Monday, March 30, 2026

J.D. Vance gets the 'Last Week Tonight' treatment

Today's post I plan on sharing in April, no fooling, features J.D. Vance: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO).

John Oliver discusses J.D. Vance, what he really believes, who he is without Donald Trump, and – most importantly – what he looks like without a beard.
I begin my reaction by recycling from Dailyshowographies of Tim Walz and JD Vance plus 'The Daily Show's Emmy Awards.
Vance's opportunism and misogyny shine right through this satirical biography. As for Hillbilly Elegy, it's one of the rare films that earned both Oscar and Razzie nominations. While I'm not sure about Glenn Close's Razzie nomination (fortunately, she didn't win), I am sure about Worst Screenplay, which earned Vanessa Taylor, but not Vance, a nomination. I think leaving Vance off the nomination was an oversight.
John Oliver certainly had something to say about Hillbilly Elegy, including Glenn Close's Razzie nomination; maybe she did deserve it, although I'm still glad she didn't win. As for Vance's opportunism, that shines through even brighter. On the other hand, different bigotries eclipse his misogyny, especially racism and anti-immigrant sentiment, never mind that Vance's wife Usha is the daughter of Indian immigrants.

Oliver bringing up Peter Thiel reminds me of what I wrote about him in Yahoo! News asks 'How does the 25th Amendment work?' A Veep Day special.
Vance would be less erratic (mercurial would be a polite way of saying it) and not driven by Hoover Cleveland's obsessions with tariffs, grifts, and revenge, but he'd be more likely to implement the parts of Project 2025 that Hoover Cleveland hasn't yet. He'd also be more under the influence of Palantir founder Peter Thiel, his pet bad philosopher Curtis Yarvin, and Palantir CEO Alex Karp. They're the sources of what I called "cyberpunk villain ideas straight out of Snow Crash..." Vance can certainly learn new tricks, but I worry about the ones Thiel, Yarvin, and Karp could teach him. They might be worse.
I mentioned some of those bad ideas in Rachel Maddow examines Curtis Yarvin, one of JD Vance's influences.
Listening to Yarvin and Vance talk about replacing American institutions, including democratic governance, reminds me of David Frum's warning that I quoted in 'The Daily Show,' Vox, and CBS News explain QAnon, silly to serious examinations of a conspiracy theory: "If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy." Yarvin, Thiel, and Vance are proving Frum right.
They still are.

Oliver pointing out Vance's role in Donald "Hoover Harding Cleveland" Trump dropping "They're eating the dogs. They're eating the cats" in the middle of a debate reminds me of what I wrote then.
As for Trump AKA Hoover Cleveland repeating the fiction of Haitian immigrants eating pets, it's another example of his vulnerability to conspiracy theories. He still hasn't learned that the voices he's listening to aren't reliable sources. This includes JD Vance.
That hasn't stopped Hoover Harding Cleveland from listening to them.

By the way, I was waiting for Oliver to make a couch joke, which gives me a chance to recycle what I wrote in Colbert, 'The Daily Show,' Meyers, and Kimmel take closer looks at the shutdown.
As for the meme with JD Vance making love to a couch, it reminds me that there is a game called Date Everything! Everything includes a couch named Koa, and there is already a meme of it/him with Vance.

A comedy sketch about Vance wouldn't be complete without a couch joke!

Finally, hearing Vance obsessing about childless Americans, divorce, and abortion reminds me that Listening to people worry about lower birthrates on World Population Day is enough to drive me to drink on National Mojito Day. That's coded misogyny. It's also a post I'll feature when I examine last year's top posts about holidays.

Enough about Vance. Follow over the jump for the most read posts featuring John Oliver during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.


John Oliver examines Clarence Thomas and makes him an offer on 'Last Week Tonight' from February 22, 2024 was the second most viewed entry last year with ~2,860 default and ~3,050 raw page views. Of those, ~2,430 default and 2,441 raw page views came during September 2025, when it was the most viewed post during the month and its best month ever, and 307 default and 341 raw page views came during August 2026, ranking it seventh by the former and sixth by the latter, its second best month ever up to then (now its third best ever). I credited all its page views to web search.

This is its second time in an annual top twenty.
The most read entry featuring John Oliver during the 13th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News was John Oliver examines Clarence Thomas and makes him an offer on 'Last Week Tonight' posted February 22, 2024. I shared it at the Coffee Party USA/Citizen Connect Facebook page the next day, which helped it earn ~2,240 default and 2241 raw page views during February 2024, making it the most read entry that month. It ended the blogging year with ~2,240 default and 2,271 raw page views, ranking it third overall and the second most read entry posted during the blog's 13th year.
Welcome back!

I shared John Oliver examines Jimmy Kimmel & the FCC after winning two Emmy Awards from September 23, 2025 to the Citizen Connect/Coffee Party USA Facebook page, which helped it earn 796 default and 846 raw page views during September 2025, good enough for 8th by default page views, 20th by raw page views, and 19th among entries posted during September 2025. It ended the blogging year with 913 raw page views, ranking it 18th among entries posted during the blogging year and 24th overall. I plan on reusing this entry when I examine posts about the Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards.


I shared John Oliver examines 'Gang Databases' plus 'Last Week Tonight's six Emmy nominations from July 29, 2025 at the Citizen Connect/Coffee Party USA Facebook page. It didn't make the monthly top twenty during August, but it did end the blogging year with 491 raw page views, ranking it 49th among entries posted during the blogging year and 68th overall. Again, I plan on reusing this entry when I examine posts about the Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards.


John Oliver on feelings over facts and Colbert on Trumpiness from July 25, 2016 is another post from the back catalog that I credit web search for its 462 raw page views, tying it for 75th according to raw page views. It ended the blogging year with 7,104 total raw page views over its history, keeping it 25th according to all-time raw page views.

That's a wrap for today's retrospective, which I hadn't planned on writing until this morning. Stay tuned for the next one on April Fools Day, when will begin the first of three or four posts about holidays.

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