Did Donald Trump Change Comedy? If So, Is It Permanent? John Oliver Ponders That and More as LAST WEEK TONIGHT Returns

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede Everyone wants to ask John Oliver the same thing, so it’s best to address it right off the top. As HBO’s LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER returns for Season 8, Sunday at 11 p.m. ET, only on Crave, it will be a different world for Oliver and his writing staff with Donald Trump no longer the President of the United States. Or will it? “There is going to be plenty to be angry about, I fear, under a (Joe) Biden administration,” Oliver said in a video call with TV reporters. “It will just be nice not to have Trump being the motivating factor behind everything. I’m really looking forward to tackling issues without him drawing all the oxygen out of the room, because I don’t think he was good for comedy, politics, or humanity.” Oliver has become a master at satirically covering current events, as evidenced by LAST WEEK TONIGHT having won an incredible 20 EMMY® Awards. But with so many serious stories dominating the news cycle in recent times – Trump, racial tension, the pandemic – has the tone of comedy changed, or at least, has the tone of comedy on Oliver’s show changed? “Oooh … I don’t know, I can’t speak for the universal tone of comedy, but I will say for our show, there were times in the last few years where it became pretty dispiriting writing comedy from a point of complete despair,” Oliver admitted. “So to the extent that we can at least ration those moments a little more, that would be great. But I felt like we were pushed into it. Like, if you’re looking at a piece on family separation, the longer you talk about that, the deeper you look into it, if the position you’re writing from is anything other than outrage, you might be a sociopath. We definitely don’t want to go to the well of outrage more often than we have to, but you do it when you should.” That also is the strategy Oliver hopes to apply regarding continuing coverage of Trump in his post-presidency, whatever that entails. “Yeah, I think during his presidency, one of the calculations we were having to constantly make was, all he wants is attention, right? So you have to make an internal judgment about when it’s irresponsible to give him attention, and when it’s irresponsible not to,” Oliver said. “Clearly, this is a man who is not going away in the traditional sense. So I think there’s going to be a similar calculation going forward: is what he’s doing right now, whatever it is, something that is important to pay attention to? Or is it his normal bull—-?” The fact that Oliver has the freedom to make those choices on LAST WEEK TONIGHT is not lost on him. “It is such a privilege to get half an hour of uninterrupted real estate, and I am cognizant of the fact that it’s not a luxury afforded to everyone on TV,” Oliver said. “We have complete editorial control, and I think that is one of the things that compels us sometimes to look at stories that don’t seem that appealing. I guess the thing that keeps me going is that everything is interesting, right? Everything is interesting if you look closely enough into it.” So all things considered, coming off a tumultuous 2020, what does John Oliver think is in store for the world in 2021? “I mean, who knows?” he said. “That’s the thing, if you had asked me what to expect from 2020 at this time last year, I don’t know if I would have nailed that answer. So I’m a little reluctant to engage in speculation. I think the challenges are pretty clear, and that’s not just to navigate the pandemic, but also the systemic issues that the pandemic has clearly shone a light on. So I think it’s about getting out of this pandemic, and then not going back to normal. And that to me feels key, because, you know, normal was not ideal.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv