Last Week Tonight Review: John Oliver Sells Us a Lemon

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john oliver last week tonight episode review

 

While it is true the 2016 Olympics were still raging at the time of last night’s Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver must have figured he had pretty much milked all of the content he could use out of the games in his show of the previous week. On the other hand, such concepts as America’s top female swimmer being robbed at gunpoint on the streets of beautiful, glamorous Rio, as well as Russia’s managing to get up to fourth place in the medal count, despite manifest and horrendous corruption in its “training” program for the athletes, maybe should not be ignored altogether. Well, maybe next Sunday.

Another phenomenon that pushed the games off of Oliver’s radar was the clearly preemptive behavior of the election loser-elect. Donald Trump’s behavior during the title “last week” reached such a level of ridiculosity that it could not be ignored. In fact, as you almost certainly know without my saying so, it reached such a level that all Oliver could do about it, despite his japes and jibes, was to take a spray-painter to a large potted lily.

One very positive note about the most recent edition of the show was that he went back to putting some substance into that otherwise unwanted red-headed stepchild, the second segment. This one had to do with the American Petroleum Institute’s commercials—in particular to one very bad decision they seem to have made in their recent commercials. You will get the chance to gaze upon that mistake in the link provided below. I should point out that the link will feature an even greater amount of profanity than you might otherwise expect to encounter, so, maybe don’t share this one with your granddaughter.

Oliver’s third segment—as always, the major one of the show—once again dealt with an issue that, while not grabbing any of today’s headlines, is another matter of long-term problems within our society.

The subject of this show’s longest segment was sub-prime auto loans. What we should have taken away from it was that, while we may be heartily slapping ourselves on our backs for the forthright way we suppose we dealt with the sub-prime mortgage crisis, we have not entirely rid ourselves of the problem, just reduced it a bit in scope. In fact, some of the really grisly features the host brought to our attention about the auto-loan situation make it seem an even worse affront to people of limited means than the mortgage crisis ever was. This was an entertaining segment, to be sure, but also a very informative and newsworthy one.

In terms of entertainment values, I would say the part that involved the host sitting behind his desk and letting the bad guys have it was A-OK. When he closed out with a skit, as he often does, he succeeded in making his point in about a minute and a half. Unfortunately, the skit ran a lot longer than that. Still, a small price to pay for a show that was, on the whole, pretty good.

 

Last Week Tonight, HBO, August 14, 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.