Why I Dislike John Oliver
The British comedian Stewart Lee once joked that Jeremy Clarkson “has opinions for money”. At the surface level, the same criticism can be pointed at John Oliver, the successful host of a weekly US topical satirical TV show.
That doesn’t cover Oliver for me though. He’s worse than Clarkson. Oliver is not trying make money. Or at least, his act isn’t solely for purpose of making money. He has a self belief in what he says.
Oliver oscillates between Monty Python-esque absurdist humour (often in the non-sequitur form) and pleading, emotional cries about the state of the world and how it should be improved.
The absurdist humour was a feature of his mentor, Jon Stewart, as well. This type of comedy does not mix well with a serious subject matter. It largely serves to break up an admonishing monologue with quick-fire jokes. Sometimes the jokes are self-deprecating and serve to engender trust, and sometimes the jokes are tangential or random.
Without the humour, Oliver’s verbiage would be a sermon.
Jon Stewart, when he was host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, often deflected criticism by saying that his show was comedy. “The show leading mine has puppets making crank phone calls” he said. I assume Oliver would take a similar stance.
What’s missing is an awareness of how complicated the world can be. Issues around race, wealth inequality, crime, and education have always existed. And to the extent they have gotten worse recently, if they actually have, they haven’t gotten worse overnight.
To be more specific, what’s really missing from Oliver is skin in the game. He weighs in on controversial political topics. Unlike an actual politician however, Oliver’s constituency is people who want to chuckle.
In the real world, a politician can rarely satisfy everyone. It’s impossible to do so at the presidential level.
I can’t take Oliver’s heartfelt opinions at face value. If things were as bad as he says, and he cared as much as his persona appears to, he would not be on TV. He’d be campaigning for change in the real world. Starting small if he had to and working his way up.
Oliver does sometimes open a segment by saying something like “This is a complicated topic” or similar. The end is always the same though. A simplified, judgemental call to arms that he himself refuses to answer.
Awareness can be important, and you can argue that he is doing a service by shining a spotlight on to various issues. The world isn’t short of current affairs programming though. Oliver is successful because he makes people laugh, not because his factual content is better than elsewhere.
I don’t think it’s a sign of the times that what was traditionally news content has to be mixed with comedy to get people’s attention. A person has a limited amount of attention and they will gravitate towards what interests and entertains them.
I occasionally watch Tucker Carlson on YouTube, to get a sense of what the mainstream(ish) American conservative right is thinking and doing. Carlson and Oliver are in the same business. They both giggle around racism for money.
Carlson commits the same kinds of sins as John Oliver. Cherry-picking, extrapolating, and manufacturing mountains from mole hills. Carlson, and Jeremy Clarkson are less disingenuous than Oliver though.
Fundamentally, I dislike Oliver because if you take his world view fully on board, then there’s nothing good about life or society. The subtext is nihilism dressed up to be palatable and make the viewer feel smart.
I’m not accusing Oliver of being deliberately harmful. That’s rare in society in general. You could argue he’s caught in the content trap and the fierce competition for attention of today’s media landscape. Whatever the excuse, his shtick is dumb.
Life can be hard. Oliver’s viewers don’t benefit from watching his show intellectually. Other comedy is available.
Side note one: You may ask why I watch if I don’t like Oliver. I haven’t watched him regularly for many years and occasionally catch a segment on YouTube. This post is aimed at a friend who likes him.
Side note two: The Monty Python team largely stayed away from controversial topics in their humour. The Life of Brian is an obvious exception. Though I consider the subject to be people and organised religion rather than Christianity itself.
Side note three: I’ve been surprised by some of Carlson’s takes on Ukraine (usually in the guise of attacking Biden). I think he, along with others, have said things in the last few months that will age badly.