HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is currently one of the most loved late-night shows. Over the past seven seasons, the show has entertained viewers weekly by giving an in-depth satirical look at the world around them. Importantly, the show has also birthed the so-called "John Oliver Effect," to explain the show's sometimes incredible cultural impact.
Easily the most critically successful current late-night show, Last Week Tonight has won multiple awards including a total of 16 Emmys. Although currently on break due to the coronavirus, it is important to remind everyone why this show has been so successful. Here is a look at its ten best episodes according to IMDB. Just like in Last Week Tonight where accuracy is everything, in order to ensure the exactness of this list, episodes with the same ratings have been ranked by their user ratings.
FIFA (8.7)
If there is one thing all soccer fans know, it's that FIFA is probably the world's most corrupt sport governing body. In season two, Last Week Tonight did their second episode on FIFA, with a special look at the extent of their corruption and then-FIFA president, Sepp Blatter.
Oliver, who absolutely loves the sport, called for Blatter's resignation and for all sponsors to pull their support from the organization. Hilariously, he even promised Budweiser that he would drink "one of their disgusting items" if they did. To Oliver's great delight, Blatter ended up resigning just a couple of days after the episode aired. Whether the show had anything to do with it is anyone's guess but the episode showed just how culturally relevant the show was.
Net Neutrality (8.7)
Net Neutrality, the idea that all Internet service providers must treat all Internet communications equally, is perhaps not the most interesting thing to watch on a comedy show. However, Last Week Tonight knows just how to make even the most boring subjects interesting and funny.
In the fifth episode of season one, Oliver argued against the new FCC's Internet regulation proposals that would hinder Net Neutrality. So, at the end of the segment, he encouraged viewers to comment on the FCC's website and within a few days, the FFC's site crashed due to the insane amount of traffic it was getting thanks to the show.
President-Elect Trump (8.7)
Like almost all late-night shows, Last Week Tonight has done an almost insane amount of segments on Donald Trump. After Trump won the election in 2016, Oliver took this episode to express his distaste for the whole thing. The episode detailed Trump's past behaviors, his campaign promises and the role of the media in getting him elected.
As it was the last episode of the year and season, Oliver decided to celebrate in style. Arguing that 2016 was a pretty bad year due to the election, Zika Virus and the Syrian Refugee Crisis, that it was best to just let the year go. In "celebrating" 2016 and in unsurprising Last Week Tonight style, Oliver blew up a gigantic sign of 2016 to Beethoven's "Ode to Joy."
Rudy Giuliani (8.8)
Last Week Tonight did not only do extensive episodes on Donald Trump but spent many segments looking at those around him. The most successful of these was the season five takedown of former New York mayor and current Trump lawyer, Rudy Guiliani.
In this episode, Oliver looked at Guilliani's rather bizarre life from his marriage to his second cousin, his lust for the limelight and his push to become Trump's mouthpiece, even if he was constantly pushing contradictory and damming information. Digging deep into Guilliani's past, the episode proved the show's journalistic powers and therefore it is no wonder that the episode became a clear fan-favorite.
Sex Ed (8.8)
Sexual education is probably one of the most controversial political topics, but Last Week Tonight was never afraid of a little controversy and in season two, discussed the state of Sex Ed in the US. The episode highlighted the disparities in the various systems across school districts and the quality of the current education.
Like with most things at Last Week Tonight, just simply explaining something is never good enough and in an effort to promote better sex education, Oliver roped in a variety of celebrities that included Nick Offerman, Laverne Cox, Megan Mullally, Kumail Nanjiani and Aisha Tyler, among others, to do a Sex Ed video.
Trump vs. Truth (9.0)
In season four, Last Week Tonight took a detailed look at Trump's sometimes questionable relationship with the truth. The episode highlighted Trump's statements on things like voter fraud and the weather on his inauguration day.
Last Week Tonight is at its best when it decides to pull a wacky and hilarious stunt that also sends an important message. Therefore, it came as no surprise that Oliver bought airtime on Trump's favorite news shows to run his own adverts starring Thomas Kopache as the "catheter-using cowboy' to explain issues like Global Warming to Trump.
Church (9.3)
At the very heart of Last Week Tonight is the show's insistence on calling out injustices in our current system. No episode highlights this and the show's need to prove a point, as the season two episode "Church."
Oliver called out a variety of televangelists who he accused of using the church and its tax-exempt structures to scam parishioners and to fund their extremely lavish lifestyles. In order to prove just how lax the tax laws actually were, Last Week Tonight legally founded the church "Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption." Oliver, along with his "wife" Wanda Jo Oliver played by Rachel Dratch, even asked viewers to send in donations which unsurprisingly, they did.
Donald Trump (9.3)
The season three episode, "Donald Trump" is easily one of the most popular episodes of the entire series. Early in the Republican Primaries of 2016, Last Week Tonight took an in-depth look at Trump, his campaign, his career, and his many failed businesses.
In order to highlight his failings, Oliver proposed that Trump should go back to his original surname "Drumpf" and started the campaign "Make Donald Drumpf Again." Although disapproved by many, the campaign instantly became a viral hit and again cemented the show's cultural impact.
Government Surveillance (9.4)
After the 2013 Snowden disclosures, many people were left worried but also confused about the state of government surveillance and in season two, Last Week Tonight decided to rectify this. In the episode, John Oliver discussed some of these aspects but decided it was best to go to the source himself. So, to the great surprise of the audience and HBO, Oliver flew to Moscow to meet with the wanted whistle-blower himself.
Snowden sat with Oliver and explained why and how he decided to leak the information and importantly, explained in the simplest terms the different systems the US uses to conduct surveillance. This was easily one of the craziest things to happen on a late-night show and therefore, it is absolutely clear as to why so many hold this show in such high regard.
SLAPP Suits (9.6)
The success of Last Week Tonight lay not only in its ability to make people laugh but also its ability to make them learn about an issue that has always seemed just too complicated to understand. The season seven episode on SLAPP lawsuits perfectly illustrates this. SLAPP lawsuits refer to lawsuits that are meant to scare people into silence.
The episode was inspired by Last Week's Tonight's own experience after being served by coal magnate Bob Murray after the show did a segment on him. The episode went into detail about their ordeal with Murray and the intricacies of these lawsuits. In true Last Week Tonight fashion, the episode ended with a five-minute musical number set in Time Square directed at Murray entitled "Eat Sh*t, Bob."