|
Echo Chamber posted:You already know this but I enjoy explicitly saying this. They are fully aware of this supposed hypocrisy; they are willfully being disingenuous because an appeal to free speech is a cynical rhetorical strategy. Yup. "I should not be arrested for saying this thing!" is about the weakest possible defence you can muster for a position. On a lighter note... Not a single person even mentioning the height of absurdity that was Pee Wee- NOT Paul Reubens, but PEE-WEE HERMAN- telling us in a Very Serious Announcement about the Dangers of the Crack Cocaine?
|
#
?
Aug 1, 2015 23:28
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 29, 2024 15:04 |
|
|
Paul Reubens probably had some differing opinions on narcotics.
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2015 01:23
|
|
|
They were sure that kids were smoking crack.
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2015 01:30
|
|
|
The British version of that song used to be a lot longer.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 04:17
|
|
|
I'll trade Florida for DC, yea.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 04:31
|
|
|
I noticed it was 51 stars...
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 04:33
|
|
|
Tatum Girlparts posted:I'll trade Florida for DC, yea. In a heartbeat, Eleanor Holmes Norton is a wonderful person.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 13:25
|
|
|
Sorry in advance for being that one contrarian goon, but screw it. This has been gnawing at me for the past couple of months. I haven't regularly tuned in to Last Week Tonight for a couple of months because ever since the Snowden interview, the show format has gotten stale and predictable. It's still funny, but week in and week out, the format has almost always been as follows:
get that OUT of my face fucked around with this message at 13:37 on Aug 3, 2015 |
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 13:34
|
|
|
Y-Hat posted:John is too talented and funny to let this show stagnate. It's a shame that it kinda has. I don't see why he doesn't do a main story on, say, foreign elections- like he did in his very first episode with India- or another going-on (bonus points if he ties it in with American foreign policy) once in a while. Yeah, its pretty funny how after the show premiered, all the people in this thread were clamoring about Jon covering all the international stories mainstream networks won't touch, and then the show almost immediately restructured itself into this lazy outrage-of-the-week format designed to do nothing more than generate youtube views.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 14:35
|
|
|
That's definitely a valid complaint, but I do feel I have personally gotten more out of the show with its new look at things like Municipal Fees, Property Seizures, and stuff like that.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 14:48
|
|
|
That song at the end was great.  Usually I don't care for the end performance thing, as I usually don't find them very funny, but this was definitely an exception.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 15:05
|
|
|
Y-Hat posted:Sorry in advance for being that one contrarian goon, but screw it. This has been gnawing at me for the past couple of months. Yeah I think that's fair. I don't know if I'd go as far to say the show is stagnating because of it, but I certainly see the criticism and agree that there should be more international stories.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 18:52
|
|
|
MegaZeroX posted:That song at the end was great. You could tell the kids were excited to be able to sing "rear end in a top hat" on TV.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 19:28
|
|
|
I'm definitely still enjoying it but yeah, I want more foreign stuff in there. It mostly gets relegated to the opener but there's a bunch of really interesting stuff happening in the world that i'd like to see the show's take on. I remember rumours about an episode on Israel back when the show was just starting. You know that would have been good.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 19:29
|
|
|
To be fair, this program was made for an American audience; and it's hard to have a "so what?" on a foreign story when the first answer Americans usually think of is "maybe we should bomb/invade them". The Indian election was pretty much a "THE MORE YOU KNOW" kind of thing. FIFA was an international story where the American justice system did end up intervening. The tobacco bit and the Uganda gay laws were international stories where American actors played a crucial role in screwing it up. That said, I would have liked Oliver to give a comedic primer on the Greek crisis a few weeks back. I think it might have been helpful to understand where the American economy and policies are in relation to the rest of the world. And to encourage people to look at American policy in terms of austerity and anti-austerity politics. I think a new criticism on the show could be that Oliver seems too determined to not be bound by the news cycle. That he wants his bits to "start" a conversation, rather than weigh in on an existing controversy. (And the one time he didn't, which was the police militarization bit, fell short of emphasizing the racial angle of the story.) In the abstract sense, he wants to be a voice of reason outside of the culture wars, etc. It might be understandable since the day-to-day news cycle stuff is kind of Jon Stewart's (and soon Trevor Noah) territory.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 20:26
|
|
|
Echo Chamber posted:To be fair, this program was made for an American audience; and it's hard to have a "so what?" on a foreign story when the first answer Americans usually think of is "maybe we should bomb/invade them". With Oliver's audience, its less "bomb them" and more "what did we do wrong this time?" The lesson that being corrupt and stupid is a universal human trait and not another example of American exceptionalism is one that a lot of viewers of this show could desperately use.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 20:34
|
|
|
At least he finally seems to have cooled it with the loving mascots.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 20:35
|
|
|
PerilPastry posted:At least he finally seems to have cooled it with the loving mascots. Now all he has to do is reign in the "did you think x was x? its actually y! no its z!"
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 20:39
|
|
|
apatheticman posted:Now all he has to do is reign in the "did you think x was x? its actually y! no its z!" I'll never get tired of that. I loved this week's.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 20:42
|
|
|
That song was one of the best bits they've done thus far.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 20:52
|
|
|
As a non-American, the show has basically turned into my window into your hosed up world week after week. I know about most of the political stuff (such as D.C.'s status this week), but stuff like minimum sentences is news to me. I find this entertaining and I'm sorry if John does not replace reading a loving newspaper (website) every now and then anymore.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 20:58
|
|
|
Katana Gomai posted:As a non-American, the show has basically turned into my window into your hosed up world week after week. I know about most of the political stuff (such as D.C.'s status this week), but stuff like minimum sentences is news to me. I find this entertaining and I'm sorry if John does not replace reading a loving newspaper (website) every now and then anymore. Yeah, its a shame we don't throw everybody in death camps like your wonderful country.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 21:01
|
|
|
Irish Joe posted:Yeah, its a shame we don't throw everybody in death camps like your wonderful country. The fact that you watch the same shows I do (because I keep reading your dross in all the threads I follow) seriously worries me.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 21:15
|
|
|
Mr. BT posted:I'll never get tired of that. I loved this week's. Nobody knows who the transportation secretary is!
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 21:18
|
|
|
Katana Gomai posted:The fact that you watch the same shows I do (because I keep reading your dross in all the threads I follow) seriously worries me.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 21:21
|
|
|
D.C. and Puerto Rico should become states.M_Gargantua posted:Nobody knows who the transportation secretary is! Anthony Foxx. 
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 21:24
|
|
|
apatheticman posted:Now all he has to do is reign in the "did you think x was x? its actually y! no its z!" no he doesn't.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 21:33
|
|
|
I like those bits because they're a subtle reminder to fact check all of the stuff Oliver is saying.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 21:58
|
|
|
I posted a few weeks ago about the lack of foreign stories. There's awesome and hilarious and terrifying poo poo happening around the world, but Oliver's focus has been exclusively american. I really shouldn't be forced to watch al jazeera america if I want to get even the most basic coverage of foreign elections. Come on Trevor Noah.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 22:05
|
|
|
Narcissus1916 posted:I posted a few weeks ago about the lack of foreign stories. There's awesome and hilarious and terrifying poo poo happening around the world, but Oliver's focus has been exclusively american. In fairness, this isn't really a news show. And Al Jazeera is pretty good most of the time.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 22:13
|
|
|
Proposition Joe posted:D.C. and Puerto Rico should become states. It's Evelyn Sargent.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 22:34
|
|
|
Plus half the show was about the House of Lords scandal. I genuinely thought it was the main feature because it lasted so long. It was great.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 22:35
|
|
|
Narcissus1916 posted:I really shouldn't be forced to watch al jazeera america if I want to get even the most basic coverage of foreign elections. Are you really expecting a weekly half hour comedy show on HBO to be your primary source of global news?
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 22:48
|
|
|
Statehood might be over-reaching. Why isn't DC a district of one of the states it borders?
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 23:06
|
|
|
Technically the statue of liberty is in New Jersey but NYC pitches a goddamn fit if you ever bring that up. Imagine the same thing but for the nation's capital.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 23:13
|
|
|
Apoplexy posted:Statehood might be over-reaching. Why isn't DC a district of one of the states it borders? When Congress decided on their capital, they wanted it to be a place that wasn't a part of any existing state, as they had feared that if the countries interests conflicted with the states, they would face armed protests like they did in Pennsylvania in 1783. Of course, such a thing wouldn't exactly be very relavent today, since armed mutinies aren't exactly commonplace anymore. But bureaucracy is slow, and congress really doesn't want to let go of the control they have on DC. MegaZeroX fucked around with this message at 23:23 on Aug 3, 2015 |
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 23:19
|
|
|
Veskit posted:Yeah I think that's fair. I don't know if I'd go as far to say the show is stagnating because of it, but I certainly see the criticism and agree that there should be more international stories. Echo Chamber posted:To be fair, this program was made for an American audience; and it's hard to have a "so what?" on a foreign story when the first answer Americans usually think of is "maybe we should bomb/invade them".
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 23:33
|
|
|
One thing that John Oliver said in his Stern interview a few months ago was the possibility of them expanding the show to an hour long format in the future. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBhTpWnm15o
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2015 23:37
|
|
|
Apoplexy posted:Statehood might be over-reaching. Why isn't DC a district of one of the states it borders? States' rights actually used to be more than a bullshit rallying cry to oppress women/gays/blacks/people who do not wish to be shot at the grocery store/etc, so the capitol needed to be somewhere it wasn't beholden to any given state. More contemporarily relevant, Maryland doesn't want it back; we already have one disastrous urban hellscape we're ill-equipped (and unwilling) to deal with. DC is wholly incompatible with VA even as much as NOVA is very slowly dragging the rest of that backwards shithole leftward. Anyway, I actually do kind of agree that the formula is getting stale. The jokes, when they come, are still great, but I'm kind of sick of the main segment being "here's yet another lovely thing about america you already know about and can do nothing about." By about 2/3 through the show I'm waiting for it to end because I've been outraged-out about the topic for 10+ years.
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2015 00:07
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 29, 2024 15:04 |
|
|
IRQ posted:Anyway, I actually do kind of agree that the formula is getting stale. The jokes, when they come, are still great, but I'm kind of sick of the main segment being "here's yet another lovely thing about america you already know about and can do nothing about." By about 2/3 through the show I'm waiting for it to end because I've been outraged-out about the topic for 10+ years. Except most people don't actually know about that topic, and that's why it's a thing worth talking about.
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2015 00:12
|
|
