John Oliver isn’t interested in Jay Leno’s advice about what today’s late-night hosts are doing wrong.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter out Tuesday, the Last Week Tonight host was asked about Leno’s take that late nights hosts like Oliver, Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, and others are “cozying too much to one side or the other” in their political comedy. “I love political humor, don’t get me wrong,” Leno also said, but “Why shoot for just half an audience all the time? You know, why not try to get the whole? I mean, I like to bring people into the big picture.”
Oliver slammed Leno’s opinion, telling THR, “I’m going to take a hard pass on taking comedic advice from Jay Leno.”
Oliver explained further, “Who thinks that way? Executives? Comedy can’t be for everyone. It’s inherently subjective. So, yeah, when you do stand-up, some people try to play to a broader audience, which is completely legitimate. Others decide not to, which is equally legitimate. I guess I don’t think it’s a question of what you should do because I don’t think comedy is prescriptive in that way. It’s just what people want.”
Jon Stewart similarly slammed Leno’s advice, calling the take “f---ing ridiculous” and mocking the veteran host for his repetitive self-injuries.
The sharp pushback to Leno’s comments comes after CBS’ abrupt cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which, though it regularly aired the host’s criticisms of Donald Trump, was also reportedly losing the company millions of dollars as viewers flock to other platforms for entertainment. And though Trump has seized the opportunity to gloat that he may have played a “major part” in getting Colbert axed and tries to get more of his critics off the air, analysts say late-night’s reckoning has more to do with the numbers than politics.
That said, amid reports that Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav CEO has been making nice with Trump’s daughter Ivanka, Oliver said he doesn’t “waste energy” worrying about potential political interference in his content. “The moment that intrudes on our show, I will react very badly to it, but it hasn’t.” He added, “My tolerance level, were it to, would be zero. This would be over real quick.”
Oliver attributes his show’s staying power at HBO to the value it brings the network during awards season.
“We are insulated by golden armor,” he told THR of Last Week Tonight’s near-decade long Emmy winning streak. “If that stops, we might be going away.”
Oliver’s show is the most Emmy‑awarded late‑night series of its era, with a series of wins that began in 2015 and has continued through 2024. It’s nominated for three more awards this year. “I think it is objectively very, very helpful to have won Emmys with the show. I think it has helped us keep our independence and keep the show on the air,” he added, because, “It’s something that I know has always been important to HBO.”
He concluded, “I’m massively grateful that we’ve won them, and long may that continue. Please! I don’t want my theory tested.”
