In late April of 2014, comedian John Oliver launched a new series that was to air on HBO with added content online, entitled “Last Week Tonight.” After working for years as a correspondent with Jon Stewart, Oliver’s new show debuted well, incorporating both a Stewart-esque attention to current events and Oliver’s own personal comedic habits. But “Last Week Tonight” has served as far more than just another humorous take on social and political issues – it’s become clear that the show is the forerunner for investigative journalism in today’s society.
First and foremost, the reason that Oliver has become a major source for investigative work and general social awareness evolves out of the sheer viewership his show receives. Like many other talk show hosts, his popular past propelled his show to early success. He was a frequent guest star on the cult comedy Community, but he was mainly known for both his standup and his time spent on Stewart’s show. Due to this kind of name recognition, Oliver’s YouTube clips even in the first week of his show continually hit at least one million views. Now, his more popular segments can reach upwards of ten million views – similar numbers to a One Direction music video.
But being popular is only one part of the equation. John Oliver is also leading the charge in investigative work because his team of writers chooses to look at issues that are less widely talked about, but just as important as what the average citizen sees in the news on a day to day basis. Add in Oliver’s satirical voice, and an episode of “Last Week Tonight” on Civil Forfeiture, a concept thought too difficult and depressing to talk about, becomes funny.
The numbers don’t lie: Google Trends shows that in the days after a Last Week Tonight episode, a spike occurs in Google Searches for the topic discussed. This holds true across the board, with topics ranging from Civil Forfeiture (spike in October 2014, episode aired on October 5th) to Native Advertising (spike in August 2014, episode aired on August 3rd) to even Marketing to Doctors (spike in February 2015, episode aired on February 8th). Of course, a lot of Oliver’s content focuses around issues being discussed by national and local media a lot of the time – but across the board, his most popular episodes are about topics most people are in the dark about.
The secret to John Oliver’s success, however, lies in inspiring regular people to take action. By literally partaking in many of the issues discussed in the show, Oliver immerses himself in the issue, thus allowing viewers to connect with what he’s saying in a direct, tangible way. For example, Oliver recently discussed Televangelism, or the practice of preaching and fundraising through churches on TV. But he didn’t just talk about it – behind the scenes, Oliver spent seven months sending snail mail back and forth to a famous televangelist, each time with the amount of money requested of him, just to prove to his viewers how real the issue was. He’s created hashtags (#JeffWeCan to combat big tobacco companies, #GoGetThoseGeckos as part of a piece on geckos sent to space by Russia), created videos of dogs impersonating Supreme Court Justices (in order to make the concept of the Supreme Court sound more exciting), and even caused a temporary crash on the FCC’s main website after encouraging viewers to talk to the FCC about net neutrality.
The “Last Week Tonight” YouTube channel now has over 2 million subscribers and comes out with new content nearly every single week. With no obstacles in sight, John Oliver’s brainchild of a show will continue to experience success in a pretty atypical manner – instead of talking about what’s going on, Oliver picks apart the stories that no one hears, bringing in laughs, inciting action, and raising awareness about all of the issues you’ve never heard of.
