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Last Week Tonight
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Pop 5 Twitter Accounts To Brighten Your 2017
Jan 10, 2017
There's no two ways around it; 2016 felt overwhelming negative. While some of us may have had bright moments and achieved personal success, it seemed that the universal tone going into 2017 wasn't exactly one of beaming optimism. However, a new year is a chance for a new mood. Here are a few hilarious Twitter accounts you need to follow to make your 2017 better. Twitter Accounts That Will Brighten Your Year 1. Josh Gondelman ...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Featured
Politics
Last Week Tonight Gives 2016 The Send Off It Deserves
Nov 14, 2016
In the wake of this past week's election, and following a miserable 2016 in general, Last Week Tonight aired its final episode of the season. There was only one topic of discussion: the 2016 election, "or as you know it, 'I Thought I Wanted It To Be Over But Now That It's Over I Wish It Was Still Going On Because It Turns Out The Ending Is Even Worse, Twenty-Fucking-Sixteen'". Election 2016 Host John Oliver opened the show in a truly chilling fashion: by stating the fears many of us have tried to suppress, such as Trump's access to the nuclear codes and the Supreme Court vacancy. Oliver, like the rest of us, had spent the week dealing with "wave after wave...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Politics
Last Week Tonight Breaks Down Multilevel Marketing Schemes
Nov 7, 2016
Last Week Tonight aired its penultimate episode of 2016 on Sunday, and, despite it being a longer episode, not a minute was wasted. Host John Oliver did begin, as one would expect given the close proximity to the upcoming election, by discussing "the 2016 election, or as you better know it 'of course Election Day is November 8th - the latest possible date the election could fall on. This must be the universe punishing us for all the masturbating we've done, and it was a lot, 2016'". The show then moved on to the main segment of the evening -- one that had refreshingly little to do with the outcome of Tuesday's vote: the dangers of multilevel marketing schemes. 2016 ...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Featured
Politics
Last Week Tonight Examines School Segregation
Oct 31, 2016
Host John Oliver and the staff of Last Week Tonight really didn't want to discuss the American election this week. Instead, they had hoped to talk about literally anything else before launching into their main segment, which focused on school segregation. Oliver even teased a story about Iceland's election, where a party of pirates was running. There were even going to be eye patch jokes! Of course, the FBI's revelation on Friday throw a bit of a wrench into their plans. 2016 Election On Friday, the FBI announced that they had renewed their investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails. With the election a little over a week away, the announcement w...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Featured
Current Events
Last Week Tonight Examines America's Opioid Crisis
Oct 24, 2016
Last Week Tonight is known for taking on tough topics. Their strength is in educating their viewers using a combination of humour, outrage, and information. Sunday's episode was no different, with host John Oliver and the rest of the Last Week Tonight team covering two very depressing topics: the election and the opioid crisis currently facing America. Oliver began by talking about the election, "or, as you may know it 'I honestly don't even know if I can make it another two-and-a-half weeks I've been drinking a lot and lashing out and frankly my family is worried 2016'". He pointed out that this last debate "of this election season, and possibly ever" was an o...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Featured
Politics
Last Week Tonight Takes A Serious Look At Third Party Candidates
Oct 17, 2016
In the final few weeks leading up to November 8, Last Week Tonight has increased the amount of time it's devoted to issues surrounding this year's election. Sunday's episode was no different, with the main focus aimed at third party candidates Jill Stein and Gary Johnson. Donald Trump's antics were the topic of the first segment of the episode, and, after the antics of, allegations against, and dangerous comments made by the Republican nominee this week, viewers really couldn't expect anything less. Oliver pointed out how "irritating" it is that Trump has dominated the news, given other aspects of this election, such as the information WikiLeaks has released re...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Politics
Last Week Tonight Talks Trump Tapes And Guantanamo Bay
Oct 10, 2016
Last Week Tonight returned on Sunday to discuss the content of the recently released "Trump Tapes" and to educate viewers on the complex issues surrounding Guantanamo Bay. The episode was unfortunately taped before the second Presidential debate, giving host John Oliver plenty of time to discuss Trump's latest scandal in addition to the show's main segment. I'd like to be optimistic and say that it could be the focus of a future segment on the show, but that would require Trump to have a relatively quiet, uneventful week; we all know that isn't a likely scenario. Oliver wasted no time and dove straight into a discussion of the 2016 election, "or, as it's better known 'O...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Featured
Politics
Last Week Tonight Takes On Police Accountability
Oct 3, 2016
The staff at Last Week Tonight had quite a week to cover in their most recent episode, but they still managed to do the week justice. They began by discussing Donald Trump, but, after the week Trump had, one can hardly blame him. After covering what is arguably the worst week in Trump's campaign, the show moved on to discuss the incredibly important and increasingly relevant issue of police accountability. The show began by discussing the upcoming election, or "what did I do to deserve this? I always tried to be a good person is this because I stole candy once in 4th grade please stop punishing us 2016". To be fair, I'm a Canadian, and even I'm starting to see the elect...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Featured
Politics
Last Week Tonight Compares Clinton's Scandals To Trump's Using Raisins
Sep 26, 2016
Last Week Tonight has returned from being on hiatus for four incredibly long weeks. While the main segment explored the various political scandals plaguing both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the show began, as always, by briefly recapping what had happened while they were away (winning Emmys!). Host John Oliver began by discussing the protests in Charlotte, North Carolina, which began after yet another police officer shot a Black man. After offering nonsense excuses, such as "transparency is in the eye of the beholder" in an attempt to justify keeping the video from the public while still insisting that things are transparent, it was finally released to the public....
Written by Ashley Perna
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Featured
Politics
John Oliver And Stephen Colbert To Host A Post-Election Benefit
Sep 19, 2016
This election has seemed almost unbearably long, but there is an end in sight. Thankfully, in less than two months, the nightmare than has been the campaign trail for the 2016 Presidential Election will end, for better or for worse. When that time finally comes, two of our favourite late night comedians will team up to give us a retrospective on the entire process. The Daily Show alums John Oliver and Stephen Colbert -- now both with their own shows -- are set to team up on November 19 for a live event entitled Wow, That Was Weird: A Post-Elec...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Politics
Last Week Tonight Gives Charter Schools An 'F' And Offers Some Advice For Trump
Aug 22, 2016
Before leaving for a month-long hiatus, Last Week Tonight used back-to-school season to put charter schools under the microscope, offering up some disturbing results. Predictably, the show kicked off by discussing the events of Rio 2016, including Ryan Lochte's "incident" and offered some advice to Donald Trump's campaign. Host John Oliver started the show by talking about Rio, specifically, the controversies that persisted throughout the Olympic games. He zeroed in on US swimmer Ryan Lochte, who had claimed he and three other swimmers were robbed at gunpoint. Unfortunately for Lochte and his incredible, almost unbelievable story, it turned out that he and the swimmers ...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Featured
Politics
Last Week Tonight Warns Viewers About Predatory Auto Lending
Aug 16, 2016
Before launching into their main segment about predatory auto lending, host John Oliver and the team at Last Week Tonight began by discussing the 2016 election. Despite having a rough few weeks politically, Hillary Clinton and her potential scandals were "eclipsed by the exploding star that is Donald Trump; the owner of what you describe as resting rich face". Trump gave a speech earlier last week in which he proposed actual details for an actual tax policy. In fact, he stayed on point throughout the greater part of an hour when giving that speech. Oliver quipped that it must have made his campaign happy to have him on message. Unfortunately, the rest of the week descen...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Featured
Politics
Last Week Tonight Discusses The Importance Of Print Journalism
Aug 8, 2016
Last Week Tonight returned with an important discussion on the continued relevance of print journalism, even in today's internet-based society. Before launching into his main segment, host John Oliver and the team at Last Week Tonight spent some time discussion the 2016 Summer Olympics, currently being held in Rio amid a lot of controversy. Oliver began by talking about the opening ceremony, typically an extravagant event introducing each country. This year, however, NBC's announcers seemed to have studied each and every depressing fact about each country and relayed that to viewers instead of the usual inspirational tidbits typically conveyed. Oliver also chas...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Featured
Politics
Last Week Tonight Burns Trump While Discussing DNC
Aug 1, 2016
Last Week Tonight returned last night and, somewhat predictably, devoted the main segment to the events at this week's DNC. He highlighted the differences between the DNC and the RNC, noting that the most surprising one was how much the Democrats focused on patriotism, which is usually the theme of most Republican events. Host John Oliver also highlighted Donald Trump's grossly inappropriate comments made in response to one DNC speaker. Before launching in to the main segment, the show began with a brief rundown of the week, starting with "America's Shit Salad Fuckstravaganza 2016", otherwise known as the 2016 US election. After pointing out how close the poll results ...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Featured
Politics
Last Week Tonight Talks RNC And Campaign Songs
Jul 25, 2016
Last Week Tonight returned after a long three week hiatus to tackle the RNC, and the controversial use of songs in a variety of political campaigns. Host John Oliver began by talking about the 2016 election, calling it the "3-D IMAX Shit-Fit Dumpster Fire 2016". Before jumping into one of their main segments about the Republican National Convention, Oliver discussed Monday's Democratic Convention. Things for the Democrats aren't looking good, even before the start of the convention. The chair of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz is set to resign, after a number of DNC emails were leaked, and Hillary Clinton's pick of Tim Kaine for running mate ...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Politics
Stephen Colbert Takes On The Republican National Convention
Jul 18, 2016
Late Show host and beloved satirist Stephen Colbert is taking on the Republican National Convention, in a number of wonderful ways. The last time Colbert was involved in a national election, he was still sitting behind the desk at The Colbert Report, and was able to cover the lead up with a great deal of satire through the persona he had created for the show. This time around, it's as the host of a popular late night program, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Colbert kicked things off on Sunday night, crashing the Convention and seizing...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Politics Sports
Last Week Tonight Covers Brexit and Doping
Jun 27, 2016
While the main segment dealt with drug doping, host John Oliver and the team at Last Week Tonight began this week's episode by launching straight into a discussion regarding Brexit, as many had hoped. Oliver spoke of the decision that has shaken the world, and “not in Muhammad Ali/Sonny Liston sort of way, but in a those Ikea meatballs contain horse meat sort of way”. Oliver called out David Cameron, who resigned as Prime Minister in the wake of the referendum results, for having called the in/out referendum in the first place. He also spoke of Nigel Farage, “three time cover model for Punchable Face magazine” and Boris Johnson, “a shaved orangatang with Owen Wilson’s h...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Politics
Last Week Tonight's Brilliant Brexit Discussion
Jun 20, 2016
Last Week Tonight took on the important, but under-discussed (at least on this side of the pond) issue of Britain's proposed exit from the European Union. Commonly referred to by the catchy name "Brexit", the issue will be voted on in a nationwide referendum on Thursday, and host John Oliver had more than a few concerns about the proposal to discuss with viewers. Before launching into the show's main segment, however, Oliver took a few moments to talk about the aftermath of the Orlando shooting. A lot of the conversation, especially from the right, has focused on the shooter's background, with Trump using this horrible tragedy as a way to push his own anti-refugee opini...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Politics
Last Week Tonight Gives Helpful Retirement Savings Advice
Jun 13, 2016
Host John Oliver spoke to the audience before the “jarringly inappropriate” theme music rolled to discuss the horrific terrorist attack in Orlando. There isn’t much information to go off of, just that at least 50 people were killed, 53 injured and “right now, this just hurts”. This terrorist attacked what Oliver argued was a combination of things that made American great, “a Latin night, at a gay nightclub, in the amusement park capital of the word”. He showed a video posted to Twitter today of people lined up around the block to donate blood to help the victims. While Oliver acknowledged that right now there is little anyone can say about these events to dull the pain, he offered this sm...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Politics
Last Week Tonight Makes Television History
Jun 6, 2016
After taking a week off, Last Week Tonight returned to make television history in a segment detailing the practice of purchasing debt. Before hosting a giveaway that would make Oprah jealous, host John Oliver and the team at Last Week Tonight dove right in to discuss Donald Trump's current and past legal woes. Oliver began by introducing us to a new report indicating that Donald Trump and his various companies have been involved in at least 3,500 lawsuits in the past 30 years. To put this into perspective, there are literally not enough episodes of every legal show on the air ever to have one episode devoted to each suit, "meaning Trump's lawsuits exceed the l...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Featured
Politics
Last Week Tonight Dissects The Electoral Process
May 23, 2016
Last Week Tonight stepped in to help clear up the confusion surrounding the electoral process in the United States in their main segment last night. Before brilliantly discussing the convoluted system involving primaries and caucuses, delegates and superdelegates, host John Oliver and the team at Last Week Tonight covered a few other things going on in the world last week. The show kicked off by talking about the civil unrest currently facing Venezuela, "north South America". The country's economy is currently collapsing, causing food and medicine shortages around the country. The country's president has threatened to jail business owners who are forced to close their f...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Featured
Politics
Last Week Tonight Discusses Underfunded 911 System
May 16, 2016
Last Week Tonight took a look at the 911 system across the United States, and examined how a lack of funding and modernized systems can often be dangerous. Before discussing the need for funding and technological upgrades, host John Oliver and the team at Last Week Tonight launched into a topic almost as frustrating: "Rome burning in man form", Donald Trump. Earlier this week news recirculated that 1990s Trump invented a publicist for himself and pretended to be him on the phone. This publicist, named John Miller, sounded "so perfectly Donald Trump" that the ruse wasn't maintained for long. In fact, when the story first broke in the 1990s, Trump admitted that ...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Featured
Politics
Last Week Tonight Criticizes Inaccurate Scientific Studies
May 9, 2016
Last Week Tonight returned on Sunday with an all-new episode. Before launching into the way the media reports scientific studies, host John Oliver and his team began with a recap of last week's events. Unfortunately, this included the news that "sentient circus peanut" Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee for president. In order to put Trump's victory into perspective for American audiences, Oliver discussed the current political state of the Philippines "Earth's Rorschach test". Their election is today (Monday), and their current frontrunner is every bit as terrifying as the thought of a Trump victory. Rodrigo Duterte is known for his off the cuff state...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Featured
Current Events Politics YouTube
Last Week Tonight Warns Us That The Cicadas Are Coming
May 2, 2016
John Oliver and the staff at Last Week Tonight were off this week, but still made sure to leave their viewers entertained in their absence. Instead, they posted a web exclusive; this one about the plethora of cicadas expected to hit North America this summer. Cicadas have an unusually long reproductive cycle, and go underground for 17 years at a time. The cicadas that will be annoying us all this year were conceived in 1999, and have been hidden from sight (and earshot) since that time. These pesky insects have a relatively short lifespan, living for anywhere between two to six weeks before mating...
Written by Ashley Perna
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Featured
Politics
Lin-Manuel Miranda Raps About Puerto Rico Debt Crisis On Last Week Tonight
Apr 25, 2016
John Oliver and the staff at Last Week Tonight focused their attention on the huge financial crisis currently facing Puerto Rico last night, with some help from Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda. The US Territory is facing $70 billion dollars of debt, with nearly 45% of their citizens living in poverty. The Governor of Puerto Rico spoke about the situation, saying "this is not politics, this is math". Oliver quipped that "'this is math' is one of the most dread-inducing sentences in the English language". In some situations, a territory could turn to bankruptcy protection, in order to continue providing for its citizens. Unfortunately, this isn't an option availabl...
Written by Ashley Perna
