John Oliver examines Jimmy Kimmel & the FCC after winning two Emmy Awards

I'm taking one more look at ABC suspending Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Kimmel & the FCC: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO).

John Oliver discusses ABC’s move to pull Jimmy Kimmel off the air, what it has to do with Brendan Carr and the FCC, what it means for free speech in the United States, and which broadcasting giant should open an Italian restaurant. Ok fine: it’s Tegna. With a name like “Tegna” you’ve just gotta serve complimentary garlic knots. End of discussion.

John Oliver basically recapped what Colbert and Klepper already said on a bigger budget with (slightly) better writing, so I'll be a good environmentalist and recycle myself.

Paramount and CBS gave Hoover Cleveland's maladministration plausible deniability when they canceled Stephen's show. FCC chair Brendan Carr's prompting and Hoover Cleveland's approval made the sequence of events and ultimate responsibility much clearer with Kimmel's show being suspended. I think that's why the reaction is stronger for Kimmel than for Colbert.
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While the FCC has no control over cable and streaming, so it can't threaten Tapper's employer, CNN, media consolidation in the form of the NBC and rumored Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger can still affect them and him.

The merger can affect HBO and Oliver, too, which he recognized. As I wrote in reaction to Jordan Klepper, "This is about billionaires knuckling under to state power for more money. Sigh."

That's the bad news. The good news is that Kimmel is returning tonight. As I wrote first in 'You're Not Alone' and 'Now What?' Closer looks at Trump's re-election from Colbert, Meyers, 'The Daily Show,' and Kimmel, "I'm wondering if people will protect Jimmy, Stephen, Seth, and the rest of the late-night talk show hosts. If so, it would be another example of the surest way to get Americans to act is to mess with their entertainm­ent. As I first wrote in 2011, 'America is quite clear about its screwed up priorities­.'" Looks like his fans came through.

Follow over the jump for the Emmy Awards Last Week Tonight with John Oliver won last week.

'Last Week Tonight' examines 'Trump & Deportations' for Wayback Wednesday

Happy Wayback Wednesday! I'm featuring Last Week Tonight with John Oliver examining Trump & Deportations, which I could have used for Cinco De Mayo but I'm happier to use it today.

John Oliver discusses the recent deportations by the Trump administration, the conditions in the facility people are being sent to abroad, and why even Henry Winkler could be in danger of being expelled from the U.S. Yeah, even national treasure Henry Winkler.

Donald "Hoover Cleveland" Trump insisting that the photoshopped "MS-13" on Kilmar Abrego Garcia's hand is real reminds me of what I've written before, "the voices in his head are not reliable sources. Neither are the real people he listens to." All of them are advocating for "speed, volume, and spectacle" in the service of "the cruelty is the point." All of them, especially Hoover Cleveland, have gotten worse this time around. This includes going after citizens, mistakenly or not, and denying due process to those targeted for deportation. As Oliver said, this is an outrage.

Follow over the jump for a retrospective of the top posts on social media featuring Last Week Tonight with John Oliver between March 21, 2024 and March 20, 2025 that I missed in Vox asks 'RFK Jr. is in charge of vaccines. What now?' A Wayback Wednesday special.

John Oliver on corn for National Food Day

Happy National Food Day! I'm celebrating today by sharing Corn: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO).

John Oliver discusses the financial and environmental impact of corn in the U.S., and whether or not he really knows what Pearl Harbor is.

I chose this video in part because this episode is nominated for Variety Series at the Environmental Media Association (EMA) Awards. It's between Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Real Time with Bill Maher. I'm rooting for Oliver over Maher, but both are HBO series, so HBO wins no matter what.

I also picked this because corn has been a major topic of my National Food Day series, going back ten years to 2014's Corn questions from 'Food, Inc.' worksheet and most recently in My students are watching 'King Corn' for extra credit on National Food Day 2020. Oliver used clips from King Corn in this segment.

Normally, I'd answer the corn questions from the Food, Inc. worksheet, but I did that ten years ago, so I'm not doing it again. Instead, I tell my students that corn, along with E. coli, can be used for examples of three of Commoner's Laws, everything is connected to everything else, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and everything must go somewhere. Excess fertilizer washing off of corn fields causing dead zones works for all three.

While I've been skeptical about corn for fuel since the first year of the blog, I'm even more doubtful about it now. Seeing that it is the number one use of dense corn, although not the majority, is something I suspected but now know for sure. That's a statistic I can tell my students. Also, I did not know that growing corn for fuel has a larger carbon footprint than the equivalent amount of gasoline. It's a good day when I learn something new, and that makes today a good day, even if it's about something bad for the environment.

That concludes today's holiday entry. Stay tuned as I return to spooky season all the way to Day of the Dead.

John Oliver and 'The Daily Show' on RFK Jr.

I closed Closer looks at the DNC from Stewart, Colbert, and Meyers by telegraphing today's topic in a footnote.

I also wrote "That is, if I don't throw a comic tomato at RFK Jr., who is rumored to be suspending his campaign..." That hadn't happened yet when I started writing this entry, so not today. Maybe tomorrow. Stay tuned.

RFK Jr. suspended his presidential campaign yesterday and endorsed convicted criminal Donald Trump AKA Hoover Cleveland, so it's time to follow through before the pumpkin left behind rots. I begin with RFK Jr.: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO).

John Oliver discusses RFK Jr.’s potential to sway the presidential election, who his views are impacting on and off the campaign trail, and most importantly: what surprising little treat helps John get through the work week.

HBO showed this episode on August 4, 2024, one day before another scandal involving RFK Jr. broke, which The Daily Show covered in RFK Jr.’s Dead Bear Story & Highlights From 2024 Olympics.

Michael Kosta covers all things Olympics, including an American runner who won by a hair, a pole vaulter with interfering genitalia, and an Algerian boxer whose womanhood is challenged. As the election grows closer, RFK Jr.’s bear carcass dump has him securing his place as the weirdest candidate, and Desi Lydic reveals other confessions we can expect from him.

Desi Lydic and The Daily Show writers were making all that up, but there were real things they and Last Week Tonight's writers could have added that are true, like RFK Jr. ranking second by followers and number one by retweets among The Disinformation Dozen, twelve users who were responsible for 65% of the COVID-19 misinformation on Twitter/X and other social media during 2021. RFK Jr. also has an entry in Encyclopedia of American Loons that concludes with this dire assessment.

Kennedy is a traditional crank and deluded conspiracy theorist who is thoroughly anti-science (even on the topics on which he is right, he relies almost exclusively on non-scientific arguments); a typical crank and crackpot with little aptitude for actual evidence (as opposed to twisting any fact to look like evidence to lay people). He is enormously influential, and must be considered one of the more dangerous people in the US today.

That was in 2011 and he only seems to have gotten worse since then.

I close with one more serious item, MSNBC reporting Steve Kornacki: Polls show race could tighten with RFK Jr. suspending presidential campaign.

Vice President Harris is narrowing the gap with former President Trump in the latest polls. NBC News National Political Correspondent Steve Kornacki explains what impact RKF Jr.’s decision to suspend his campaign could have on the presidential match-up.

"Narrowing the gap" — yeah, by passing Hoover Cleveland and being ahead by less than Joe Biden was behind. Way to bury the lead, MSNBC! Still, isn't it interesting that RFK Jr.'s campaign was active when it hurt the Democrats and suspended when it would most damage the Democrats? Hmm.

That's enough about RFK Jr. Stay tuned for more awards coverage on the Sunday entertainment feature.

'The Daily Show' at the Republican National Convention over the years

The Republican National Convention begins today, so I'm sharing The Daily Show's retrospectives of their coverage of past events, beginning with Small Town Values & Absent Diversity at the RNC's of Yore.

It's a Daily Show tradition to attend the national conventions every year, and the RNC always promises a good time. Take a look at some of the Best F**kin' News Team's best f**kin' moments at the RNC, from learning about small-town values to searching out any Black or Latino people, to finding out the last year America was great.

Jordan Klepper, Aasif Mandvi, John Oliver look so young in these clips. Also, seeing Samantha Bee makes me realize how much I miss her show. Altogether, they remind me how The Daily Show was and still is a great cultivator of talent.

The fun continues in RNC Throwbacks: Bristol Palin's Right to Choose & John Oliver Audits Red States.

Take a look back at some of the Daily Show's most memorable moments with Samantha Bee, Ed Helms, and John Oliver on the ground at the RNC.

Ah, when Republicans were the more anti-Russian party! I miss those days. On the other hand, they've become even more anti-choice, despite what their platform does, or even more importantly, doesn't say. As for running government like a business, I've seen what that was like under Rick Snyder. No thank you. It's even worse if they want to run the U.S. government like convicted criminal Hoover Cleveland's businesses!

Here's to this year's convention creating as many funny moments as these. If so, it might just be the best thing to come out of it!

ETA: This year's RNC may create funny moments, but they won't be captured by a team in the field. Variety reports ‘Daily Show’ Cancels On-The-Ground RNC Plans After Trump Assassination Attempt.

Jon Stewart and the team from “The Daily Show” will be staying close to home during the Republican National Convention.

After planning to cover the event with a satirical lens in host city Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Comedy Central mainstay canceled its plans Sunday and noted the show would hold forth instead from its usual base in New York City. Monday’s broadcast of the show, typically hosted by Stewart, will not air, and the late-night series will pick up Tuesday through Thursday.

Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump appears to be the issue. A message posted via Instagram and X offered “apologies for the inconvenience,” citing “logistical issues and the evolving situation in Milwaukee” for a “need to reschedule our events on the ground in Wisconsin.” A spokeswoman for the show did not elaborate on the statement.

Thanks to King of Pies on X/Twitter for telling me this. Just the same, darn.

Gold Derby's predictions for Emmy-nominated shows

I closed Colbert, Meyers, and 'The Daily Show' take more closer looks at Project 2025 by writing "I might move up the Sunday entertainment feature to tomorrow because Sunday is Bastille Day." Since the Emmy nominations will be revealed next week, I'm sharing the Gold Derby editors' Emmy nomination predictions for series and TV movies.


Gold Derby's Emmy nomination predictions begin with comedy series, so that's were I begin as well. As of last night, the the top eight comedy series were The Bear, Hacks, Abbott Elementary, Only Murders in the Building, Curb Your Enthusiasm, What We Do in the Shadows, Palm Royale, and Reservation Dogs. The Gentlemen and Colin from Accounts effectively tie for ninth, while one editor each thinks Ghosts and Girls5Eva will earn nominations. The experts agree on the top eight, while the top 24 users think The Gentlemen will knock out Palm Royale. The former may be funnier, but the latter has more star power, which makes me think it has the advantage, at least among the actors.


Gold Derby's next category is drama series, the top eight among the editors consists of Shogun, The Crown, The Morning Show, The Gilded Age, Fallout, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Slow Horses, and The Curse. Shogun moved from limited series to drama series just in time to make the ballot in this category, unseating The Crown as the favorite and knocking 3 Body Problem out of the predicted top eight. The experts and top 24 users agree with the editors' top eight, although the users think Ahsoka will be the series knocked out by the addition of Shogun; they have 3 Body Problem in tenth and Loki in eleventh.


Moving Shogun out of limited series helped Baby Reindeer, which is now favored to win, and Ripley, which is now in fifth by a hair. The rest of the limited series field predicted by Gold Derby's editors, experts, and top 24 users are Fargo, Lessons in Chemistry, and True Detective: Night Country. The editors and experts think Fellow Travelers will be the show that just misses the cutoff, while the users think it will be Masters of the Air.


The Gold Derby editors have a statistical tie for the fifth Emmy nomination in television movies, giving both The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial and Scoop five votes each. The last slot may be even more unsettled, as No One Will Save You has four editor votes. The editors' top four consists of Mr. Monk's Last Case, Red, White and Royal Blue, Quiz Lady, and The Great Lillian Hall. The experts and top 24 users disagree, thinking both The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial and Scoop will make the top five while The Great Lillian Hall won't. This will be another category worth watching.

Follow over the jump for the remaining four show categories.