‘Last Week Tonight’ Kicks Itself for Filming on Saturday Instead of Sunday
Right now, every late-night host in America is licking their chops at the inevitable ratings boost they’ll enjoy tonight for their first show and monologue following President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 election – well, every one besides John Oliver.
When Oliver first committed to a weekly schedule instead of the traditional nightly format of every other politically focused late-night show for Last Week Tonight over a decade ago, the reasoning behind Oliver's Sunday night specials was that he could tackle pressing issues with a higher degree of rigor and thoughtfulness if he and his writers room had more time to think about each subject. Well, thanks to their decision to shoot each episode a full day before airing, the entire Last Week Tonight staff will have an ample six days to stew over the biggest and most discussed news item of the current election cycle while the Stephen Colberts and Jimmy Fallons of the late-night world pick the Biden bow-out tree clean of all its lowest hanging fruit.
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The official Last Week Tonight Twitter account lamented the fact that the show shoots on Saturdays instead of its airdate of Sunday following President Biden’s bombshell announcement yesterday:
Instead of addressing the most talked-about story in American politics mere hours after the news of Biden's decision first broke, Oliver and Last Week Tonight spent yesterday evening dissecting the conservative talking points regarding illegal immigration and its impact on violent crime, the non-Olympic athletic tournament The World Games and the events of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee that are now so old in news cycle years that they can't run for re-election as a Democrat.
Thankfully, and presciently, Oliver decided not to make the growing discontent among prominent Democratic leaders as well as voters with Biden's declining faculties and his then-decision to run for a second term as president the focus of Sunday's Last Week Tonight. And, presumably, we'll get a much more measured and comprehensive take on ramifications of Biden's step back from Oliver this upcoming Sunday, just minutes after Kamala Harris announces Adam Driver as her running mate.