BION Ole|IVER
Making

Bad
News =

FUN

Tierney Watkinson
Contributor

hen the world starts to look like a dismal place,

sometimes it is best to take it with a bit of humour. Who
hasn’t watched the news—really watched it—and then been
filled with the desire to do nothing else but build a blanket
fort and curl up in a tiny ball with a juice box and a handful of
crackers?

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is thoughtful and
blatantly honest without causing viewers to sink into a
black hole of negativity. Presenting important messages
through comedy is a gentle way to make viewers aware

of these issues without portraying them as unsolvable or
overwhelming. The show is fairly new, having only been
around since April 2014. As of yet, the episodes (which

air every Sunday on HBO) are a mere half-hour long, but
hopefully the program will eventually be deemed ready to
be moved into an hour time slot. John Oliver is brilliantly
sarcastic, unapologetically British and is not at all afraid to
poke fun at his guests or even at powerful world leaders.

Regrettably, if understandably due to its American base,
many of the stories have little to do with Canada directly,
although Oliver has commented on news stories involving
slip ups by the Canadian government. There was a short
piece on the Canadian Senate Scandal back in June;

in this clip, Oliver described Canada as, “basically five
hockey rinks surrounded by bears”. He has no idea.

Culture 11

aD

Most of the issues presented by the show are however
global or at least relatable. Topics include Transgender
rights, Food Waste, the Miss America Pageant, Government
Surveillance, and LGBT Discrimination. The writers on the
show are superb, even when they are making fun of Canada,
and don’t just repeat everything that has already been said.

This is not your typical satirical news show. As part the
memorable “Televangelists” segment in August, Our Lady of
Perpetual Exemption was established by Oliver and his team
to demonstrate how easy it was for unscrupulous people
posing as religious leaders to create “churches” intended to
pressure followers into donating money. Dial the number at
the bottom of the screen at the end of this episode (1-800-
THIS IS LEGAL), and you were directed to a recorded message
with Mega-Reverend John Oliver screaming “Praise be!” and
asking for “seed” (i.e., donations).The entire institution was
meant to be a joke, but viewers had a lot of fun sending in
actual bags of seeds and even monetary donations (which
were later donated by Last Week Tonight to Doctors Without
Borders). Unfortunately, due to the fact that viewers
continued to send in all imaginable forms of “seed”, the

Last Week Tonight team was prompted to shut the “church”
down mid-September. The phone number, on the other hand,
still works. The entire “seed” situation is there explained in
better detail by the exasperated Mega-Reverend. Pure gold.

aiiteee

.

sesameworkshop.org

If you are a student without a cable connection, you can
watch clips from the show online through HBO Canada

or on YouTube (LastWeekTonight). The YouTube channel
features web-exclusive clips and extended interviews with
guests including Stephen Hawking, Edward Snowden, and
Jane Goodall. Short clips that focus on lighter subjects and
supplement the show are also available, covering a random
range of topics from “Pumpkin Spice” (“Pumpkin spiced
lattes. The coffee that tastes like a candle”), “Daylight
Saving Time” (“That’s right. You lost an hour of sleep

this morning thanks to Kaiser Wilhelm”), “Ayn Rand”
(“Three decades after her death, the writer Ayn Rand is
still the subject of serious debate. And not just over how
to pronounce her name”), and the various antics and
blunders of politicians and leaders from around the world.

It may not focus much Canadian issues (it is an American
program, after all), but Last Week Tonight is still a highly
entertaining way to learn about current events across
the border and around the world. It is well worth the half
hour; on YouTube, the show’s main stories are featured
as 15-20 minute segments. If you can not spare the time
to watch an entire episode in one go, definitely watch
one of the YouTube clips. Not only will you feel like you
learned something, but you will get a good laugh in too.