-Our first guest tonight hosts the Emmy
and Peabody Award-winning show "Last Week Tonight."
Not a single Oscar, though.
Nobody talks about that. [ Laughter ]
Not even nominated. Snubbed.
Airs Sunday nights on HBO and is available to stream on HBO Max.
Please welcome back to the show our friend, John Oliver.
How are you, John? -Yeah, where's my Oscar?
-Yeah. -I was --
I was the voice of Vanity Smurf.
If that's not Oscar-worthy, what is?
-You've done a lot of voice work and not a single --
-Yeah, yeah. -Nothing.
I've been Vanity Smurf, I've been a porcupine,
I've been a bird.
Come on. That's -- that's range.
That's -- Also, talking about range,
I was watching "A Closer Look" then as you were doing it.
-Yeah. -For someone who insists,
"Oh, I don't do impressions at 'SNL,'"
the way you transition from Kevin McCarthy to Ted Cruz
to Lindsey Graham, it was like Rich Little at the Bellagio.
-Thank you. [ Laughter ]
-It was smooth. So smooth.
-You know what? I -- I certainly am getting
a little "at the Bellagio" response...
[ Laughter ] ...here from my studio crew.
-Just cutlery? -You know, I look back,
and I feel like Lorne just did not recognize my talent.
And I think... -Yeah.
-...were he ever to stumble upon this show...
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-...you know? -If he does --
Well, we know that won't happen. But if he is watching,
it's not about --
it's not sounding like them, it's embodying.
That was Daniel Day Lewis doing impressions.
The spirit of all three men transition --
"I don't do impressions." -Yeah.
Well, it's hard. 'Cause, you know, I come home
from a long day's work, and I have to say to my wife,
"Alexi, I'm Ted right now.
I'm gonna need some time.
I'm gonna need time to -- Seth -- Seth's not here yet."
-When you're reading a -- when you're reading a story to Ashe,
does he ever say, "And now as Kevin McCarthy, please?"
"Sure. I just need 15 minutes."
-Yeah. "First, Dad, do Jim Jordan
telling me about Curious George."
[ Laughter ] Hey, we're --
-That's what every child wants, isn't it?
"Do it as Jim Jordan." [ Laughter ]
I just want -- I just want this story
to contextually have a very different memory for me
in the future. [ Laughter ]
-I've complimented you time and time again
during this difficult year on your choice to do your show
in the beautiful limbo that you're in front of now.
But yet audiences might be making their way back.
How are you feeling about that?
-I mean, you know, it was --
it was weird to be without them for about a show and a half.
-Yep. -And then, honestly, I've got --
I have got used to it, if I'm -- if I'm totally honest.
I mean, I generally barrel through them anyway,
also as someone who did stand-up for a long time.
I am -- I did stand-up in Britain,
so I am used to delivering jokes to silence.
It's almost how I'm more comfortable.
-Yeah. -So it's the sound
that I anticipate, and when it comes back,
actually, I feel nothing. -Yeah.
Well, I think that you and I are similar in that almost --
when a joke goes too well, we think...
-Yeah. -...collectively the audience
is wrong, and we then begin to doubt ourselves.
-There was -- I will say there are --
Normally, the happiest you will see me in a split second
is if a joke I've loved has just bombed.
And I think -- I feel like I've seen
the same with you where it's -- your face will kind of glow --
-[ Laughs ] -...as you send the joke
that you -- that you love to its inevitable death.
It's just -- The only thing that is --
that is going to be really useful for us is occasionally,
when we occasionally do something very big,
like unveil a 6,000-pound cake to antagonize
the leader of Turkmenistan,
if you do that without an audience in the room,
you look like a crazy person.
[ Laughter ] -That's true.
You guys do have that ability to go grand every once in a while.
-Yeah. And that necessitates
some kind of sound of joy, not just a kind of...
[ Coughing ] [ Laughter ]
-Yeah. Now do you know all your crew's coughs at this point?
-Well, see, I'm still not operating with a crew...
-That's right. -...so I -- there is --
The only sound I hear is my own voice
echoing back at me from the wall, so I hear nothing.
-Yeah. I think I got the right --
I think 10 people is about right.
-Honestly, I -- doing the Edinburgh festival for years,
I performed to a lot less than 10 a lot of times.
[ Laughter ]
I can honestly -- I can honestly say,
the first couple years I was doing Edinburgh,
when you walk up to your stage manager --
If it was double figures, I was like, "It's happening.
This is show business. 10 separate people?"
-My old comedy partner and I once did a show in Chicago
for nine people, and seven of them were blood relations.
[ Laughter ]
-I had -- I had 100% walkout in Edinburgh.
-Did you really? -Four people --
Four people in the audience.
"We got four in tonight? Okay, great."
After about 10 minutes in, I'm doing an hour, two leave.
So now I've got two people, and it's a couple.
And this is where it gets sadistic.
The guy gets up, says, "I'm going to the toilet."
I'm like, "You wouldn't do this to your wife."
And she's looking at him, going, "Don't.
This is -- This is an abandonment issue."
He leaves. She stays for about 20 more minutes.
And I see her hand going down to the floor to pick up her bag.
And I said, "Are you leaving?" And she said, "Yeah."
[ Laughter ] I will never, ever forget
the sound of the door closing behind her.
[ Laughter ]
-I mean, that's -- John, they really didn't
like the show because -- -Really didn't.
-I mean, for them to be able to know that you knew...
-Yeah. I really feel -- I think about what
she must have been going through a lot,
because she must have thought -- she must have calculated,
"There's about half an hour of this show left.
This is -- What I'm about to do
could haunt me for the rest of my life,
but it's half an hour more. I can't do it."
[ Laughter ]
-Do you have a glow about yourself?
Vaccinated, my friend? -Yes.
I got my first -- I got my first shot.
So I was very -- Yeah, I'm very, very happy about it, obviously.
[ Laughter ] -No -- I -- When I --
When I got my first shot... -Yeah.
-...the nurse was, I think,
a little surprised at how happy I was.
The same happen for you?
-That was absolutely the case for me.
I went in, I was kind of shaking with excitement.
And she said, "How do you feel?"
I went, "I'm really, really happy.
I'm so excited about this." And she said, "Why?"
And it kind of -- it kind of hit me a little bit odd.
Think, you know, "Have you turned on the news?
You know why we're all here?" And then she --
I said, "Well, I'm just excited
'cause the pandemic has been really bad."
And she said, "You're not afraid of needles?"
I mean, again -- Again, I don't love them,
but it has been really bad.
So I still see this as a net positive.
Don't ruin the moment for me.
-I -- I remember two things when I got my shot.
One, I -- I got a little -- I got a little choked up.
-Really? -And I said to my nurse,
"I'm never gonna forget your name."
And the other thing is, that I do not remember her name.
[ Laughter ]
I remember that I forgot it. -Yeah.
Well, that's -- that's the most important thing, isn't it?
[ Laughter ]
-I have a lot more to ask you about.
-"It was important to me in the moment
and I forgot all the lessons."
It feels like, on a macro scale,
that is what I worry about with this pandemic,
that exactly what you experienced is going to happen.
All the key lessons that were put absolutely, blindingly,
unblinkingly in front of people's eyes --
Well, let's make a change. Let's make a change.
We need to -- we need to look at environmentally
how we're handling things around the world
to not let a pandemic like this happen again.
And it's over, and, yeah, "What was that?
It was something to do with bats.
I don't know. They like grapes.
Who can stay mad at them?" [ Laughter ]