Last Week Tonight with John Oliver takes on AHCA, net neutrality

Last week, there was ironically no Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. As a result of that, there was even more for the host to take on when the show aired on HBO tonight.

Of course, it goes without saying that Oliver would choose to offer up some commentary on the American Health Care Act passing the House. It was referred to in part as a “s–t sandwich” over the course of the show, and it’s already clear that there is going to be a minefield of material passed along about this as we get further into the year. So why wasn’t this the main story tonight? The biggest reason for that may be simply due to the fact that there is going to be so much more time to do so when we start to realize what its overall impact turns out to be.

Before moving on, you kind of had to love the shout-out to Mariah Carey’s Glitter combined with Jar Jar Binks, right?

The main story tonight was on net neutrality — or rather, the return of it to the show after being spotlighted previously. Oliver was keen on mentioning that this is far from the most attractive topic for many in the world, but given the shifting of many Obama-era policies on the subject, it was worthy to look back on once more.

The biggest issue with this segment is that if you’re reasonably unaware of internet policies, ISPs, or the FCC, this was a rather difficult one to follow at times. What was effective, however, was encouraging many to call out FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in an attempt to convince him to keep the current stance on net neutrality rather than trying to change it. These sort of viral campaigns are often one of the things that Oliver’s show does best. Oliver also came up with a redirect link to the FCC website, one that caused its server to crash really within minutes of it showing up on the show.

In the end, we wouldn’t call this the funniest episode of the show’s history (though the bit about the mug was pure gold) — it still contained valuable information for many of us who do appreciate the freedoms that come with internet usage.

What did you think about Last Week Tonight this time around? Be sure to share now in the comments! Meanwhile, be sure to head over here to get some other news when it comes to the show, including some further highlights. (Photo: HBO.)