John vs. Jon

In both style and substance, ‘Last Week Tonight’ one-ups ‘The Daily Show’

John Oliver is giving Jon Stewart a run for his money. After a successful stint last summer subbing as host of “The Daily Show” while Stewart made a movie, the Senior British Correspondent was promptly offered his own gig with HBO. With Stewart’s blessing and encouragement, Oliver left “The Daily Show” and took the job. Since its premiere on April 27, “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” has bested “The Daily Show” in almost every way, from ratings to laughs.

The biggest difference has been Oliver’s consistency in offering a far more substantial approach to the satirical news reporting formula that Stewart first perfected. Unlike “The Daily Show,” which airs four nights a week and runs about 20 minutes including guest interviews, Oliver has the luxury of nurturing one 30-minute episode per week. With no commercials, few guests, and a week to prepare, Oliver has elevated the format into something arguably closer to real reporting. It’ll be much harder for Bill O’Reilly to dismiss “Last Week Tonight” as the news of choice for slack-jawed stoners, a jab he’s thrown at Stewart for years.

The most obvious improvement is Oliver’s “deep dive” approach to certain stories. Each episode features a 12-15 minute top story that usually involves a complicated issue with many moving parts. In scathing, rapid-fire fashion, Oliver explores every angle, relaying to the viewer foundational knowledge, context, and significant tangents before wrapping up with a definitive editorial judgment.

Oliver’s biggest success so far was his net-neutrality report on the June 1 episode, an issue he calls “boring” but “hugely important” before launching into a gloriously funny, clear-eyed analysis of the three-way tug-of-war between Internet providers, content companies, and the FCC. “The Internet in its current form is not broken and the FCC is taking steps to fix that,” Oliver explains. Amid a constant barrage of jokes, Oliver covers a surprising amount of ground, from Comcast’s shakedown of Netflix to Obama’s ill-advised appointment of ex-cable company lobbyist Tom Wheeler as head of the FCC. Oliver explains why dismantling net neutrality is so dangerous. Then, in a dramatic, very funny climax, he calls on Internet trolls to flood the FCC’s website with comments. “Good evening, monsters,” he says. “This is what you’ve been training for. Seize your moment, my lovely trolls! Turn on the caps lock key and fly!” Less than 12 hours later, the FCC’s website crashed after receiving over 45,000 comments on net neutrality.

More alarming was Oliver’s July 27 deep dive on the poor state of nuclear weapons storage in the U.S. By the end of the segment, Oliver had painted a picture of appalling incompetence and indifference coupled with archaic technology as a literal ticking time bomb.

During the World Cup he ran a piece on the corruption of FIFA. In that same episode, he mocked Syrian dictator Bassar al-Assad’s taste in music, then brought out Right Said Fred (one of Assad’s favorites) for a surprise performance of “I’m Too Sexy” with the lyrics changed to insult the leader.

The key to Oliver’s success thus far has been his ability to take complicated issues often ignored by the media and communicate them to his audience through simple, concise explanation, even as he wrings the story for every drop of humor.

Oliver has modestly inferred in interviews that he’s winging it this first season, but it’s hard to imagine him doing any better with a game plan. Each episode has been its own little masterwork, with Oliver delivering takedowns that surpass Stewart’s best moments. Remember Stewart’s Glenn Beck chalkboard? That’s every episode of “Last Week Tonight.”

Only 11 episodes in, Vice News reported that Thailand named Oliver as a threat to its Monarchy after he mocked the military junta for its “Happiness” campaign. The guy is making waves even as he “wings it” through this first season. It’s hard to imagine how good the show will be once he’s found his groove.