We have a new king of late night television. It is official. He will never have the praise or the popularity of your Fallons, Kimmels, or even the upcoming Colbert, but he deserves your attention just as much. We are talking about HBO’s John Oliver. Yes, I mean it. Despite not having any of the usual late night quirks or celebrities, Last Week Tonight packs a heavier punch than all of your late night programs combined. It is the best chunk of late television I have seen since peak Conan O’Brian back in the Late Night NBC days.
Alright let me take a few steps back. It is seriously unfair for me to compare John Oliver’s program with Daily Show, Late Night, Tonight Show, and even Conan. Those shows have to run 4-5 nights a week for several clusters at a time. It is much more difficult to provide succulent material as opposed to what Oliver has to do—which is one powerful show a week. But the recipe for comedy and tackling serious issues is limiting the amount of shows, increasing the downtime for research and hitting the right notes, and then finding the perfect host to deliver all the content and easily have our attention. The political/sociological comedic blend that was perfected by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert during their peak Comedy Central years has been elevated by HBO’s blend of budget and patience.
With the once-a-week approach, John Oliver and his writing team has less pressure to develop content, therefore breathing more life into the few episodes that exist within the season. With less guests, there’s more time for the important segments and more space to paste smaller comedic bits within the main headlines. And to top it off, with the once-a-week approach you don’t even have to tackle current issues, you can take aim at ongoing issues that don’t necessarily invade the news airwaves. A recent amazing example was John Oliver taking on the corrupt politicians making life difficult for chicken farmers. You wouldn’t see other programs or even news shows discuss this issue, but within 20 minutes Oliver made you care, made you concerned.
It truly helps that John Oliver is an absolute blast to watch and listen to, and it really helps that he was raised on the Jon Stewart comedy circle---which includes Colbert, Wilmore, Carell, Black, and even Conan. His comedic timing is flawless, his ability to go from serious to funny in the snap of a finger is really underrated, and he is practically fearless. And it’s not just taking on FIFA or politicians, but when he went overseas to find Edward Snowden and interview him---that took serious guts considering Snowden’s asylum from the United States. Last Week Tonight never gets too serious, never gets too preachy, but entertains, informs you, and opens your eyes to some of the issues the world is facing.
HBO, your show is perfect, and trying to alter the formula would be a serious mistake. Last Week Tonight is already a hit, through YouTube, internet exposure, and through your initial audience catching each episode. With a smaller requirement of content, you’ll get higher quality from the episodes that ultimately become produced. The writing team is sharp, and John Oliver’s wit and humor is even sharper. Despite having the advantage of less episodes, Last Week Tonight is still the best new thing to pop up on late night television since the revival of Toonami.
If you haven’t been invested in Last Week Tonight, its time to change that. You’ll be thankful later.
No comments:
Post a Comment