Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Food Safety, FDA, and more
After not discussing the subject in the Middle East this past week, the show began with a more somber monologue as Oliver discussed the situation at hand, including the difficulties in covering such a situation on what is, effectively, a comedy show. He highlighted the importance of peace, the innocent people involved, and also the leaders in power. He also noted that the show tapes on Saturday afternoons, which means that things can evolve and change so quickly that it is really hard to dive into any one thing in particular.
For the first chunk of his show tonight, what we saw was a simple (and funny) discussion about the events in Congress over the past several days as the search for a new Speaker of the House continues. Sure, much of it was boilerplate Last Week Tonight political humor, but sometimes you have to serve up what your viewers want on a silver platter.
As for the main segment tonight, let’s talk food — or, to be specific, food safety. This is one of those segments we didn’t know that we necessarily needed, but also one that had a lot of surprising content within it when it comes to how food gets prepared and also what happens leading up to certain recalls. It is not going to necessarily go viral, but it was rather educational when it comes to how the FDA works.
Now, we should discuss the big production-related question
Should Last Week Tonight be taping on Sundays? We really do think that there’s something to be said for that, mostly due to the quick nature of news right now. We do not think it would change anything when it comes to coverage of the Middle East, but it could impact some other subjects that end up breaking at the last minute.
What did you think about what we saw on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver tonight?
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(Photo: HBO.)