What do you call a man who has 19 Emmys, nine Producers Guild Awards, seven WGA Awards, three Peabodys, a Grammy and whose political satire has influenced U.S. legislature? Certainly not “just another comedian.” John Oliver is all that and more.
The state of American politics for the last handful of years has left many feeling like we’re trapped in a bad TV show, in which twists and turns are so crazy that it’s hard to believe it’s real. Although that could be a gift of endless material for comedians, Oliver sees it quite differently.
“It’s not necessarily a gift that you want, to be honest,” says the executive producer and host of “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver,” which has six Emmy nominations. “Technically, it’s a gift, but it’s not a great one. I think that the tendency is often to think that it writes itself. I promise you, it doesn’t. Everything moves so fast nowadays, you can get first-take jokes online very quickly, so you have to be writing not the most obvious joke for anything to have any kind of surprise factor. On top of that, things are very bleak,” he adds. “When you’re writing jokes, you want to try and find a way to deal with that bleakness that isn’t kind of fiddling while Rome burns.”
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The British import first made it into the homes of America in 2006 as a correspondent on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.” There, his smart, funny, biting but always very passionate comments about government opened eyes previously closed and is credited with inspiring legislators to make changes or, as Time magazine called it, “the John Oliver Effect.” That notion makes him laugh. “I think the John Oliver Effect might mean different things to different people. I think for some people that ‘effect’ is being depressed.”
Being a political satirist during American election seasons isn’t as easy as it may sound. There’s so much crazy “low-hanging fruit,” one can miss the actual substantive stuff that’s happening. “One of the flaws of the way American elections work is that so much of it is about personality, not policy,” he tells Variety. “The policy stuff, of course, is so much more interesting, and definitely so much more important, and that can be a problem, especially when you’re writing comedy — it can seem counterintuitive to say, ‘Don’t look at this objectively funny thing.’”
Contrary to the 2016 election, this time around it’s much easier to not let Donald Trump — or the daily news cycle — disrupt every show. “Because it’s the third time he’s running for president, there isn’t much more to say about this guy,” Oliver laughs. “He’s an open book. I don’t know what more we can really add in terms of content that we haven’t done already. So, it actually feels easier to talk about other things. That was not the case in 2016.”
Oliver makes no bones about it, he unashamedly leans left. He has had his share of not only torching the Republican party and its agenda, but also those who support it. And that can be dangerous water for him to tread. “I’m sure there’s been threats. I don’t pay any attention to that,” he says nonchalantly. “That feels like a massive misuse of time, to wonder whether someone hates you … because you have to know deep down the answer is yes.”
To counter the frequently grim events Oliver thoroughly covers in his main report — each takes six weeks of research — he always leaves viewers with something lighter to cap off the show. “Once you’ve talked about the sourcing for death penalty drugs, he really does try to pull you out of the abyss. ‘I’ve eaten an awful lot of vegetables here. Is there nothing in the way of a nice scoop of ice cream?’”
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