John Oliver Thinks His Emmys Are a 'Suit Of Armor' for 'Last Week Tonight'

By Andrew Sanford | TV | February 19, 2024 |

By Andrew Sanford | TV | February 19, 2024 |

The summer John Oliver hosted The Daily Show was huge for me. He was one of my favorite correspondents, and watching him get the ball for several months was undeniably exciting. I loved Jon Stewart (and still do), but there was something fresh about Oliver. I also had been a huge fan of Anthony Weiner (I know) and watching Oliver get to make fun of him for his second sexting scandal in as many years made it must-watch at a time when I didn’t own a couch. I still found a way to watch Oliver on The Daily Show. When he left, I was devastated.

That devastation did not last and to be fair, if I had known Oliver’s thoughts at the time, I probably would have been happy. Comedy Central did not treat him well, so he took his talents over to HBO. Since then, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has been a late-night behemoth. Since its inception, the show has earned 28 Emmy awards. As far as Oliver is concerned, the show could not continue to exist without them.

Oliver recently sat down with TODAY to discuss the upcoming season of his show, though he was more interested in talking about football (the soccer kind). Oliver, referring to his Emmys as a suit of armor, says that it would look bad for his parent company to cancel him if he and his staff keep winning awards. He’s not wrong. While there are plenty of people like me who would have followed Oliver anywhere, leadership at HBO has been shaky at best. A fact that Oliver has never been shy about pointing out.

The entire interview is delightful. It’s sort of a career retrospective over eight minutes. A highlight is him referring to himself as a “British Fievel.” He also presents himself like a man who is always surprised people want to talk to him. He’s humble and self-effacing. There’s a reason I took to him so thoroughly when he first popped onto the scene, and why that likely won’t change.