Last Week Tonight Episode Review. John Oliver: An OK Show with a Slightly Better Format

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As we might expect, the main story in the most recent edition of Last Week Tonight was the Democratic National Convention, held this time out in the City of Brotherly Fratricide. Just kidding. Your narrator actually resided therein at some point in his past with no long-term ill effects.

After thoroughly trashing the corresponding Republican gathering a week earlier—I’m guessing, not because he necessarily hates Republicans, but because it would be extremely difficult to talk anything other than smack about it, no matter how hard you tried to restrain yourself—Oliver shined his spotlight on the Democrats…as well he should. After all, the event was just the slightest bit newsworthy, was it not?

The thing is, the convention was not at all the cluster-fornication that he would have you believe it was, just in case, you know, you spent the whole week binge-watching a Beavis and Butt-Head marathon and missed it. But then, let us keep in mind, whatever else he might be, John Oliver is a comedian. It is his job to mine comedy from whatever lode he might encounter, no matter how lacking in material it might be. Sure, by putting together a number of quick bits, almost anything can be made to look goofy, and, after all, aren’t all conventions by both parties festivals of demagoguery, to a greater or lesser extent? Truth to tell, the Democratic Convention of 2016 was not the laugh riot that Oliver would have us believe it was. All that is not to say that the host’s presentation was unpleasant to watch. Agree or disagree with him, John Oliver is a top-notch comedian.

In his opening segment, Oliver brought up one of the many recent topics worthy of note that did not involve celebrities and party functionaries ascending to a podium and spewing endless encomia regarding “THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.” His opening topic was about the recent court decisions striking down the restrictive voter ID laws in three states on the not-so-mysterious basis that they were clearly designed to discourage voting by those black and poor people, most likely to vote Bolshevik—oops, make that “liberal” in a given election.

He paid particular attention to the North Carolina laws, which seemed to be the most restrictive. The court’s opinion was that they bordered the Jim Crow laws from our not-so-proud past. In the process, he showed a clip from one of the laws apologists who was quick to assure his listeners that there was no racist intent in passing them. Anyway, I thought it was the most interesting of the three segments, so, it is to that bit that I have awarded the weekly sample. Link and enjoy at your leisure.

Now let us get to the change in format. In his last four shows, the middle segment has been nothing but a series of quick takes on a common theme, meant to be funny, but often not. The silver lining is that they only wasted one or two minutes of our time. This time, Oliver gave us a full segment, of over four minutes, regarding the recent Turkish coup attempt. Not laugh ‘til the tears roll down your cheeks funny, but a productive step up from the mid-section throwaway.

Now, if you’ll keep giving us three substantial segments and lose the idea that getting young children to swear on TV is somehow comical (or at all classy), then I think you might have something.

 

Last Week Tonight, HBO, July 31, 2016

 

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Thomas Cleveland Lane

Thomas Cleveland Lane is a semi-retired freelance writer for pay and a stage actor for nothing more than the opportunity to make a fool of himself. Well, he does get a small stipend from the Washington Area Decency League, after playing the role of Hinezie in The Pajama Game, to never, ever appear on stage in his underpants again. When he has not managed to buffalo some director into casting him, Thomas can often be found at his favorite piano bar, annoying the patrons with his caterwauling. Thomas is the author of an anthology called Shaggy Dogs, a Collection of Not-So-Short Stories (destined to become a cult classic, shortly after he croaks). He is also the alter-ego to a very unbalanced Czech poet named Glub Dzmc. Mr. Lane generally resides in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and was last seen in the mirror, three days ago.
Thomas Cleveland Lane
Thomas Cleveland Lane
Thomas Cleveland Lane is a semi-retired freelance writer for pay and a stage actor for nothing more than the opportunity to make a fool of himself. Well, he does get a small stipend from the Washington Area Decency League, after playing the role of Hinezie in The Pajama Game, to never, ever appear on stage in his underpants again. When he has not managed to buffalo some director into casting him, Thomas can often be found at his favorite piano bar, annoying the patrons with his caterwauling. Thomas is the author of an anthology called Shaggy Dogs, a Collection of Not-So-Short Stories (destined to become a cult classic, shortly after he croaks). He is also the alter-ego to a very unbalanced Czech poet named Glub Dzmc. Mr. Lane generally resides in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and was last seen in the mirror, three days ago.