7) Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
As evidenced in the summer of 2013 when he was subbing for Jon Stewart, John Oliver was more than capable of working without a net, ready to come out of “the field” and take the anchors desk as one of the news leaders in current-affairs-based comedy. The question was, how would Oliver seek to differentiate himself from those that came before? Stewart on The Daily Show established himself as the impartial judge presiding over politics’ most absurd, hypocritical and redundant. Stephen Colbert, meanwhile, made his observational comedy Method, by creating a character so ludicrously real that he was initially mistaken for an actual right-wing blowhard.
Oliver created a third path, allowing the open format of HBO to take the long way to dissect his various targets so thoroughly that you’d forget you’re watching a comedy show if it weren’t for all the laughing. And Oliver didn’t make it easy, either.
Last Week Tonight tackled complex issues like the struggle for Iraqis and Afghanis who aided the U.S. military to procure a special immigrant visa, or the ongoing half-century U.S. embargo against Cuba. His screed on net neutrality galvanized the people in a way that was akin to Colbert’s Super PAC gag as millions of people filed complaints with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on the issue and crashed the site. A few weeks later, Oliver tackled civil forfeiture, effectively lampooning and informing in equal measure the despicable abuse of the practice with an effective and hilarious Law & Order parody, the Civil Forfeiture Unit.
But it wasn’t all idealism and outrage on the Last Week Tonight docket. Oliver was unafraid to get silly whether it was eulogizing space geckos, pelting celebrity friends with the salmon cannon, or producing reenactments of Supreme Court proceedings with an adorable cast of dogs as the justices. (Bonus points for the chicken as the court stenographer.)
The bottom line is that HBO allowed Oliver a free reign, and freedom went to his head in the best possible way. Without commercials or the creaky format of the standard light night talker, Oliver was able to make his points, be they comedic or otherwise, without having to stop for commercials or celebrity guests plugging something. Many people lamented that Oliver didn’t wait for Colbert to announce his move to The Late Show so that he and Stewart could remain network buddies, but after a great first year, I think we can all now agree that Oliver is now no one’s second banana.