Last Week Tonight

By: Connor Lenahan

This summer I have found myself in a routine. Every Monday morning, almost without fail, I will find myself logging onto YouTube to watch the big topic of the week from the previous night’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

I am a large fan of both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. I am all in on their brilliant, satiric humor. It’s tough to join the duo as a heavy hitter of similar quality. Yet, if there was anyone to do it, it’s John Oliver. Oliver did host The Daily Show all of last summer while Jon Stewart was abroad directing a film. He impressed the world enough to get his own show on HBO this year.

The results are astounding. This is not the first time I have written about Last Week Tonight this summer. I previously shared Oliver’s biting, incredible take on net neutrality a few weeks ago.

What was a moment of amazing potential has blossomed into one of, if not the, funniest part of my week for the majority of 2014. The creative capability allowed by HBO – no commercials or censors – allows Oliver to do intelligent, hilarious deep dives on topics I know nothing about. No other show would dedicate literally half of their broadcast to taking a machete to FIFA, but Oliver is not simply some “other show.”

This is something special. Each week it had a new take on the world around us and each week it manages to either make me laugh out loud, or force me to cover my mouth to suppress laugher at work. I cannot get enough of it. So if you have some time to kill, are looking to laugh, and want to learn about the world around you in the most entertaining way possible, then I shall direct you right to John Oliver and his terrific new show.

Connor Lenahan (@ConnorLenahan) is a sophomore at Boston University, majoring in journalism.