"Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" To Launch April 27th on HBO

[JamesG]

John Oliver To Host Weekly Comedy Show on HBO
Nov 14, 2013
by Kate Stanhope


John Oliver is moving on up!

Just a few months after successfully taking over for Jon Stewart as the host of "The Daily Show", the comedian is getting his chance to shine again as the host of a new weekly comedy show on HBO, the pay cable channel announced Thursday.

Premiering sometime next year, the show will present a satirical look at news, current events and politics, not unlike "The Daily Show" and "Real Time with Bill Maher".





"We weren't otherwise searching for another weekly talk show, but when we saw John Oliver handling host duties on The Daily Show, we knew that his singular perspective and distinct voice belonged on HBO," HBO programming president Michael Lombardo said in a statement.

"We are extremely excited that John has agreed to make HBO his home."





This new show, sadly, means that Oliver will be stepping away from "The Daily Show", which he has been with since 2006.

"I'm incredibly excited to be joining HBO, especially as I presume this means I get free HBO now," Oliver said. "I want to thank Comedy Central, and everyone at The Daily Show for the best seven and a half years of my life. But most of all, I'd like to thank Jon Stewart. He taught me everything I know. In fact, if I fail in the future, it's entirely his fault."

http://www.tvguide.com/News/John-Oli...w-1073459.aspx

[JamesG]

HBO Sets Premiere for "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver"
Feb 12, 2014
by Sadie Gennis


John Oliver's upcoming HBO comedy-news series "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" will debut Sunday, April 27 at 11/10c.

Oliver, who filled in for Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" over the summer, with executive-produce the series along with Tim Carvell, James Taylor and Jon Thoday. Liz Stanton will produce.

Oliver joined "The Daily Show" in 2006 and has received three Emmys for his work as a writer on the satirical series.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/HBO-Last...e-1077634.aspx

[mr awesome]

Oliver's a funny guy, too bad he's not on a more accessible channel.

[JamesG]

[TMC]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/bas...onight-699241?

The problem with Oliver’s HBO debut was that there were too many stories that he had to race through, which resulted in him and the viewers not having the chance to breathe and react. PLUS: Oliver seemed angry at his audience, too, he did nothing to distinguish his show as not a “Daily Show” knockoff, it was a funny and confident start, and watch the entire premiere on YouTube.
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#OtObF0CcKm0olzzB.99

[TMC]

http://defamer.gawker.com/john-olive...ow-1572116205/

"It's only been two episodes, granted,” says Jordan Sargent, "but in that hour of television Oliver has proven himself to be an antidote to Stewart's current brand of humor. Perhaps more precisely, he is what Stewart himself used to be: an outsider who presented the absurdity of politics and the hypocrisy of powerful blowhards while guffawing along with the audience."
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#WPvRDOGoBIwTFvbo.99

[TMC]

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/john-oliv...th-60-minutes/

“Last Week Tonight” found that the long-running Sunday institution has been putting words in its subjects’ mouths.
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#DgGuTJPEBePDoIfv.99

[robyrob]

I love John Oliver - he goes after everybody, and makes it hilarious.

[TMC]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/...l?wpsrc=fol_tw

As Chris Wade notes of Oliver's Late Show visit: “Seeing Oliver and Letterman’s distinct styles bump up against each other offered a revealing window into the old vs. new guard of late night. The currency John Oliver trades in is substance—the packaged delivery of information and argument, while Letterman dwells lovingly in daily ephemera.

[TMC]

https://znculturecast.wordpress.com/...ver-overrated/

John Oliver, the British comedian/political satirist, is beloved on the internet. And I don’t quite understand why. Clips from his HBO show, Last Week Tonight, are constantly shared on social media platforms and folks just can’t stop talking about how great and insightful he is.

But, is he?

Oliver got his start in the U.S. on Comedy Central’s Daily Show under Jon Stewart’s tenure. He appeared in multiple segments over the years as the “Senior British Correspondent”, and, in a very fortuitous move for his career, guest hosted the show for multiple weeks in 2013. His hosting proved to be so popular with viewers and critics that there were rumblings that other networks started to pursue him for their own late night talk shows, specifically as a replacement for Craig Ferguson. Others felt that he was the heir-apparent for the Daily Show when Stewart eventually retired. All of that changed when Oliver accepted an offer to anchor his own show in the aforementioned Last Week Tonight.

Over this past summer, I was able to catch a good handful of episodes of Oliver’s show (usually following after VEEP). And, I don’t quite get the appeal. And I certainly don’t get his influence.

Part of my irritation with Oliver is in his delivery. He is constantly smug and arrogant in his explanation and humor. The type of person who thinks his joke is funnier than it actually is and starts to giggle while telling it. He has a bit of a holier-than-thou attitude towards anything he thinks is beneath him. For example, one episode this past summer had Oliver drinking a Bud Light Lime and eating a McDonald’s hamburger as some sort of punishment/trade-off deal if someone did something or other. Now, I realize that beer and hamburgers are far from healthy, but he made such a production out of it, the supposed gag didn’t land. It came off more as “I’m better than you”.

I think a lot of his smugness would play better if he was trying to play a character in the vein of Stephen Colbert in The Colbert Report. As if he would Oliver would play the role of an upper class Brit who feels he is better than us lowly Americans while completely oblivious to his own shortcomings. But he doesn’t, and his humor doesn’t work for me because of it.

But, delivery is one thing, and it is incredibly subjective. So, that aside, I still don’t get his supposed influence. According to Wikipedia (the source of all truth), Oliver has “been credited with helping influence U.S. legislation, regulations, court rulings, and other aspects of American culture”. This perplexes me.

Many episodes of Last Week Tonight feature one subject in which Oliver humorously analyzes it to the point show how misguided or what inherent problems it has. A very straight-forward approach which, I am sure, is part of the reason he’s gained many viewers. But, there is really nothing new that he is covering that hasn’t been covered by a lot of other political journalists. He really doesn’t bring any new perspective that hasn’t been hashed before. In many ways, Oliver is the Dane Cook of political satirists. He is entertaining, but just because you throw in a couple of F-bombs and pop culture references doesn’t make your material any less vanilla.

And that is where my confusion lies. How has he transcended where others haven’t. His segments are no more complex or enlightening than a high school political science report. But, perhaps that is the point? Maybe because he dumb downs his material that everyday Joes can understand it and be pushed into doing something about it?

I don’t know. Despite my negative-sounding critique, I don’t hate the guy. He can be funny and entertaining at times. I just don’t don’t understand the love he gets from the internet and how people claim he is some sort of revolutionary in the world of politics. Perhaps I never will.

[robyrob]

wow, it sounds like this "Nick" reviewer is a little slow on the uptake; unable to recognize sarcasm, lampooning and basic common sense.

if you think that someone is smug or arrogant simply because they have an accent, I'm sorry but you are an idiot and probably need to be paying more attention or just go back to watching cartoons.

as for John Oliver's influence on "U.S. legislation, regulations, court rulings, and other aspects of American culture" - he has put direct pressure on politicians by embarrassing them and pushing their misdeeds into the spotlight in a way that has been carried over into social media and forced them to respond to it.