John Oliver’s appearance on The Late Show this week was a gem of an interview between old pals, but not everything made it to air on the night that the HBO host was a guest. While Oliver’s silence over his lawsuit and the growing relevance of the term “Stupid Watergate” made the initial show, Stephen Colbert saved what might be the funniest segment for his Friday night recap. As we know from Oliver’s final show before his Game Of Thrones break, he made sure his show outdid everybody else by obtaining 5 of the presidents from the closed Hall of Presidents in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Thanks to $13,500 in bids, Last Week Tonight walked away with Nixon, Clinton, Carter, William Henry Harrison, and sensual lover Warren G. Hardin, all because “we are five times stupider than any other TV show.”
During his reveal, Oliver dropped a little burn on his former Daily Show pal Colbert and his wax pick Zachary Taylor — though he wanted Martin Van Buren at the start. The choice of Taylor is the sticking point for Oliver, who criticizes the former president’s tenure for being a “one year wonder.”
So naturally, Colbert had to bring it up and try to get an apology from Oliver — not for him, but for wax Zachary Taylor. But that also means Oliver is ready to counter with his own, bringing Warren Harding to the show following his theatrical debut opposite Laura Linney. It leads to a bit of a throwdown between the two and their wax presidents, one that gets a little too personal at times. Oliver clearly just thinks he’s big time because he’s got that Game Of Thrones dragon money behind his show, while Colbert is forced to work within the CBS network’s limited budget. They’re just a mom and pop organization over there, trying to compete with Big Premium and its limitless budget.
Luckily both seem to cool down by the end of the segment and then decide to kill the tension by having their presidents make out. It’s basically two grown men playing with their sister’s Barbie dolls on national television and we’re all better for it.
(Via The Late Show)
