After General Hospital, John Oliver is Ready for Days of Our Lives

It’s so good to see someone out their living their dreams. John Oliver’s public pleading for a role on one of the major American soap operas saw him land not one but two star turns on daytime TV. He’s already strutted onto our screens and made an impact with General Hospital, where he was a nefarious bad guy with a one-tone dye job who got slapped in the face. Now, he’s moving in on Joey Tribbiani’s patch and stealing the show in Days of Our Lives. And yes, the hair was his choice.

In Days of Our Lives (can we call it DOOL? Is that a thing people do?), Oliver plays, Devlin St. John, Salem’s Chief Water Inspector. He’ll be part of a storyline involving illegal disposal of contaminated drugs and the ensuing cover-up.

Getting into a soap was easier said than done. As the show’s executive producer, Ken Corday, told Vulture, the show typically records its episodes a year in advance. “We didn’t want until next year for these shows to air, so we lifted [already produced] shows and put him in,” he said. So, the team went through their pre-recorded back-catalogue, found a plot thread to add Oliver to, and built it into the narrative. That is tough, especially since soaps are known for labyrinthine plots you can’t pick apart easily. But soap operas are also a fine-tuned machine of hard work and efficiency, so they got the job done.

But what of that hair, so big and bulky that it looks like a microphone? Would it surprise you to hear that Oliver brought that wig to the set himself? The hair and make-up team zhuzhed it up. He’s waited for this moment and he’s not going to waste it, okay? When he gets his big close-up, he wants to fill the shot!

Oliver’s three episodes of DOOL premiere on Peacock on August 11th, 12th, and 14th. We smell a Daytime Emmy campaign!