Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mental Health, Peeple

October 5, 2015 2:57 AM - Season 2, Episode 29

Vladimir Putin launches air strikes against ISIS in Syria. Quick takes from the United Nations general debate: Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe defends their anti-homosexuality laws; Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaims the Iran nuclear deal by silently staring them down for 45 seconds; dictator of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko brings his 11-year-old son to sit beside him in the General Assembly. The Secret Service hits scandal yet again by trying to embarass Congressman Jason Chaffetz by leaking his old job application to their agency. And Now: People On Television Talking Shit About Their Producers. Main story: the horrifying plight of the mentally ill in the United States. YouTube (12m) And Now: Newscasters Stretching The Definition Of The Word "Exclusive." And finally, the new "Yelp for people" app, Peeple... wait that sounds a bit familiar. Last Week Tonight launches a website to facilitate people saying awful things on the internet without actually hurting anyone: screamintothevoid.com. Or consider another suggestion by LWT: Peeble, an app which rates people according to the opinion of Mario Van Peebles.

Russia: "Earth's Death Star."
United Nations: "The sister organization to the International House of Pancakes."
The Secret Service: "The only people on Earth who can pull off aviator sunglasses... Gwyneth."
Mental illness: "The thing actors pretend to have in order to win Oscars."
Social Media: "That thing Cher almost knows how to use."

"I'm no real es-SNAKE agent."

posted by JHarris (3 comments total)

The Peeple thing has to be the most ill-advised thing I've seen in a while. I wonder what kind of bubble the creators were living in to think the internet is not a place where most people judge each other negatively (regardless of having basis for that assessment or not).

The best bit of the Chaffetz was how the source was mentioned in the slide, and yet he claimed to be from a corporate report.
posted by lmfsilva at 4:33 AM on October 5, 2015 [2 favorites]

MeFi.
posted by homunculus at 12:52 PM on October 5, 2015

While he is no doubt talented and likable, I would be even more scared of what Van Peebles would think of me than what people who actually know me do.
posted by psoas at 9:25 PM on October 5, 2015