Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Syria, Bill O’Reilly, gerrymandering

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver aired another new episode on Sunday, and based on Twitter reactions and the segments that aired, it feels as though one of the top goals was trying to make as many different people projectile vomit as possible.

Specifically, we’re referring here to a certain “sounds of Bill O’Reilly” segment of the show, as the comedian / host completely eviscerated the Fox News personality over his sexual harassment allegations. We’re not sure we ever needed to hear sex scenes from O’Reilly’s work narrated in the way that they were, but we got it anyway. Remember, sometimes it is the goal of the comedian to shock you more so than it is to make you laugh, and that is exactly what transpired here.

As for the remainder of the episode, another highlight came courtesy of him destroying Brian Williams and other media members for their coverage of the air strike on Syria, which them using language better served for the Fourth of July than anything associated with the air strike itself. Some of Oliver’s most effective criticism here came simply via the timing of it all. John made these comments mere minutes after Girls, a show featuring Brian Williams’ own daughter Allison, aired on the network. Talk about guts.

Oh, and did we mention the return of the Catheter Cowboy? Oliver’s looking to buy up some ad time on The O’Reilly Factor, which makes some sense for select markets given that there aren’t all that many buyers out there anywhere else.

By the time Oliver actually got to the main story in gerrymandering, we were much of the way into the show — not that we had much of a problem with that given the sheer comedic genius that we got in the first eighteen minutes or so. The irony here is that after going so hard after the first two subjects, the main story tonight feels a tad like an afterthought, though there are some big points to be made here about the role it plays in allowing politicians to do what they want. We do admire Oliver for continuing to double down on these important overlooked topics; it’s what makes him stand out from the fold.

Which would of the segments on Last Week Tonight this week did you appreciate the most? Be sure to share in the comments below! (Photo: HBO.)