Every morning, I sit down with a cup of coffee to spend some quality time with my imaginary boyfriend, Jon Stewart. I promise, I read the actual news, too, but Stewart and Colbert have been my late night study break and DVR-ed breakfast companions since college. I admittedly was pretty apprehensive when I heard John Oliver, Senior British Correspondent, was stepping in to fill in as host of The Daily Show while Stewart was taking a twelve-week hiatus to direct a film. I’d always been a fan of Oliver’s clips, but a thirty minute show is a lot harder to carry than a three minute spot. With his tenure almost up, however, I can say with absolute certainty that if John-with-an-H got his own show, he would be joining me for breakfast as well. There are so many to choose from, but here are five of my favorite clips from his work on The Daily Show so far.
This clip exemplifies while I love The Daily Show regardless of who’s hosting. They take truly grim, rather unconstitutional situations and find humor in them without making light of anything. Even if the joke doesn’t go over well, Oliver asks the right question: who are you actually angry with? You won’t feel better about anything that is going on after watching this clip, but you’ll have laughed at least once.
There’s the media, and then there’s the media that pretends it’s not the media by referring to the media as if it’s a separate entity, and right now, they’re all talking about the election. In a new segment titled, “Can’t You at Least Wait Until Jon Stewart Comes Back,” Oliver reminds us that the next election is over three years away, and it wouldn’t hurt to wait another two weeks until his gig is up to talk about it, no matter how excited we are about Hillary. Stewart really shines in election coverage, but I’m hoping they’ll put it off for at least another few months. To quote Oliver, “No one wants this; that’s why it’s journalism.”
I’m not proud of this, but whenever some sort of ridiculous political scandal breaks, I make sure I’m recording The Daily Show. Oliver did not disappoint in any of the Weiner coverage, but I think this clip is the best. It’s scathing while recognizing the fact that as much as everyone would like to pretend, no one is actually mature enough to cover Weiner-gate without some indecorous giggles.
This has been a big summer. The Zimmerman trial, Weiner-gate, landmark Supreme Court decisions, a transportation accident every few weeks, all of which Oliver has covered, and quite well. But, seeing as he was formerly the Senior British Correspondent for The Daily Show, it wouldn’t be fitting to leave out a clip about the royal baby. A bit irreverent towards the monarchy, sure, but it feels a little more okay when he makes fun of the Queen.
Bonus Video: This is a few weeks preceding his time as host, but it’s still worth a view, particularly because the only major criticism Oliver has been receiving is in reference to his interviewing skills. This clip proves that Oliver does, indeed, have interviewing skills– it would just be hard to have anyone agree to be on a show that completely destroys its guests like that.
By Anna Shults
