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Is John Oliver the greatest political satirist of our time?
- Thread starter Deleted member 8752
- Start date
The show segments are good, but as a Brit I find Oliver himself perennially unfunny.
Feels like we send our most milquetoast British talent to the US and people over there think it's incredible.
Feels like we send our most milquetoast British talent to the US and people over there think it's incredible.
Post-9/11 Jon Stewart was one of the most important voices in American politics, much to his own chagrin.
However he really used that leverage to champion a number of good causes and it's still evident people look to him as a voice of reason and empathy, partially why Colbert brings him back on to his show periodically.
Jon may have other projects he wants to do, but to me he's still the pinnacle of the medium.
However he really used that leverage to champion a number of good causes and it's still evident people look to him as a voice of reason and empathy, partially why Colbert brings him back on to his show periodically.
Jon may have other projects he wants to do, but to me he's still the pinnacle of the medium.
Same and when I watched it with no audience, I didn't laugh once so all the time, I wonder if I ever found anything funny or not.
So much this.
I like Oliver though.
I wish Chris Morris was still doing satire on TV even if I've enjoyed his movies.
To be fair, I think he's said this about himself on the show, that in Britain he was largely unsuccessful.
No, it's Jon Stewart.
I actually think Oliver works better as a news reporter than he does with the comedy bits. The recycled nature of the comedy beats has long worn thin to me. But his researched stories and presentation is good enough that I can overlook some of it. His humor is at its best when he's being dry and sarcastic rather than that over exaggerated style.
Some of the sketches and things like that he does are quite funny though.
I actually think Oliver works better as a news reporter than he does with the comedy bits. The recycled nature of the comedy beats has long worn thin to me. But his researched stories and presentation is good enough that I can overlook some of it. His humor is at its best when he's being dry and sarcastic rather than that over exaggerated style.
Some of the sketches and things like that he does are quite funny though.
This sums him up for me and my family. It's the same recycled humor bits that are just old. He's best when just focusing on the stories and telling it in an entertaining way, than deviating off into the slapstick stuff
Stewart and Colbert take the cake, but Oliver is up there. I think there is way more interesting/investigative stuff in Oliver's show though, learn way more than I ever did from Daily Show.
This is the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread. Jon is the best, imo. Comedy Central running The Daily Show and The Colbert Report back to back was absurd.
Satire definition
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Regarding people debating whether his show is satire, I think if you equate satire with parody, then no, it's not. But if you're going for a strict dictionary definition:
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But his show isn't really all about Trump. It's often internationally focused, which is another thing I like about it.
I love John Oliver, he can compete with Stewart and Colbert, but his show is just a little different. Both Colbert and Stewart were doing 4 nights a week and focused mostly on current events with interviews and remote segments spattered in. Colbert had his character with his own segments. Stewart had the other correspondent segments to fill the show, but also had the interviews, which I think he was probably better at than the other two anyway. Oliver has a format that lends itself to more in depth topics, which they regularly knock out of the park. His jokes are kind of rinse and repeat, not unlike Colbert and stewart to a lesser extent.
Legendary! Tucker Carlson got taken to schooooooool. The answer is always Jon Stewart
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Jon Stewart certainly is a treasure. I wish he were more active today.
Yeah, I 100% agree.
Used to love LWT but the jokes that aren't connected to the stories themselves are really, really, really bad.
I would much prefer it without the whole "this is just like if..." shtick.
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I think this is a fair take. There's tradeoffs to the different formats.
Colbert and Stewart were funnier, but I like the format of Oliver's show much better. Can't count the number of times Stewart was just killing it on a subject but I felt like it was cut short so he could do some mundane interview with some random celebrity nonsense. Colbert was funny as shit, but sometimes his character drained on me a bit and had the same problems. At their peaks, though Stewart and Colbert back to back was fucking magic sometimes.
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I actually find most of his comedy to be really lame. I mainly watch his stuff for his takes on the news, which is actually pretty smart. He should stop trying the pop culture "i'm a man of the people" angle because it feels so forced.
Jon Stewart is going to be difficult to match because he had much less to work with and was on at a time when people were far less used to this kind of satire. Despite this, he managed to build something huge, including the careers of... most of the people named in this thread. Jon Stewart is also a great comedian, so not only are his bits funnier, he's also a much more effective satirist if you take the writers away. I think he also had a much better sense of his purpose as a satirist, which is evidenced well in the Crossfire clip. There aren't many guys working in that space that could climb into the ring quite as well as Stewart could while still being able to stay on message as a satirist.
John Oliver does great journalism but he's not a very good comedian. Furthermore, his show is rarely satire. Most of it is straight-ahead reporting mixed with occasional jokes. I don't really think Oliver is trying to do satire these days.
John Oliver does great journalism but he's not a very good comedian. Furthermore, his show is rarely satire. Most of it is straight-ahead reporting mixed with occasional jokes. I don't really think Oliver is trying to do satire these days.
Not to be nitpicky, but these guys all have a crew of writers behind them doing investigative journalism.
If you're talking about investigative journalism sprinkled in with some humour? John Oliver and co. are definitely some of the finest, but Cody Johnston's team at Some More News is definitely gaining some traction. I prefer Cody Johnston myself (his takedown of Ben Shapiro is nothing short of incredible), but John Oliver's team certainly does good work as well.
If you're talking about a single individual? Jon Stewart takes it. Watching interviews with him, you can tell the man is so acutely aware of what's wrong with American politics. The Christiane Amanpour interview with him and Dave Chappelle is so insightful.
If you're talking about investigative journalism sprinkled in with some humour? John Oliver and co. are definitely some of the finest, but Cody Johnston's team at Some More News is definitely gaining some traction. I prefer Cody Johnston myself (his takedown of Ben Shapiro is nothing short of incredible), but John Oliver's team certainly does good work as well.
If you're talking about a single individual? Jon Stewart takes it. Watching interviews with him, you can tell the man is so acutely aware of what's wrong with American politics. The Christiane Amanpour interview with him and Dave Chappelle is so insightful.
Brass Eye got way, way too real in modern times:
Like, was this satire, or a prediction?
I like his investigative reporting but the comedy is so goddamn bad, especially when he goes on family guy-like tangents, i wish he just dropped those skits and focused on the actual reports.
Yeah I gotta echo the sentiment that the formula becomes an issue once you become cognizant of it, insanely repetitive, takes the wind out of the sails of the message for me.
It's Stewbeef.
At his height, The Daily Show had the eyes of every powerful person in DC on it. He held sway in a way Colbert and Oliver could only dream of.
At his height, The Daily Show had the eyes of every powerful person in DC on it. He held sway in a way Colbert and Oliver could only dream of.
can't be a prediction if those kinds of people existed back in the 90s as well.
Jon Stewart is the legendary news comic of the early 21st century, but of the current Daily Show "spin-offs" (not counting Colbert's Late Show, which is in a different genre):
Minhaj >>> Bee > Oliver > Noah
Watch Patriot Act, people!
Minhaj >>> Bee > Oliver > Noah
Watch Patriot Act, people!
Stewart is as well, but his target was the news media and not necessarily politics.
This is why Stewart was necessary in 2016, because the news was really bad about playing right into Trump, and Stewart could have helped course correct that.
Damn right.
Also, since writers > the guy who sits in front of the camera reading the material.
No.
It's great investigative journalism made entertaining, but for pure political satire it doesn't remotely come close to touching The Colbert Report. The humor on Last Week Tonight is often pretty fucking bad and seems like it was just thrown in for the sake of having a joke. The writing (aside from the random bad "jokes") is sometimes pretty brilliant though.
It's great investigative journalism made entertaining, but for pure political satire it doesn't remotely come close to touching The Colbert Report. The humor on Last Week Tonight is often pretty fucking bad and seems like it was just thrown in for the sake of having a joke. The writing (aside from the random bad "jokes") is sometimes pretty brilliant though.
He's good but Bush Admin Stewart and Colbert report Colbert was a hell of a one two punch every night.
He's kind of a defacto number one right now with Stewart off TV and Colbert on a network. Colbert on the late show has been good but he's lost something being on there.
He's kind of a defacto number one right now with Stewart off TV and Colbert on a network. Colbert on the late show has been good but he's lost something being on there.
He's not bad by any means, but certainly a little formulaic.
I'd also rank Hasan above John. Patriot Act is way funnier IMO. Both shows are really informative and concise, but I think Hasan is just more in tune with me humor-wise.
I'd also rank Hasan above John. Patriot Act is way funnier IMO. Both shows are really informative and concise, but I think Hasan is just more in tune with me humor-wise.
Damn, that was really good. I just wanted to check what it was and ended up watching the whole vid.
always love how genuine jon is about wanting the media to have some responsibility to the public
you know what ended up sad about this is that in the end i feel part of myself agreeing that now comedy has to have more responsibility to the general public as well when dealing with politicians (and i feel it has been going in that direction too, especially in this administration) because of how utterly fucked everything is and how traditional news media is almost completely useless on a national scale. like tucker carlson made it a goal to self-fulfill that requirement himself
like at the time it absolutely seemed putrid that someone on CNN would criticize jon for goofing around with a presidential candidate, now cut to jimmy fallon ruffling trump's hair is like a fucking disaster, and it's absolutely true that it's dangerous to use even a clearly absurd platform to humanize politicians
what a fuckin world