Apmosphere

Title: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Host: John Oliver

Producer: Liz Stanton

Format: Thirty minute weekly talk show

Broadcast information: Broadcast on HBO Sundays at 11 p.m.

Production company: Avalon Television

Distributor: Home Box Office

Brief History:

Former Daily Show correspondent John Oliver quietly debuted his new talk show, Last Week Tonight, on April 27.

Quietly because the debut came amidst a small avalanche of late night talk show news, including the retirement of David Letterman, the announcement that former Daily Show correspondent Stephen Colbert would take his place, the eventual end of Colbert’s The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert and, the day after his debut, the news that Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson host Craig Ferguson would also hang up his late night hosting duties.

Quietly, too, because many believed Oliver would either land the Late Show or Late Late Show gig. Instead, Oliver took on late night at cable network HBO, starring in a weekly talker airing late on Sunday nights.

No worries for Oliver, who told the New York Daily News that he accepted the job at HBO at the advice of friend and host Jon Stewart. The cable venue, which doesn’t include advertisers or their influence, allows Oliver full creative freedom and a lack of censors – cursing is allowed and Oliver is all in.

In many ways, his show is a lot like The Daily Show. The half-hour program and its host spin their take on the weekly news and invites notable and newsworthy guests to sit down and talk about the issues. Oliver’s first guest, for example, was Gen. Keith Alexander (Ret.), formerly director of the National Security Agency and head of U.S. Cyber Command.

Early reviews for Oliver’s debut were mixed. Most complaints centered around Oliver’s strong opinions, which reviewers were fine with, but felt overpowered the program’s comedy. Many reviewers compared the show against Oliver’s experience steering The Daily Show when Jon Stewart took time off to direct a feature film in the summer of 2021. They felt Oliver delivered the news with a lighter touch than his first Last Week Tonight.

A little bit about Oliver
Born in Birmingham, United Kingdom, Oliver attended Christ’s College in Cambridge. He was vice-president of the Cambridge Footlights, a well-known amateur theatrical group that has spawned comedic heavyweights like Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams and Monty Python alumni John Cleese and Eric Idle.

Fans of Oliver also enjoy his recurring role on the always-about-to-be-cancelled cult sitcom Community, as well as his stand-up specials on Comedy Central.

It’s no surprise that talk shows and talk show hosts want to expand their brand with ancillary products tied to the show. You know, get fans to buy a collection of Thank You Notes from The Tonight Show or music from a late night band, like The Roots.

But from time to time, someone else comes out with a product tied to the talk show industry that so silly and different that you want to own it just because.

You can find a lot of those items on the small business and handmade craft website Etsy. More than half of our list is from that site – and we could probably create a half dozen more lists based on some of the fun and clever items we found there.

Here are five of those quirky items we’ve found recently that you may want to add to your collection:

1.  ‘Air Wars’ novel

Comic book fan? Then you may want to pick up a copy of Air Wars, the latest graphic novel from Bluewater Productions. The series hopes to pull readers behind the scenes to learn more about talk show greats like David Letterman, Chelsea Handler and Jon Stewart.

“With the announcement that both Stewart and Letterman are stepping down, the landscape of talk shows and political parody is changing,” said Bluewater publisher Darren G. Davis in a statement. “Clearly, the people featured in this creative nonfiction volume have influenced news broadcasting and pop culture. The stories about their success are as fascinating as any of the news they report and as funny as their jokes.”

This isn’t the first time talk show hosts have appeared in comic books. Marvel Comics famously featured David Letterman assisting The Avengers in a mid-80s comic, back with Letterman was still on Late Night on NBC. And Stephen Colbert slung webs with Spider-Man in the late 2000s.

2.  David Letterman portrait

Speaking of Letterman, etsy artist Meagan Marie Smith is offering a one-of-a-kind portrait of the Late Show host. The canvas was painted in 2009. The oil painting is all yours for $300. The portrait captures Letterman’s high cheekbones and trademark tooth gap. It’s definitely a conversation starter. It also has a modern art appeal and, honestly, would like great in a media room.

3.  Saint Jimmy prayer candle

Who wouldn’t want a prayer candle with Jimmy Fallon as the patron saint? In this quirky item from etsy artist Saint Celebrity, Fallon adorns a traditional prayer candle dressed as Sara (with no H, because Hs are Ew!) from the parody song “Ew!,” and the regular Tonight Show segment.

In the video, Fallon and the Black-Eyed Peas’ will.i.am, dressed as teenage girls, sing about all the things they think are gross, underscoring each statement with a powerful “Ew!” A great gift for an office desk or dorm room.

4.  Ellen DeGeneres baby onesie

Who doesn’t want to dress their newborn son or daughter up in a onesie plastered with daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres’s portrait? If you’re one of those people who just need to show off their fandom for Ellen – and you’re an expecting parent – or know one – this is the gift for you. The silk screen onesies are from etsy artist Nicole K (her shop is Rainbow Alternative). The Philadelphia artist hand-stencils and spray paints each onesie. They are not mass produced, so each is a one of a kind.

5.  Okra Winfrey portrait

It’s one thing to own a hand-painted portrait of Oprah Winfrey. Quite another to own a hand-painted portrait of “Okra Winfrey.” But you can have just that from etsy artist Swag Cabin. The painting (delivered as a poster) reimagines the iconic daytime talk show host as the vegetable Okra.

The artist has a penchant for recasting celebrities as food items. You can also pick up a Stephen Colpeart or a Tuna Fey.

It’s been a year since Seth Meyers moved from the anchor desk on Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update to the host’s desk on Late Night. Meyers is the third comedian to host the show and the second with ties to SNL (though Conan O’Brien’s contribution was more behind the scenes and in the writing room than Meyers. Okay, maybe not fair as Meyers was also head writer on SNL).

So how’s he doing?

The answer is pretty good. Along with lead-in The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Late Night is killing it in the ratings. For now, Nightline and CBS’s Late Late Show aren’t much competition for the new host.

What do critics think of Seth?

Well, Rotten Tomatoes gives the show a 50 percent rating – but with only four votes that hardly counts. Metacritic is a bit more reliable, rating Meyers’ Late Night with a 61 and “generally favorable reviews” from critics. Entertainment Weekly and The New York Times gives him thumbs up while Variety and People are a little more harsh.

What do we think?

Well, we like Late Night a lot. It’s a quiet little late night talk show. Not as bombastic as Tonight or Jimmy Kimmel Live. Not as established and iconic as the Late Show. In a lot of ways, Meyers’ Late Night is a stripped down, straight forward talk show. Even the set seems minimalist. And with SNL co-start Fred Armisen at the band’s helm, it has an almost Wayne’s World feel to it. You know, two good friends having a go at a talk show.

And Meyers’ Late Night is not lacking in the memorable moments category. Here are five of our favorite moments from Seth’s first year:

1. Hosting the cast of Parks & Recreation after the series finale. In a way, this is a tradition started by Jay Leno when he hosted the cast of Cheers after that series’ final episode. Unlike that special – in which the Cheers cast spent more than six hours before air time partying through a mini-reunion – the cast of Parks & Rec was far less rambunctious. The cast shared jokes, behind the scenes stories and even sang “Bye, Bye Li’l Sebastian” – and inside joke show fans will understand – to send off the show.
2. Chats with Fred Armisen. Whenever the band leader (and curator?) is in town and on the show, we love to listen to the banter between Seth and Fred. It reminds us a lot of Armisen’s appearances on Weekend Update when Seth would quiz a character Fred is playing and kind of whittle away at the insanity of whatever that character is doing. One of our favorites is when Seth talks to Fred about a photo gallery exhibit he has coming up. Fred explains that it’s an “Extreme Close Up” series of photos. Each one is a snap of concrete with the lens resting face down on the concrete. So, every photo is essentially black. “I just didn’t get a chance to look at them,” Fred says of not knowing his years’ long photo excursion would turn up imageless.
3. Walking Dead star Norman Reedus is confronted by a zombie in the audience. This skit was such a throwback to the kind of comedy bits Conan would do on Late Night that we loved it all the same. In this rendition, actor Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl Dixon on The Walking Dead, is confronted by a zombie in the audience. The zombie takes umbrage at how zombies are stereotypically portrayed on the show. “What I’d like to see on the show,” the well-dressed zombie says, “is a college-educated zombie who runs a grocery store.” Norman eventually picks up a crossbow and points it at the zombie.
4. Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir critique 30 Rock skaters. Another fun moment during Seth’s first year was when Olympic figure skaters Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir sat down at the desk and offered to critique skaters outside on Rockefeller Center’s famous skating rink. Portraying figure skating commentators, Lipinski and Weir talk about skaters’ “walking technique” and “texting technique.” “Here’s Alexis Ferguson,” Lipinski says, “and she’s going to attempt the classic skate and fall routine. I really enjoy it. I think she brings that childlike wonder to each topple.”
5. Will Forte and “Second Chance Theater.” Former SNL cast member Will Forte occasionally visits Late Night to share some of his sketches that didn’t make it to Saturday Night Live. This exercise is affectionately referred to as “Second Chance Theater.” In one appearance on Late Night, Forte talks about a sketch he wrote in which a man with a metal detector claims he found someone’s parked car on the beach and, by the rules of the beach, Finder’s Keepers.

With so many talk show hosts retiring from their shows this year and last, we have to start wondering what folks like David Letterman, Jon Stewart, Chelsea Handler, Regis Philbin, Jay Leno, Craig Ferguson, Rosie O’Donnell and Barbara Walters will do with their down time.

While some may take up hosting game shows or moving to online streaming services, you figure a few might considering taking up a new career. And with so much cash at their disposal, it’s not completely far-fetched to think that maybe one or two might decided to take up general medicine.

And who knows that talk show hosts from the past haven’t already done this? Is Ricki Lake running a family medicine office somewhere in the Midwest? Is Alan Thicke doing dental work between jobs hawking reverse mortgages? Isn’t anything possible?

If so – and for the sake of this article let’s run with “if so” – here are 5 ways you can tell if your doctor or dentist is a former talk show host.

1. The hygenist at the dentist office tells a lot of jokes. If the woman cleaning your teeth spends the better part of her time telling you jokes and asking where you where you from, your hygienist might be an audience warmer. These folks – usually stand-up comedians – work the crowd before the talk show host comes out, warming them up with jokes and interactive fun. The idea? Get the audience loose and ready to laugh before the host comes out on stage.
2. Your doctor spends five minutes riffing about the day before she takes your vitals. If your doctor steps into the exam room, gives a little bow, and then talks about how Congress can’t seem to get it’s act together, your doctor might be a former talk show host. In this case, she hasn’t broken the opening monologue habit and must pepper you with a few one-liners before she can get into the examination process.
3. Your dentist goofs with his assistant during your root canal. If your dentist and his assistant seem to have an uncanny rapport, your dentist may be a former talk show host. And his assistant may be his former sidekick. The talk show sidekick is a long-standing talk show staple. Dave had Paul, Johnny had Ed, Seth has Fred and Craig had a robot named Geoff. If your dentist and assistant seem to be of one mind or are lost in their own world while you seem to be just looking on in confusion – well, they may be a former talk show host and his sidekick.
4. Your appointment gets cancelled to make room for another patient. If you’re in the waiting room (and it’s painted green and includes some nice snacks and bottled water) when a nurse informs you the doctor won’t be able to see you because another patient’s visit was extended, your doctor might be a former talk show host. It’s common for some guests on talk shows to get the boot from their planned appearance when a bigger celebrity decides he or she is “on” and extends their stay through the next segment. When this happens, the other guest is often rescheduled for another night or may never come back to the show again. So if your appointment gets “bumped” you might start to understand why.
5. Your doctor employs a live band in the waiting room. You’re used to hearing classical or Muzak in the waiting room of your family physician, but something’s up if your doc employs a fully staffed band to accompany your wait. Moreso if the bandleader is a well-known musician like Paul Shaffer or Fred Armisen. Now this could mean your doctor is just a little eccentric, but if the band plays your theme song when the nurse calls you back to the exam room, then you can rest assured your doctor is a former talk show host.

Oprah Winfrey fan? Really? Are you so sure? Think again! We bet you didn’t know these 10 things about the queen of all media. I mean – all media. Just to make sure you’re paying attention, we’ll throw one lie in there, too. Think you can figure out which one that is?

1. Oprah Winfrey’s first talk show was called People Are Talking. Long before her quarter century reign as the highest-rated, most popular daytime talk show in history

, Winfrey hosted, along with journalist Richard Sher, a local talk show in Baltimore, Maryland, called, People Are Talking.

2. Winfrey’s real first name is Ohpar. For most of her life, friends and family have called Winfrey “Oprah,” but the name listed on her birth certificate is the biblical name “Ohpar.” Winfrey’s mother gave her the name, but with so many tongues tied, Winfrey relented and stuck with Oprah.

3. Is a member of the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca, N.Y. Not a shocker. Not with all that Winfrey has done outside of the world of daytime television – charities, international schools, publishing and business. Maybe surprising is when she was inducted – in 1994! Well before she became the incredible powerhouse she is today.

4. Was instrumental in getting “The Oprah Bill” passed. In 1993, President William Clinton signed the National Child Protection Act, often called the Oprah Bill because of Winfrey’s staunch support of getting the bill signed into law. The bill gives parents

the assurance that their children are not being cared for by criminals by creating a national database of child abusers.

5. Then did it again in 2008. 15 years after passage of the Oprah Bill in 1993, Oprah got on her incredibly enormous soapbox and urged her viewers to contact their senators to call for passage of the Combating Child Exploitation bill. Her viewers listened, flooding Senate offices with calls, emails and letters. The bill was passed.

6. Became – and remains – the first African American female billionaire. Not only was she named the first African American female billionaire in history in 2003 on the Forbes list, she remains the only African American female billionaire on the list. EVER.

7. Oprah is more popular than Superman and Elvis At least according to VH1, who listed the Winfrey as the No. 1 Pop Culture Icon in history. She topped both the Man of Steel and the King of Rock.

8. Has a perfect attendance record. Over her 25-year history on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Winfrey never missed a day. Of course it’s likely that tapings could be moved or rescheduled depending on Winfrey’s own schedule. Just sayin’.

9. Got the world reading again. Well, maybe not the whole world, but a whole lotta the world. Her “Oprah’s Book Club,” which now lives on digitally online, has spurred more than 30 million in book sales for more than 60 books on her coveted list. That’s a lot of new readers.

10. Hasn’t won an Emmy since 1998. And for good reason. She withdrew her eligibility after winning the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998. Prior to that, Winfrey regularly nabbed the Emmy for Outstanding Daytime Variety Show (talk show in our world).

So did you guess the lie? If you said No. 2 was the lie, you’re right! But you might be surprised to know that it’s only a half-lie. It’s true that Oprah’s given name on her birth certificate is not “Oprah.” But it’s not “Ohpar.” It’s “Orpah.” And for those of you who were sure No. 2 was correct – caught you with the misspelling!