attention to the issue of net neutrality and its lack of coverage in news outlets. When talking about how boring the issue was made out to be, he joked “I would rather sit down with my niece and watch ‘Caillou.’” Getting past all of the jokes, Oliver helped uncover the issue to viewers that may not have known about it before. In 2017, he had another net neutrality segment as it became a greater issue. He started a movement of comments on the FCC’s website, some of which said, “go FCC yourself.” Like him or not, you can’t deny his influence on his audience.
2. Standardized Testing
One of the more relatable segments on “Last Week Tonight” was Oliver’s discussion of standardized testing in America’s schools. In this segment, he showed the ways schools attempt to get kids excited about taking tests, like making cringey parodies of pop songs with lyrics about tests, and bringing in a “Funky Monkey” mascot to encourage students to look forward to exams. Oliver even brought the mascot onto the show for a quick performance to show how ridiculous the idea is.
3. TSA
During a show that mainly focused on the scandal of Donald Trump and his relations with Russia, John Oliver went through one of the fastest segments in “Last Week Tonight” history. Trying to condense a twenty minute story into only three minutes, this rushed segment turned out to be one of the most comical stories yet. While there was barely any information given on the issue of the TSA, he ended the segment with puppet-penguins to bring the show to a happy conclusion.
4. “And Now This”
As a part of his show, John Oliver includes a short segment called “And Now This,” with an unrelated subject meant to make the viewers laugh. One of my all time favorites is “The Quiet Pain of Rachel Ray.” In this short segment, the video gives highlights of all of the moments the chef has commented on the fact that she can’t feel her fingers. If you need a laugh today, this is the video you should watch.