NEW YORK 鈥� HBO鈥檚 John Oliver so relished being able to trash AT&T鈥檚 cellphone service that he can鈥檛 imagine doing Last Week Tonight under corporate restrictions.
His network鈥檚 corporate parent, Time Warner, is waiting to see whether a proposed takeover by AT&T will be approved. Oliver鈥檚 show, which begins its fifth season on Sunday, has been able to operate with freedom in part because HBO鈥檚 business depends on subscribers instead of advertisers, and he鈥檚 become accustomed to it.
鈥淲e were drawing a line in the sand,鈥� Oliver said, referring to an episode last season that discussed corporate mergers, including Time Warner鈥檚. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 anticipate the ground underneath us shifting and if it does, that is going to be a problem. We鈥檒l go down screaming.鈥�
He said he realizes that Last Week Tonight is lucky to have the ability to do the lengthy, journalism-style explorations of issues and the jokes it gets to do along the way.
鈥淏eing able to point out that this product is [lousy] and that tastes terrible, it鈥檚 really great to have that kind of freedom,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 addictive.鈥�
Besides some topical jokes, the show鈥檚 centrepiece is one lengthy exploration of an issue each week. Oliver tackles topics that would seem television-unfriendly, like net neutrality or health care financing, and teaching an audience while having some laughs along the way.
He鈥檚 reluctant to talk about any topics that the show will cover during a new season, both to preserve the element of surprise and because they probably wouldn鈥檛 sound appetizing.
鈥淚f we say to people, 鈥榣ook, we鈥檙e going to talk about Sinclair Broadcasting,鈥� you鈥檒l think 鈥榞ood, that鈥檚 a half-hour extra sleep I鈥檒l have,鈥� 鈥� he said.
The show constantly has to weigh how much of the day-to-day actions of the Trump administration to address, both because he doesn鈥檛 want to change its formula, and since many topics are picked clean by daily topical comedy shows. News, and the humour pulled out of it, moves so fast that programs such as the Late Show had to go live after Trump鈥檚 State of the Union address because the jokes would seem stale 24 hours later, he said.
But there are some topics 鈥� such as when Trump commented upon the demonstrations in Charlotteville, Virginia 鈥� where not talking about it would be like an editorial decision in itself, he said.
Despite starting its fifth season, Oliver said the show still feels new. He鈥檚 contracted to do two more, and an HBO executive sitting near him at a news conference indicated the network would like more.
鈥淚 still feel there is a lot of room to get better,鈥� Oliver said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel like we鈥檙e at cruising altitude yet.鈥�
Oliver attracted attention during the show鈥檚 hiatus for being on a panel discussion with Dustin Hoffman in December that sparked an uncomfortable discussion about women who had made sexual misconduct allegations against him. Hoffman should have been expecting that he would be questioned about it, Oliver said.
鈥淭he first person that he talked to [publicly] was going to have to ask him questions about it,鈥� Oliver said. 鈥淯nfortunately, that was me.鈥�
The discussion continued largely because his answers 鈥渨ere pretty bad,鈥� Oliver said.
鈥淚 wanted to try and get him to a point of self-reflection and to try and get something out of the conversation, but that didn鈥檛 happen,鈥� he said.
