Top 10 Last Week Tonight With John Oliver Episodes

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Next month marks the beginning of the eight season of HBO's expectation-shattering, risk-taking, trouble-making news-satire series Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (2014-Present). Before the new season begins, I figured I'd share my ranking of the very best episodes from what is undoubtedly my favorite talk show on television. There have been many memorable ones throughout the years, as the series is known for going big with its high-budget stunts and the host's mentality of doing insane things to prove a point. Out of the many crazy things that have happened across the seven-season run, these are the best of the best. And now, this.

And now, my honorable mentions: Burdihamedov / Guinness World Records (Season 6, Episode 20), Coronavirus VII: Sports (Season 7, Episode 14), Dalai Lama (Season 4, Episode 4), Public Shaming (Season 6, Episode 5), Scandals (Season 3, Episode 23)

10. Coronavirus II (Season 7, Episode 5)

The seventh season of Last Week Tonight started out in a normal fashion in the spring of 2020. Among the first episodes was one titled "Coronavirus", with the main story being about the virus that was mainly spreading in China at the time.

Then, the situation hit the fan.

After the first four episodes had aired, the Covid-19 situation in the U.S. (and many other countries around the world) got exponentially worse, leading to a large-scale lockdown. And so, HBO continued to air the talk show from Oliver's own home (which Oliver constantly refers to as a "blank void"), which would be the setting for the rest of the season. Coronavirus II was the first at-home episode of the series, and Oliver did a brilliant job adapting to the difficult situation. The episode strikes a balance between empathizing how serious the situation is but also convincing people that we will get through this - doing a much better job at that than certain governments, which get their share of valid criticism in this episode.

9. Confederacy (Season 4, Episode 26)

I've heard people compare John Oliver to journalists more often than to other talk-show hosts - he and his team put such an incredible amount of effort into researching material on the issues they discuss on the show, that underneath all of the crude satirical humor, there is a whole lot to learn from the series. It is especially evident in episodes like Confederacy, where Oliver tackles a very complex and difficult subject with a a brilliant combination of entertainment and facts. You'll laugh, but you'll also learn a lot and think about subjects worth thinking about.

The role of the Confederate States' history in current U.S. politics can be a difficult thing to grasp, as different media outlets portray it in different ways - I remember being extremely confused about why so many people still insist on glorifying slavery-era U.S. - not just the leaders of the era in general, but particularly the ones who fought for their right to own slaves. John Oliver does a great job explaining this baffling phenomenon, and lines are drawn all the way from Confederate generals to modern-day white supremacists (such as a certain ex-President from recent history). It's all very eye-opening.

8. President-Elect Trump (Season 3, Episode 30)

John Oliver's season 3 finale was the first episode to air after the infamous 2016 Presidential election. Oliver is visibly agitated by the results, and seems to be barely keeping it together, which was quite therapeutic to watch in a strange way - many viewers, myself very much included, could relate to his chaotic mood. Even with such a dire situation, as is always the case, John Oliver managed to pull some fantastic laughs out of it.

Before 2020 happened, 2016 was all the rage in the category of horrible years in recent memory. It felt very appropriate that Last Week Tonight's final episode of 2016 ended on an explosive montage of various people saying "Fuck you, 2016!" to the cameras. In the midst of the montage of people saying just that, one of them says "Fuck you, John Oliver!" while pointing his middle finger, and I remember roaring with laughter to this insanely funny moment.

7. Rudy Giuliani (Season 5, Episode 10)

The main story in this season 5 episode was about President Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani, and it was all right - but that's not the reason for the episode being in my all-time top 10. The reason for that is what happened after the main story, as we got an explosive conclusion to the all-around perplexing narrative surrounding Blockbuster Video, that had spanned multiple episodes throughout the season.

Oliver had originally done a short piece on how there were only few Blockbuster Video locations open in the U.S., and he had later decided to help them stay in business by donating various movie memorabilia to them - most famously, a jockstrap worn by Russell Crowe in the film Cinderella Man, that Last Week Tonight had purchased in an auction for comedy reasons. All of this insanity culminated in this episode, where the host revealed that Crowe had thanked John Oliver for this bizarre tribute by donating the money from selling the jockstrap to the Australia Zoo - specifically to fund a ward for koalas with STD's. And so it came to be that the John Oliver Koala Chlamydia Ward was established, and John Oliver ended this episode by fake-ending the entire series, walking out exclaiming that he has now achieved everything.

6. Police (Season 7, Episode 14)

In the wake of George Floyd's murder and the discussion involving police and protests in the summer of 2020, Last Week Tonight aired its most somber episode to date. While the half-hour did involve moments of humor, the overall tone was much more serious than in any other episode, as Oliver wasn't in a very joking mood and wanted to make some very important points regarding some very hard truths. The episode is a perfect example of why John Oliver is considered to be a more "journalist" type than his talk-show host counterparts, as he delves into some shocking facts regarding police training and various structural problems in the U.S. police system.

The episode deals with issues that no one wants to think about but everyone should confront and be aware of. At the end of the episode, the host decides to give the last word to the people most affected by police brutality, as he shows a clip of African-American Kimberly Latrice Jones putting to words just how much pain her community has been through and why people are so frustrated - a clip so powerful, that when it cut back to John Oliver, he (just like many viewers undoubtedly) was in tears. Important stuff.

5. Church (Season 2, Episode 25)

Between my plans to watch the entire 24 franchise in real time according to the show's timeline in the span of 12 years with a friend of mine, and my seven-year (and counting) -spanning tradition of presenting my annual Christmas present to my brother in an extravagant form that is larger in scale each year, I think it's safe to say that committing to a bit is somewhat of a religion to me. And that is why people like John Oliver are heroes to me - the man literally started his own church just to prove a point.

In this iconic season 2 episode, Oliver tackles the issue of televangelists - if you're not familiar with the subject, the gist of it is that there's a whole subculture in the U.S. of illegitimate churches that scam money from people through religious propaganda on television. To prove just how easily this can happen due to lack of regulation, John Oliver revealed in this episode that he had formed his own church with the help of his HBO budget. Last Week Tonight literally formed their own church with the help of a legal team, and proved first-hand just how easily they could scam a bunch of money from people thanks to some worrisome loopholes in the law. "Go big or go home" truly sums up the show's mentality in episodes such as this.

4. Donald Trump (Season 3, Episode 3)

If you've read between the lines and caught on some subtleties in blog texts such as my top 10 party movies and the top 10 movies that define the Trump era, you might've picked up on the fact that I'm not the biggest fan of Donald Trump - sure, you may think that a movie blog should stay out of politics, but to be fair, at this point I see Donald Trump as more of a human rights issue than a political issue. Anyways, this episode was aired in early 2016, and it was the first of many times that John Oliver went after then-candidate Trump with a perfect mixture of hard facts and brilliant humor.

What really gets me about the original Trump episode is just how meticulously Oliver deconstructs all of the reasons for Trump's popularity. Throughout various polls and interviews, he pinpoints four main reasons that Trump supporters have given for supporting him, and then uses cold and hard facts to show why each and every one of those reasons were, well, bullshit. I'm guessing that die-hard Trump supporters don't watch Last Week Tonight regularly, but I'd love to show this episode to one of them and see what they have to say after all of the main pro-Trump arguments got so brilliantly dismantled.

3. Government Surveillance (Season 2, Episode 8)

Another "Go big or go home" episode. After talking about government surveillance for 14 minutes, Oliver starts to build up towards his big reveal: "Unfortunately, the most obvious person to talk to about this is Edward Snowden, but he currently lives in Russia, meaning that if you wanted to ask him about any of these issues, you'd have to fly all the way there to do it, and it is not a pleasant flight". *Deep breath and a wicked smile* "...And the reason I know that...is that last week, I went to Russia to speak with Edward Snowden, and this is what happened".

The rest of the episode is a video of Oliver interviewing fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden in his current place of asylum in Russia. This was a bold step by Oliver, and the interview is incredibly informative and poignant at times and hilarious at others. At one point, the host uses the concept of leaked "dick pics" to dumb down the government surveillance debate, and as a visual illustration, he gives a folder with a picture of his genitalia to Snowden, proceeding to ask who would be able to see it if it were sent by e-mail or social media. When Snowden asks if he should show it to the camera, Oliver responds "No you should absolutely not, and it's unbelievable that you would do that. Actually, it's entirely believable" - rarely have I laughed out loud as lengthily and intensely as I did when that genius joke hit me.

2. SLAPP Suits (Season 6, Episode 29)

In the season 4 episode Coal, John Oliver went vigorously after coal boss Bob Murray over his horrible treatment of employees. After this, Murray sued Last Week Tonight. Oliver wanted to do a piece on SLAPP suits (a specific kind of lawsuit performed by rich entities with the mere intention of silencing their opponents with the power of money without any legal grounds) - but as long as the court case lasted, he wasn't legally allowed to bring it up. After two years of Murray trying (and failing) to get Last Week Tonight off the air, the case came to a conclusion, and Oliver was ready to tell the truth to the world.

This episode is Oliver's journalist side at its finest. He exposes Murray as a rotten human being who has been getting away with running people out of business and silencing his critics with SLAPP suits for years, and shows just how immoral and damaging these actions have been. Murray's actions had gone largely unchecked until this very point, as Oliver bravely and gloriously shared the truth to the world. Being the extravagant showman that he is, the host ended the episode with a ridiculously large-scale musical number, featuring the "EAT SHIT, BOB" squirrel from the original Coal episode as a nice throwback. Never has an episode of television been so entertaining and hysterical while also being so societally impactful and morally upright at the same time - except, of course, for this list's #1...

1. Mike Pence (Season 5, Episode 5)

I promise to you, this is the only time that "Mike Pence" is number one in one of my blog posts. This episode, focusing on the former Vice President, is quite the roller coaster - after a bunch of criticism against the VP, John Oliver reveals the one thing that likes about Pence: his bunny. We're introduced to Marlon Bundo, the Pence family's bunny, who has a cute name, a sweet social media presence and even a children's book about him published by Pence's family. However, Oliver brings up the dark undertone of the seemingly wholesome children's book - due to Pence's extreme beliefs, one of the book's major sponsors was a deeply homophobic organisation that performed conversion therapy on gay teenagers.

Thankfully, John Oliver wasn't having any of it.

In the most hilarious, poignant and respectable stunt that the series has ever pulled, Oliver reveals that Last Week Tonight had written and published their own children's book about the same bunny - only in this book, Marlon Bundo is a boy bunny who loves another boy bunny, and the story has a pro-equality message for children. Not only that, but all of the book's proceeds went to the Trevor Project, which provides crisis aid and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ+ youth, and AIDS United, which works to end the AIDS epidemic in the United States. John Oliver's Marlon Bundo book is honestly one of my favorite things that any human being has done, both on a humor/entertainment level and on a moral one.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for my first blog of February, which will appropriately be a list of the top 10 movies to watch during Black History Month. See you then!