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There's A Good Reason HBO Didn't Advertise That Edward Snowden Interview On 'Last Week Tonight'

By Emily Cutler | Videos | February 4, 2016 |

By Emily Cutler | Videos | February 4, 2016 |


John Oliver didn’t tell HBO he was flying to Russia to interview Edward Snowden. And with that news, a little part of me believes that the testicles Oliver is holding in that header might very well be modeled after his own.

Holy shit. When the Snowden interview aired last April, everyone knew it was fucking amazing. But the implicit blessing of a multinational corporation made it seem just slightly less dangerous than if some jackass just up and left the country to interview a wanted, possible felon. Turns out Oliver is, in fact, just some jackass.

And after explaining to his bosses that not only had he secretly flown to Russia but he also did so in order to interview Snowden, Oliver calmly explained that HBO couldn’t do any advertising for it:

We couldn’t tell them that we were going to interview [Snowden], because there had to be very few people knowing about it … Also, I really liked the idea of it being a surprise, because we had this section at the start of the interview where I was really concerned he wasn’t going to turn up. But it’s not really funny if you promote it beforehand, so I thought it’d be great just to spring the interview on people.

But that’s not something I think most networks are anxious to hear: “Oh, you’ve got something you think people would like to watch? Why not not tell them it’s going to be on?” It was amazing that they said, “Yeah sure, we’ll do that.” And then we played it in to the audience, and I told the audience, “Do you mind just not, for the next three hours, telling anyone what’s happened?” Amazingly, it worked.

I really appreciate the fact that HBO let us do that, because we thought it was the best way for that material to be presented, even though commercially, it’s the worst way to present it.

I know Oliver’s thing is self-deprecation, but he literally jet setted in order to have a clandestine meeting with a possible traitor. That’s some next level spy shit.

And don’t forget, Oliver is planning a special Valentine’s date with all of us.

Oliver’s wife is clearly a saint for sharing her husband with us on Valentine’s. But if you need more proof that she’s a cool as her undeniably hot husband?
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2016, meet your new favorite power couple.

Source: Vox