I disagree with you there! I miss the audience and the energy they give him and his material. (Unlike the Biden/Sanders debate where removing the audience was a vast improvement.)
Still, it was a good episode. The Liverpool rant that kept going after his 30 seconds were up had me cracking up.
it’s hard to supply the needed LOLs.
I thought he did pretty well. There were definitely a few places where he paused for audience laughter that wasn’t available, but for the most part he managed to get the timing right.
Contrast that with Colbert’s terrible attempt last week where he basically paused to wait for audience reaction after every sentence and it just made the whole thing flounder horribly.
Bill Maher did OK… but his staffers were a lot louder than Colbert’s so he didn’t suffer quite as much.
Huh. I was under the impression that they’d ended production until the crisis had passed but nope, another solo episode tonight, apparently from his house although I’m impressed that he has a room that featureless there. (He joked that he lived in a blank white void.)
I’m surprised this was on. They also announced that Bill Maher would be returning this past Friday, but that didn’t happen
He did come back this weekend and it wasn’t good. He really needs the audience, and the guest panel. Also, why on earth can amateur YouYubers make better videos on their phones than HBO did with Maher’s show?
I have been down on Maher for a couple of years though, he’s gone a bit too off the deep end with some of his stuff. Plus he is just not up for tough interviews and repeatedly gets rolled over anytime someone from the right comes on while giving them a platform to spout their crap.
100% agreed. It’s more in line with the old podcast he used to do with another guy (can’t recall the name) where he was a little more natural(?) in it. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is, but I am definitely enjoying it.
The Bugle (with Andy Zaltzman) was fantastic when it was John and Andy, they had been writing / performing partners for a while before that. The show is still going with Andy and various guest hosts - Nish Kumar is the most similar in style to John I think. Still well worth a listen.
I wish he Nish was on more often, but Andy gets some really good comedians to join him from around the world, which I always find interesting.
Speaking of, there’s now a sort-of spin-off daily podcast by regular Bugle guest Alice Fraser, The Last Post. Especially if you enjoy the silly bullshit parts of The Bugle, it’s highly recommended.
I skipped it for now. Not sure why, but the idea behind it didn’t appeal to me.
Anyone hear anything about this show? Oliver didn’t mention being on hiatus at the end of the April 19 episode–he usually mentions if they will be off for a while. And my wife was reading some completely unreliable source–probably Facebook-related–that claimed HBO abruptly cancelled the show.
I did some searching online, and even on the HBO site itself, and I’m not finding anything.
I find it hard to believe they would cancel a show that just won an Emmy for them, but hey, HBO does weird stuff sometimes.
The shows twitter account says they weren’t onl Monday night and the HBO site shows the next episode as 4th May.
I can’t see them canning the show. It’s not as if there is nothing to talk about.
Last Week Tonight is hitting rating highs, and its show budget has to be astronomically tiny compared to most HBO programs while producing twice as many hours of content - there is no way they are cancelling it!
Today I watched last nights episode of Last Week Tonight, and todays topic is pro sports and the possibility of going back to normal.
At the end there he mentions a sport thats pretty fun!
I just watched the first two races of the current season:
https://youtu.be/7D-FHaaShvM
and its loads of fun! I normally don’t watch ANY sports of any kind, but I could get behind this kind of racing. Will dive in to the archives for the older championships. Seems like fun and well produced idea!
I did as well. Watched far too many races, and dare to say it’s more exciting than real car racing at a fraction of the time. Really well done. The British commentator is just perfect. If he isn’t already a pro, he should be.
The Danbury segment at the end of this week’s episode was some next-level shit. My eyes are still watery.
Remember this guy?
Karma.
In his claim, Murray, who is now 80 years old, writes that he is heavily dependent on the oxygen tank he is frequently seen using, and is “near death.”
Reached by phone, Murray declined an on-the-record interview for this story. Murray said he has black lung from working in underground mines and is entitled to benefits. Additionally, he disputed that he ever fought against regulations to quell the disease or fought miners from receiving benefits.
Like other coal operators, Murray’s companies have disputed the claims made by miners who seek black lung benefits. The coal magnate, who for decades ran the largest privately owned underground coal mining company in the United States, has also been at the forefront of combatting federal regulations that attempt to reduce black lung, an incurable and ultimately fatal lung disease caused by exposure to coal and rock dust.
In 2014, Murray Energy spearheaded a lawsuit against the Obama administration over a federal rule that strengthened control of coal dust in mines.
Good season finale. I loved the explosion porn of blowing up a giant 2020. I don’t even know why exactly.
I hope we don’t lose the void though. I like John Oliver’s show better without an audience.
I had exactly the opposite reaction. Yawn, they did that four years ago, boring. I know, I’m a spoiled brat of a video consumer.