Similarities Between Last Night Talk Show And The Daily Show

2014 saw an emerging new force in the world of late-night talk shows with the debut of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. A satirical news show in the vein of The Daily Show, Oliver tackles important issues and topics often overlooked by mainstream news outlets. The similarities between Last Week Tonight and The Daily Show are no coincidence, as John Oliver spent several years working as a writer and on-air correspondent for The Daily Show, including an eight-week stint as guest-host.
As with many late-night talk shows, Oliver’s show deals heavily in politics. However, he has a unique advantage over other shows due to his situation. First, he is on HBO, which frees him from commercial breaks and having to worry about corporate sponsors, and secondly, his show airs weekly instead of nightly. This allows him to pick and choose which topics to cover, instead of being expected to comment on the current hot news item.
Because of these situational distinctions, Oliver chooses to focus the show’s efforts on issues he not only feels are important, but often go underreported. During his second season, he did a series of shows about the criminal justice system, focusing on subjects such as bail,
The Tennessee Lottery: Game-changing, life-changing fun.” Oliver then summaries what he wants you to understand about them by saying, “Those ads are basically implying anyone who does not play the lottery is selfish.” Left on their own, the ads come across as harmless; cast in a cynical light, the ads have an entirely different tone, and you are less like to susceptible to them. He is still talking down to the audience somewhat, not trusting viewers to grasp the negative implications of the ads, but not enough to where it is overtly