John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight is a must-watch for people who happen to have HBO and need to see critical video essays about various topics discussed at length in humorous detail. But on Sunday night, it very briefly became the best spot to roast vagabond NBA star Dwight Howard.
Howard is currently getting his (checks notes) fifth second chance at a career resurgence with the Washington Wizards (via the Brooklyn Nets) and by now, even political shows are noticing that trading for Howard might not be the best way to fix much of anything.
You could argue that not all of it has been Howard’s fault, sure, but the writers at Last Week Tonight used the introduction to a 20-minute segment about trade to get off some jokes at Howard’s expense told by an extremely English man.
The joke comes right at the top, but the entire thing is fairly compelling if you have some time to get learned today. Oliver stressed that learning about trade is important because you don’t want to be like a bad NBA general manager and somehow end up with Dwight Howard on your team.
“Seriously parents, talk to your children about trades,” Oliver says. “You don’t want them to go to school with Pizza Lunchables and coming home with Dwight Howard.”
The graphic to Oliver’s left changed to a Photoshopped version of Howard in a Wizards uniform, carrying a bag that says “snakes” and another that says “Skittles.”
The last line does give a bit more recency to what could have been a joke uttered anytime between 2012 and Sunday night.
“You think he’s going to add a three-point shot to his game now kids?” Oliver asked. “Grow up.”
Clearly someone in the writer’s room is an avid basketball fan, which means we eagerly look forward to Oliver’s 25-minute segment about how Kobe Bryant isn’t even a top three Laker in a few short weeks. I’m sure it will go over great in Los Angeles.
