If you’re into satirical news shows, you might have heard of Last Week Tonight. If not, you’re definitely missing out. Let this article fix that - and just in time for season 9, which began on February 20^th.

Last Week Tonight, or as the full title is, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, is an American news satire show hosted by the British comedian John Oliver. The show is hosted on HBO, but many of the segments are posted on the show’s YouTube channel as well. Last Week Tonight airs Sundays at 11PM on HBO and takes a look at the past week’s news and political happenings.  

The show began in 2014 and has been running ever since, despite going from a studio with live audience to a home office and blank void during lockdown. The show is atypical in that it isn’t just focused on the news of the past week but devotes a lot of the weekly episode to a more in-depth journalistic approach to a topic that you might not have heard so much about before. These topics are varied and usually pretty serious in theme and has in past episodes been about everything from prisons to national debt to homelessness. It is always done very tastefully while still finding time and place for humour. Each episode usually has a couple of shorter segments about recent news, as well as the one main segment, but if the big segment is large enough, it might take up all the time.

These larger segments are really informative as they explore topics that either aren’t talked about that much, or that are always only talked superficially about. And while a lot of the segments are very US centric, it is still pretty interesting from a non-US point of view as you get to learn things about the country you probably wouldn’t learn otherwise.

As the show is only weekly, they often focus on international news as well, and there have been segments on for example China, Belarus and Turkey. This variety makes the show great for expanding your horizon, and you actually feel like you learn something when watching it. 

As it is a comedy show, humour does play just as large a role as the news does. While the show is mainly the host monologuing, his speech is often broken up by video clips, various mascots barging in, and special guest appearances.

Beside the weekly episode, Last Week Tonight also sometimes make web exclusive clips. These are usually fairly short and about less serious topics than the main episodes - yet just as hilarious to watch. If you’re still not sure whether the show is for you, be sure to check out the segment below, which should give you a pretty good idea.