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This week: Greece gets a loan reprieve. Cease fire violated in Ukraine, Egypt butchers the Russian national anthem. The UK's Labour Party tries to appeal to women by means of a pink bus (YT 4m). Last Week Tonight imagines what would happen if Labour did damage control in a video segment, Pretty Princess Ponies. Main story: The many problems with electing state judges in the US (YT 13m). And Now: CNN Weatherman Chad Myers Hates His Job, His Life and Everyone Around Him. China celebrates the beginning of the Year of the Sheep. Or is it Goat?
posted by JHarris on Feb 23, 2015 - 13 comments

This week: The US Government pulls diplomats out of Yemen as Houthis take control of the country. Theaters saw the worldwide release of the movie version of Fifty Shades of Grey. Ecuador president Rafael Correa carps back at John Oliver on Twitter (Washington Post). How Is This Still A Thing: the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (YouTube, 3m). The main story (YouTube, 18m) is on the current boom times for the tobacco industry around the world, and the efforts they've gone through to ensure them, which include suing countries through international courts to repeal and prevent public health legislation. Oliver presents a new mascot for free use of the tobacco industry, Jeff the Diseased Lung in a Cowboy Hat. Twitter uses can show their support for Jeff with the hashtag #jeffwecan. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Feb 16, 2015 - 10 comments

This week: US Congressman Aaron Schock redecorates his office with a Downton Abbey theme. Argentina President Cristina Fernández catches flack for affecting a stereotypical Chinese accent on Twitter. Radio Shack files for bankruptcy and Last Week Tonight prepared a farewell message (YouTube, 3m), on their behalf. The main story: "Prescription drugs. The only ovals that can bring people in the Seattle area joy anymore." Marketing to doctors. (YouTube, 17m) And Equador president Rafael Correa calls out social media users who insult him on national television. John Oliver, in a helpful gesture to help Correa thicken his skin, provides his official Twitter handle, @MashiRafael, so internet users can directly insult him. That's right everybody: Last Week Tonight is back.
posted by JHarris on Feb 10, 2015 - 11 comments

This week: Turkey president Erdogan builds a gigantic thousand-room house. New Yorkers become eligable to register .nyc domain names, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg preregisters a ton before scalpers get them. (LWT registered a few of their own: michaelbloombergisawiener.nyc, tinytinymikebloomberg.nyc and bloombergeatsbabycornasifitsrealcorn.nyc). A brief look at the Salmon Cannon (5m), a device for getting fish up stream past hydroelectric dams. (The show kind of goes nuts with the idea.) Main story: State lotteries, their problems and abuses (15m). And Now: People On TV Misunderstanding What The Term "Spoiler Alert" Means. And, finally, this is the last episode of Last Week Tonight for the season, and the year. They bring back the puppets, the Scottish Unicorn, the Space Sex Gecko, and Breakdancing Lincoln for the closing credits. G'night, John Oliver.
posted by JHarris on Nov 11, 2014 - 25 comments

Hungary protests an internet tax. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key floats changes to his nation's flag. Lowes tests out employing robots instead of help staff in a store(6m), prompting Last Week Tonight to make a commercial for Home Depot in response. A couple of days before the 2014 elections, John Oliver takes a look at the madness of state legislatures(17m). Web exclusive: the Last Week Tonight YouTube channel reaches one million subscribers(2m). "I think of YouTube subscribers the same way I think of pogs: I recently acquired a lot of them, and I'm not quite sure what they do." According to the LWT YouTube channel, next week is the end of the first season of Last Week Tonight(1m).
posted by JHarris on Nov 3, 2014 - 16 comments

Sweden freaks out over possible Russian sub offshore near their capital. New York freaks out over Ebola patient. Some of the results from last week's Real Animals/Fake Paws court footage. Main story: FDA plans rules on disclosing on nutrition labels how much sugar is added to food, but are opposed by food manufactuers. Interview with Dr. Jane Goodall. Some of the gaffes of Toronto mayoral candidate Doug Ford, Rob Ford's brother.
posted by JHarris on Oct 28, 2014 - 6 comments

Ebola Freakout. Vladimir Putin has a full day. McDonalds hires a former Mythbuster to promote their food. Main story: the plight of military translators (16m), with guest "Fnu" Mohammad. And Now: People in Congress Reminding you Exactly How Long They've Been In Congress. How to liven up Supreme Court proceedings (6m): take a cue from Keyboard Cat and replace courtroom drawings with dogs. Presented with raw footage of dogs (and a duck and a chicken) (11m) that news agencies (and you, the viewer at home) can use to make your own backing footage of Supreme Court audio.
posted by JHarris on Oct 20, 2014 - 5 comments

This week: Hong Kong protests China's increasingly intrusive control. A roundup of silly candidates for Brazil's upcoming mandatory election. Norway drops out of the running for the 2022 Winter Olympics due to excessive IOC demands, leaving China and Kazakhstan as the sole remaining candidates. How Is This Still A Thing: Columbus Day. Main story: police abuse of civil forfeiture (16m MeFi). Special guest: Jeff Goldblum. Jell Goldblum outtake clips (1m).
posted by JHarris on Oct 7, 2014 - 11 comments

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York. Continued riots in Ferguson, Missouri, and the failed PR response. Mahmud Karzai steps down as President of Afghanistan. And now: Words newscasters coyly refuse to say. (At least one for every letter of the alphabet!) A damning piece on US drone strikes. How Is This Still A Thing: Ayn Rand. Kansas selling seized porn and adult toys to help make budget shortfall.
posted by JHarris on Sep 29, 2014 - 5 comments

After historic turnout, Scotland elects remains in the UK. The ruling party of New Zealand uses an Eminem song in a campaign commercial without permission, and is pretty dismissive about it. More NFL players are under fire from domestic abuse allegations. (2.5m, extended web exclusive) Newscasters refering to the future using the fifty-old cartoon The Jetsons. Obama extends the US trade embargo with Cuba. People on the news insincerely laugh at each other. A long piece on the Miss America pageant and their questionable claims for funding woman scholarships. (15.5m) Surprise guests: Kathy Gifford, and "Giuseppe," who they objectively determine on a runway is a better host than John Oliver.
posted by JHarris on Sep 22, 2014 - 19 comments

The NFL is embroiled in controversy for their handling of player Ray Rice's assault on his wife. ISIS prompts yet another American military intervention in Iraq (2m). Olive Garden comes under fire from activist hedge fund for poor practices, including not using salt to boil pasta water to prolong pot life. Scotland votes on independence from the United Kingdom (15m). Newscasters misidentify photographs as selfies. A record of companies misappropriating Twitter hashtags and memes to try to look important and socially-conscious, featuring the hashtag #WeUnderstandThatAsCorporateEntities​OurPresenceInCertainDiscussionsIsNotAlwaysRequired​SoWeWillStriveToLimitOurActivities​ToJustSellingyouShit.
posted by JHarris on Sep 15, 2014 - 9 comments

This week: A secret of ISIS's success may be their use of social media. Libyans hold a pool party. 60 Minutes anchors prompt echoing responses from interviewees. A long piece of student loan debt, with an emphasis on the excesses of for-profit schools. (16m) And the Russian space sex geckos have died. (6m) A Great Big World is on hand to play them off.
posted by JHarris on Sep 8, 2014 - 5 comments

This week: Mo'ne Davis pitches first shut-out in Little League history. Iranian Parliament forbids vasectomies and birth control. A look at a Crimean annexation celebration events. Police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri sparks civil unrest, and a look at police militarization (15m). And a piece on the wage discrepancy between men and women, with commercial for "Ladybucks." Last Week Tonight is off for the next two weeks.
posted by JHarris on Aug 18, 2014 - 12 comments

This week: Americans striking ISIS in Iraq with aerial bombardment. Russian gang steals 1.2 billion internet passwords. A three-day cease-fire in Gaza doesn't quite go the distance. A long piece on the payday loan industry. (16m) Russia bans Western food imports.
posted by JHarris on Aug 11, 2014 - 9 comments

Uganda anti-gay law invalidated due to improper procedure. Obama comments on torture. The New York Port Authority sues local New York kitchenware maker Fishs Eddy. Argentina defaults on debts due to machinations of hedge fund Elliott Management. Newscasters telling you about the things that will kill you. And a look into "native advertising," or, ads made to look like news, presented in news contexts. Bonus: The resolution of last week's space sex gecko story.
posted by JHarris on Aug 4, 2014 - 13 comments

This week: Flordia Representative Curt Clawson mistakes Americans for Indian government figures on camera, ISIS may have ordered genital mutilation for women in an Iraqi city (but may not have, at least they deny it), Thailand's government annoyed with Last Week Tonight's coverage of their silly prince (with a bit about nations with a lèse-majesté law), newscasters annoyed at what they're covering, a long piece on nuclear weapons in the US (YouTube, 15m), politicians using outdated pop culture references, and the temporary loss of that Russian gecko sex satellite (YouTube 3.5m).
posted by JHarris on Jul 28, 2014 - 18 comments

This week: Conflict in Gaza. Ukraine rebels shoot down airliner. The Commonwealth Games. John Oliver says the overall theme of the week was how depressing it was, so let's have a long piece on prisons in America... but with a puppet song at the end! John Oliver suffers so that we might laugh.
posted by JHarris on Jul 21, 2014 - 10 comments

Japan ends its pacifist military stance. Warren G. Harding wrote naughty letters to his mistress. (YouTube) Obama goes on a tour of the nation. Main story: Income inequality and the estate tax. (YouTube) FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke is a hypocritical bastard. The CIA tries, and fails, to improve its public image.
posted by JHarris on Jul 14, 2014 - 9 comments

This week: Luis Suarez bites another player in the World Cup for the third time. Snakes and bees drive the terrorist organization Boko Haram out of the Nigerian forest. Obama requests $500M in aid for moderate Syrian rebels. US Supreme Court decides Hobby Lobby case. Politicians misuse the word "literally." Ugandan persecution of homosexuals intensified due to influence by American evangelical groups. Interview with Ugandan transgender activist Pepe Julian Onziema. Part 2 (web exclusive).
posted by JHarris on Jun 30, 2014 - 15 comments

This week: Iraq continues to fall to ISIS. Thailand undergoes a military coup d'etat. Antarctic ecosystem threatened by tourists. A long piece on monarchy around the world. And the top story, on Dr. Oz, dietary supplements, and their regulation. To show Dr. Oz that he can pander on his show without making questionable claims, Oliver finishes up with a pander-palooza, which has to be seen to be believed.
posted by JHarris on Jun 23, 2014 - 19 comments

This week: Tom Wheeler responds to the show's Net Neutrality piece: "I would like to state for the record that I'm not a dingo," Al-Qaeda offshoot ISIS overruns Iraq, Dan Snyder refuses to rename the Washington Redskins (with parody commercial), the sorry state of immigration reform (with necessary revision to An American Tail) and interview with Stephen Hawking, with an extended version on YouTube.
posted by JHarris on Jun 16, 2014 - 19 comments

This week: Racehorse California Chrome fails to win the Triple Crown, a German lawmaker calls Anglea Merkel on their version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, China censors web searches on the Tiananmen Square massacre, a long segment on FIFA, the organization that runs the World Cup (13m) (bonus: remix of FIFA President Sepp Blatter falling off a stage [19s]), and ending with the history of Syrian Dictator and professional monster Bashar al-Assad. And in connection with that, surprise musical guests Right Said Fred (3m)! Extra: the Tony Abbott piece from last week's show (4m).
posted by JHarris on Jun 9, 2014 - 17 comments

This week: far-right groups including Greece's Golden Dawn party picking up seats in the European Parliament, Ukraine elects candy billionaire Petro Poroshenko as President, Obama's plans to leave Afghanistan, White House Press Secretary Jim Carney retires, the FCC's planned ruling on Net Neutrality (13m), the idiocy of Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott, and Scripp's National Spelling Bee ends in a tie. The show's official YouTube page offers this bonus clip (4m) coming off the hiatus.
posted by JHarris on Jun 2, 2014 - 18 comments

Episode 4 of John Oliver's satirical news program. Highlights are a video of Mario kissing Link, a disturbingly hilarious internal PR document from GM, John Oliver posting embarrassing pictures of himself to the internet, and an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria. Next week the show is on break.
posted by JHarris on May 19, 2014 - 10 comments

The third episode of John Oliver's satirical "whatever this is" for HBO. Covers the drafting of the first openly-gay player in the NFL, the Eurovision Song Contest, the Russia v. Ukraine commemorative "coin," the FEC allowing contributions in Bitcoin, the Kentucky Senate race (NSFW), people dressing up as other races and the dangers of global warming. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on May 12, 2014 - 14 comments