I’d imagine working on Last Week Tonight requires a lot of effort. Stephen Colbert even suggested as much when he interviewed John Oliver on The Late Show Wednesday night. Yet hearing Oliver say out loud that his show only airs a half-hour per-week elicited one response.
Yeah, I’ve gotten that reaction while describing work. There’s usually a few more dismissive wanks involved when I complain about watching television.
After comparing work weeks, Colbert asked Oliver if the destruction of coral reefs or Florida’s black bear hunting season would be future topics. These weren’t riffs so much as actual suggestions from Last Week Tonight‘s official message boards. Shocked that he even had a website, Oliver explained how exactly his team chooses what to cover and who to interview. As it turns out, Last Week Tonight has more topic turnover than one might think, but at least they don’t have to worry about working Donald Trump into everything because there’s always something more important to talk about.
The interview ended with the former Daily Show correspondents expressing their lament of Jon Stewart, while praising Trevor Noah’s first stab at “replacing the irreplaceable.” It’s a situation both men know all too well, and have since proven themselves capable of excelling at.
