Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - EMMY NOMINEE: John Oliver on the Success of “Last Week Tonight” and His Comedy Journey (February 2024)

Episode Date: September 13, 2025

As the Emmy-winning host of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver has redefined political comedy with his wit and satire. In this sitdown from February 2024, Oliver joins Willie Geist at a pub to watch his beloved Liverpool football club and preview the 2024 season of Last Week Tonight. He also reflects on his bold decision to move to America for a dream job on The Daily Show, a leap that set the stage for his late-night success. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks, as always, for clicking and listening along. Very excited to bring in my conversation this week with John Oliver, the host of last week tonight on HBO and HBO Max, obviously embarking on the new season of his news satire show in the middle of a presidential election year. We'll talk about that. And all these Emmys he's won, including very recently, for last week tonight, between himself as host for the writing and for the series itself. They've won 16 Emmys for last week tonight.

He also, by the way, won three when he was on The Daily Show. He had a memorable stint in 2013 filling in for eight weeks as host of the Daily Show when John Stewart was away directing a movie. And as you'll hear him talk about, a lot of people watched him do that and said, oh, he's not just the correspondent. He could sit alone and host a show. And now we got last week tonight. Came up through comedy growing up in Birmingham, moved to London, went to Cambridge, to this incredible society, effectively, of comedy that gave birth to Monty Python, among many others. Very, very smart, very fast, and very funny. I think you're going to enjoy our conversation that's really about much more than his show. It's about everything going on in the world and his rise

at a great storyteller, I have to say. A little background. John and I got together to a place called McCaels in Midtown Manhattan, known to be a Liverpool bar, meaning it's where fans of Liverpool, supporters go to watch the matches in the Premier League. Now, John Oliver, lifelong from birth, Liverpool fan, passed down from his family, and he is a intense fan. I'll just say that, as I think you're about to find out, knows everything about the team past, current, future, and is very excited because Liverpool right now, as we speak, sits at the top the table, meaning they're in first place in the Premier League. These are good times to be a

Liverpool fan. So we went to a place where he felt at home for a great conversation right now on the Sunday Sit Down podcast with John Oliver. Great to see, man. I'm about to shut down now. Oh, you're going to get rid of it. Yeah, that's right. The pre-talk was fun. Let's just, I'm just going to remove any discernible personality and then just shut down. You were so charming there before we started. That's not for camera, Willie. Some people come alive when the cameras turn on, I'd die. side. I noticed when the lights came up, you sort of slanted. That's right. It diminishes me. Attention diminishes me. I'm better. Well, let's do our best. Yeah, sure. Let's do. You know, let's talk about something that might make you feel comfortable,

which is football. Yes. And we are in Mikhail's Bar, which is the home of Liverpool supporters, right? Correct. Yes. And do you come and watch? The home of Liverpool supporters is Liverpool. Well, right. Fair. The kind of, like kind of imperialism that Mikhail's Bar is doing in New York, I don't think, as much as they would love to claim this is the whole of Liverpool it just isn't. The home of Liverpool is that way. Fair. That's a fair point.

The New York City home of Liverpool, that I will accept. So will you be in here watching games from time to time? No, I'll be at home watching games always. Yes. So, yeah, I still have little kids, so I'm trying to force them into liking football and liking Liverpool specifically. If they don't like Liverpool specifically, they cannot have football. That's it. That was the rule in my house. So, yes, I watch it at home. Also, when things don't go well, I don't handle that well. So it's best not to be around people saying, hey, it's just a gay thing.

Well, don't say that to me. Never say that to me. I remember after England lost once in the World Cup, my wife said, before the game, in my defense, I'd said, if England lose, we should probably think about other things to do this afternoon because I'm not going to be, you know, at my best as a human being. And in the kindest way, they lost and she said, well, it's, you know, it is, I love you. It's just, it's just sport, isn't it? Which is true. Objectively, that's true. And I walked around the entirety of Central Park twice, the whole thing, just to try and walk off that comment. Is it your sport? Let's see. I'm going to walk. walk until this pain goes away.

I'll see you when it's dark. And once was it enough? Once did not do it. One loop makes sense, doesn't it? Not even close. Maybe the second one. You basically did like a half marathon to walk off the pain. That's right.

Like those Olympics walkers, but we're just focused on the floor. Can I organize thoughts in my head so that this thing that shouldn't hurt me as much as it just did doesn't? I love that you have to be home where you can be explosive around your children, but not here with... Yes. Strangers. Yeah, and also, I can engage more in the group text I have with your friends. That's important. As the game goes on.

Right. So that we can just check in on each other's real fare. Well, you should be doing pretty well this year, right? Top of the table. Yes. Salah's injured. Are we worried about that as a long-term proposition? Yes, we're worried about that concert.

I worry about his mental and physical health constantly. Why do I think you're not joking? I'm not remotely joking. I met him once at the Time 100 thing. I kind of had to write an introduction for him. And I turned up earlier, he was going to be sitting next to me. So he's like his name tag was just next. I was just looking at his name tag thinking,

he's going to be here in a second. I couldn't fathom how I was going to interact with someone I love that much. And they served food, and then he turned up. And the first thing I said to him was, nice to meet you, Mo, I've protected your fish, so no one would touch it. And you could see his head thinking, well, I'm definitely not eating that fish.

now. Because that's the thing that someone says after they've just touched my fish. Did you, as those words left your mouth, did you try to grab them? Yes, of course. You just go, oh, that's not a thing. No, no, no, no. That's not a thing to say to another human being. Why would his ears want that? No, no, no, no, no. Come back. And you had a lot of time to come up with something. Oh, I'd come up with a lot of things. And then my body decided, don't worry. I got this one. Let's make this about the fish protection situation. That's what he wants to here. It's going to turn up again. I hope this stranger

has addressed the presence of my fish. I'd take it you didn't strike up a friendship from there then. I don't think a friendship was ever going to be appropriate. It can't be a friendship when there's an affection imbalance on that level. Which is not to say that he didn't care about me, though he would absolutely be allowed to do that. It's more that I can't, I cannot interact with footballers. Right. It's too much. It's too much because I love them too much. I want to be them too much. so there is nothing to say at all.

And you were a bit of a footballer growing up. Is that fair to say? I think, I think physically a bit of a footballer is both harsh and fair. I think my coaches would say, yeah, you're a bit of a footballer. Are you a whole footballer?

No, are you enough of a footballer? Not even for this team. Are you a bit of a footballer? Yes, and that bit is mainly in your mind, not the rest of your body. Yeah, I loved it more than anything else. Yeah. Yeah. And you, so you grew up, you were born in Birmingham.

Yeah, grew up just north of London, but a Liverpool fan because of your parents. Yeah, my whole family, both sides are all from Liverpool. So, yeah, my granddad had a season ticket. And so it was not a choice. Can you speak to an American audience who is maybe more obsessed with American football to the passion that you feel as a family, as a fan, as a supporter of Liverpool and what it's like over there? I mean, it's just,

it is so important to the city. I don't know that that's not true of certain NFL teams. It does feel like owners of NFL teams have, even to the anger of the cities, those teams have been in, decided to move them. That's not something you could do in England without people being murdered. I know people were angry when the Browns moved to Baltimore.

but the people that did it are still alive, right? I'm not saying they should have been killed. I'm saying if you cared enough, you would have done it. Yeah, it is in English football teams are, well, European football teams are intrinsically linked to the cities they're in. And so the feelings I have for Liverpool now are that it's, especially as someone who lives thousands of miles away, is it really is a connection to home, right?

You're watching games at the same time as your friends are, so it's like your days, it's a way to synchronise your days in a way. And we're happy with the Fenway Sports Group, the guys who've run it for the last 13, 14 years? I, I, that's a complicated question, Willie. I think if you ask Liverpool fans, they would never be happy.

Liverpool was a mess before they came in So I'm very happy with what they've become I think it's very important to remember Not to get too Drake related But we started from the bottom Now we're here Now we're here And we didn't start from the bottom

We started from like sixth But it felt like the bottom Point taken So no they have They have done a lot The tricky thing In football European style

Is that there is an influence flux of Saudi oil money, Russian oligarchs, and Fenway Sports Group are going to struggle to compete with that money. Now, should you try and compete with that money? I think arguably you shouldn't because it makes football non-financially sustainable. And it makes it at best morally gray. You had a great moment at the Emmys where you just won two more. Congratulations. Thanks. Where you were trying to sort of run out the clock for Anthony Anderson's mother. And you did what? Well, yeah, I guess I just, I love it when they play people off at the Emmys.

I love it. And so that's the most exciting thing is to get to be played off. I couldn't, the first time ever happened was amazing. I was thinking, I'm talking until that music starts. Because as a kid, all I've wanted was not to win something is to be played off. So I knew I was going to do that. You're sick, by the way. So I just thought, I thought, I'll talk until Anthony Anderson's mom starts yelling at me.

And so I just started naming Liverpool football players. And it was nice to see Trent Alexander Arndon. get some, uh... Yeah. It feels like it's been a while since Trent has been mentioned at the Emmys. I don't know if it was the first time, it shouldn't have been. But it's an inverted full back row now, Willie.

I think Hollywood needs to understand the right back role is changing now. Right, right. And it's largely because of what Trent is doing. And you will not be silenced on that. No, no. Very brave. It says so much about you that you take more glee

and being played off, probably than holding the award. Oh, way more. Because holding an award isn't funny. Being played off is funny. And when things are funny, those are my favorite moments. Now, it is 19 Emmys for you for this show, 28 for the show altogether. The math on that through 10 seasons is like 2.8 a year. I don't even know how that works, how there are that many Emmys to give a show.

Thanks for getting into fractions, really. Was that helpful? So people would round up or down. No. I appreciate. I respect. It's around 2.8. Yeah.

Knowing quietly it's 2.8. A rate of 2. 8 per year. Does that ever get old for you to be recognized that way? Or is it just... No. No, it was absurd the first time and it's been observed most recently. And I'm massively grateful for multiple reasons.

One, it's objectively nice. And two, it does feel like building a slight suit of armor around us as a show so that we can continue to exist. I'm very grateful for any Academy voter. Please understand that you are personally stopping HBO. please keep doing it. As long as you're up there. As long as you're up there,

it is, it's a suit of armor in pointy gold form. Another season. Another season, it can't, it would look so bad if you were to cancel this. Now, if it's just me and two fists, you've got a clean headshot. What was amazing, too,

is they created a new category this year to sort of boot you out of the late night talk show group. I think that category already exists. we just got punted. We got punted into it. Right, you got punted into it. Yeah. And then you still win a couple. Do you hear from your buddies? Do you hear from Seth and Kimmel and all those guys? Like, give us a break. How about one year? Not they've had a break. They had a break this year and they lost to Trevor Noah. Look what happened. They all thought they were second. Then Trevor pointed out they weren't. I think they're all gradually understanding it was better when we were there. Then it could be, oh, I was just one boat away. Sure. Tell yourself that, right. A little farther down the table than they thought they were. So season 11, as we sit here right now, a few weeks off,

I think the day this airs will be the premiere, February the 18th. Oh, good. Tell me about how you're feeling about doing the show you do, which is a heavy lift every week during this election year. Is there a relationship between the content you'll be putting out and this election? I mean, we do, yeah, we used to do a heavy lift, week. Now it takes about six weeks to write and research each story. So now it's like a heavy six-week cycle. The stories just move like that. I mean, previously, we have felt like we've had to respond

in the main body of the show to the election. I'm not sure that's going to be as true this year, because I don't know if there's anything unknown about these two men. That's the, I think the kindest thing I can say about this choice of two candidates. I think we're all aware of what we've got here. I don't know if they'll be able to truffle out anything fascinating about the unexpressed thoughts of either guy. Yes. So I'm hoping that US elections, as you know, Willie, tend to take up a lot of the air in

the room. I mean, and they can be complicit in doing that. This election cycle feels like I don't know what the argument is going to be to just focus on a horse race between two well-known horses. Is that a relief to you in some way? It strikes me that you enjoy doing the other stuff. Massive life. Yes.

I think we hopefully we'll be able to protect the main body of our show from whatever ever has happened on the campaign trail that week. And then we'll just deal with that right at the start of the show as quickly as we can. And so you've already set in motion what you're going to be doing for these first couple of episodes thinking through the top for this new season. Yeah. We have a pretty good idea. I don't know what we'll do exactly for the first.

episode, we have a good idea of some of the more complicated stories that we're going to be doing as the year goes on. And hopefully the election will not ruin that. I think people who love you and love the show would love to hear just the process of how these pieces of comedy, journalism. I don't know, how do you describe it? Comedy. Comedy. Just comedy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There is a journalistic quality. It's revealing truth. There's certainly journalism underneath it. Like, you can't build your jokes on sand, right? Otherwise it all falls away. So the process begins when for a show? I'm thinking, let's say. Let's see. Let's see. Let's say you're Elon Musk, your last episode.

Oh, okay. So I think a different one. No, I thought you just said, let's say you're Elon Musk. No, no, no. Okay, great. I have some things to say into the camera. They're going to be really problematic. I've got some views.

And this is the forum. So what's the work and welfare holds back production? What do people find hard to deal about that? And I'm still angry about that guy in the cave in Thailand. There we go. We've got the PR clip. John Oliver. And I think we're good to go.

But the process. How you think about it, how you work through to show. So we'll have like, we'll have everyone pitch your stories at the show, everyone. And then if there's something that intrigues us, we'll give it to researcher. They'll take that story for a week to check that it's being reported accurately, that whether things have changed that affect the story right now. Then if it kind of clears that early test, we'll give it to a footage producer to find out if there's any footage through which we can tell the story,

then at that point we'll add writers to the process. By that point, the footage department and the research department will have like packets, hundreds of pages of material that the writers can distill, and they will write an outline of the story. Then Tim Carvel and I, who I run the show with, will put the outlines together into one outline, then they will go and write a draft based on that combined outline. Then we will combine those draft, and then we're at the final week of production.

I mean, I think people who watch 30 minutes, they go, oh, he's good, he's just kind of, he's out there. Off the cuff? I mean, not off the cuff. But, like, I don't think anyone would fully appreciate what goes in to putting one of those together. Yeah, I hope that that's illustrative and not disappointing. That when you hear, they go, wow, that much work goes into that end product. It feels like there are some shortcuts that would be advisable there. Just became less impressive somehow. That's right. Six weeks to get to that. Like when a chef says, oh, this is a four-day process. I mean, a sandwich is quicker and as good. Yeah, I mean, just thinking about how you put these things together. And I know you've made jokes and

you did in that Emmy speech, too, about once you've crafted it, letting some lawyers read through it. What's the push and pull like there? I mean, there is both push and pull, for sure. And then I think we're trying to get ourselves onto the same page. And I appreciate what eventually the lawyers, enabling us to stand on rock solid ground, right? Which means that you can take aggressive swings with jokes and with points that you're making in the story, knowing that you are right. I think, yeah, the only tension comes in degrees of caution, right? So I think that is sometimes where there is, whether the lawyers want you to say something a certain way or whether you must say something a certain way.

And the second part of that is really important. Whether the lawyers want something to happen, that is of no concern to anybody. Whether it's absolutely imperative that you make sure that a certain amount of pushback is put in, that makes the story better. And we're always reaching out to the companies and the individuals that we talk about anyway, because you want to build in their pushback to the body of the show. Do you expect some kind of response from these? I mean, people have talked about the John Oliver effect and all that stuff. I know you've been kind of dismissive of that,

but the fact that these do impact, have real-world impacts. That's not the goal, I know. No. But it's not. And in terms of response from the company that we're talking about, again, those responses should be in the piece. Yeah.

Right? We should have pushback from them or from their lawyers so that we're already a few steps ahead there. In terms of what happens to the show after we've done it, at that point, honestly, we're out. We've already moved on. Again, we're doing six shows at a time. So as soon as we have finished taping the show, we will go across the road to our offices and read the drafts that have just come in for the next week's show.

Oh, wow. I'm immediately worried about next week. Turn the corner. We have, yeah. I've moved on. Wow. Yes. I didn't realize the process moved that fast.

Yes. Yes. It's a bit of a meat grinder. Is it exhausting in some ways? Yeah, it's definitely exhausting, but it's good kind of exhausting. Yeah. It's fun. It's fun to be constantly challenged and to constantly see what the staff can come up with. Because we've changed the process a lot over the years. And so it is exciting to see what they can do when you give them the time and the resources to attack a really complicated story and try and make it fit for human consumption.

Hey, guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from John Oliver right after the break. Welcome back now more of my conversation with John Oliver. Is it gratifying to you, John, to know that a show that is so substantive and sometimes esoteric and the topics that you pick up has been so successful? I'm not to talk about Emmys, the viewership and it spreads online, that there is a place for that and a reward for that somewhere? Yeah, I can't quite understand how we've got away with it. The second show we did ever, we did about the death penalty.

Because we thought it would be funny, even just to try. It's such a ridiculous thing to try and do for your second shot. And we did it for 12 minutes, and that felt like a long time. Now, we wouldn't talk about anything for 12 minutes. You couldn't get into any kind of detail in any subject. We talked about Chucky Cheese for 32. So now we go much narrower and much deeper on stories. And the fact that people respond to it is like a constant source of,

pleasant surprise to me. I feel that way actually myself. Oh, well, isn't that great? There's a big audience for that. Yeah, I think because I think you hypothetically think it's, people would be interested in how our organ donation system works if it was explained to them. And I think there is incredible journalism done that doesn't necessarily get the attention that it deserves.

So I think at times we can be a useful aggregator of X. reporting and put it into a form that people can actually ingest when they might not feel as inclined to read a long data-heavy pro-publicer article, then we might be able to add some bells and whistles that makes that easier to watch. And I feel like the comic timing is so important, which is to say sort of journalism, journalism, reporter, and then you just out a left field, you make some absurd reference to bring us back a little bit. Just to give you a little bit of a break. Carrot, carrot, carrot, M&M.

Carrot. Finish your carrots. So when you got this job, you left The Daily Show in 2013, I believe, right, just over 10 years ago. Yeah. A lot of it, I think, and people at HBO would say they watched you fill in for John, right?

And then they said, oh, he can carry a show. Yeah. Was it terrifying in some ways for you to leave that safe family of the Daily Show and step out on your own. Massively terrifying because I've been protected for eight years by John Stewart, right? I've been in his womb. A sort of revolting

images as that is. But it felt like a very safe place to be. Completely protective of Comedy Central. I felt that he had faith in me that made me feel confident. And yes, it was incredibly intimidating

and unsettling, to be honest, to leave and strike out on my own without him kind of feeling his presence over my shoulder. Did you hesitate at first? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Hesitate. For sure, I hesitate because it seemed crazy. And he said before he left to go and direct his film for the summer, he said when I come

back, we need to talk about what you're going to do. And that was horrible to hear because all I wanted to do was stay. It was my dream job. all I wanted to do was stay there forever, for nothing to ever change. So to have someone say, yeah, this is about to finish, was a bit of a gut punch. But his point was, like, once you kind of have the precious, you're not going to want to give that precious up. And I really vehemently disagreed with him before that precious was in my hand. Then he go, oh, shit, yeah, this is kind of shy.

It's nice to have. And so he was right. And so yeah, we started those conversations when he got back. And something else entirely, is it not to step out on your own? From being in that ensemble, we can lean on other people, just even comedically, I would think. Yeah, because there was such joy at the daily show in being part of the kind of engineering team that put that show together. But there is definitely a different kind of feeling to get inside that car and drive it. It was really fun to work for the driver,

but when you put the pedal down and it moves, it is a kind of exhilarating feeling. That's hard to give up. You said The Daily Show was your dream job. Yeah, for something you've thought about for a long time. So when you got that call that they wanted you to come audition and be on the show that you dreamed of being on, were you surprised, number one?

Yes. And thrilled and terrified and all of those things? Yeah, because it wasn't even come, audition. They were just asking people to put things on tape. Right. In, as I was in London, put something on tape, sent it and then thought, I never need to think about this again. It was kind of fun to do that tape. And then they said, come to New York. And I'd never been to New York before. So I got on a plane, turned up here, like stayed just up the road, thought, where shall I go for my first New York experience?

Went to Applebee's, not realizing there's more than one Applebee's. there I am thinking like I'm rather than a taxi driver and I'm having some pancakes was that your first meal in New York? Fantastic. The true American experience.

Right here in Midtown? Yes. That's great. Perfect. Yeah, it's a good out. Midtown Applebees. If you want the quintessential New York experience as a tourist,

the Midtown Applebees is a must. So then, yeah, then I turned up, like did an audition with John and then they said, would you like to live here? What does that mean? In general? In New York one day? Sure.

And they said, well, let's, how soon could you move? And so I went home, put my stuff in storage. It's still there in South London, still in the storage container in South London. And then I haven't really, I've barely been back. Isn't that amazing? Yes, crazy. And was there? any doubt in your mind that you had to come do this? No. That was it. There was no doubt in my mind

that I had to come and do this because what John was doing in the day show was the gold standard of comedy about news at that time. There was nothing better. So, and my manager said to me, go, they will fire you after three months. That's what happens in America. It's a great pet talks from someone who's literally your representative, right? You won't have to stay there long because you'll be fired after three months. And so I thought, okay. So that's why I just came with two bags. Right. Like a little British fival.

And I thought, oh, I'll be back in England by September. Like a semester abroad. Yeah. That's how I thought. I will try and like a sponge collect as much of this experience as I can. And then maybe try and do something like this back in England. And then I never left. As soon as I got here, I felt totally at home in a way that I hadn't felt

at home. Yeah. So, yes, it was an incredible experience. And I never wanted to leave, which is why it was so hard to do that. And you were kind of a hit right away, listening to John talk about it now and, you know, other people. Again, kind of a hit, I think is fair. No, I like a bit of a football.

Kind of a hit. Like, I'm like lowercase pitch. Qualify everything. Just to protect myself. But you listen to John talk about it and others who, you know, producer to the show. They're like, he kind of had it right away. Did you feel that way at the beginning? Like, I fit here.

This works. Yeah, probably. To be totally honest, it felt like, yeah, it felt like I fit in in a way that, again, that I hadn't fit in to other places. And it was, again, the gold standard. So I felt very, very comfortable kind of committing to it full throttle. And all I wanted to do was that. It was around the time that so many other daily-ship corresponders were going and doing

I think you would see other correspondents kind of going and doing sitcoms or bits in movies all I wanted to do was the daily show that's all I wanted to do I didn't want to do anything else even when I was hired to do community as a little bit part on that I want to make it very clear I can't do this full time

because I have my dream job so I'll do this whenever I'm free but I whenever the daily show is on I want to be in that building helping make the show because it's the happiest I'd ever been. I love your first field piece. Civil War reenactments on the Union side, I should say. You're welcome.

You were on the Union side. And it didn't go quite as planned, although then it turned into something hysterically funny. Yes. So I was fighting for the North, although very good people on both sides. And I had a musket with a knife on the end. And the joke, only joke really that we had in mind was I would run at the opposing army before they said go, which is how I believe the Civil War began.

And so I ran as fast as I could in dress shoes, slipped, fell, smashed my face into the ground, broke my nose instantly. And I knew I was in the right place when my field producer called back saying, hey, Oliver's just been hurt. And their first response was, was it on camera? And he said, yeah. They said, is it funny? And he said, very. They went, okay, great. Send the tape home, take him to hospital.

So the tape got back before we did. And when I got back into the office, it was just laughter echoing around the walls. People were just playing it back. Dill-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-wam. And that complete lack of care for the physical body and total commitment to what is funny really made me think, I think this is home.

This is it. Yeah. If your first response is not, is he okay, but how funny was it? Then I'm in the right place. These are my people. These are absolutely my people. They don't care if I live or die. No, if you're going to die, do it funny.

Commit to the bit. Do it funny and do it while cameras are rolling. I think for a lot of people, John, they met you on the Daily Show. Right. So they don't really fully understand your, you're, appreciation for comedy, that you grew up a comedy fan. Yeah, of course. Of all the...

You know, not just Monty Python, but you were at Cambridge Footlights and all those things that sort of brought you to where you are. Yes. Was that a family thing? Was it a funny family and they all appreciated the comedy? I think it was in a way. My granddad in Liverpool was really funny. And he always said he had a very funny war, which was an odd way to describe the Second World War. because I don't know if there were huge laughs around.

He was a very funny looking man. He had gigantic ears. He looked like the BFG. And he, it was very clear from him that he valued being able to make people laugh quite highly. He taught me to behave badly as a kid. He would, he would like bang his cupery on the table and demand food. And as a kid, that's the dream. When you've got an adult who's a bad influence, you're like, oh, this is, this.

guy's incredible. He plays his fiddle to a different tune. So he was, it was very clear that laughter to him was very important. In fact, the last time I saw him, he was in, he was in, like, in a city living facility, it was clear that he didn't, he wasn't, he wasn't going to have long. And my dad, he was just me and my dad with him. And my dad left to get the car. And I thought, he was on the ground floor. So I thought, I'll just say goodbye. And then I'll climb out. the window because that's a stupid thing to do. So I opened the window, climbed out it, and I've got to try to get through a hedge to the car park. And the last thing I heard him say was, you're an idiot. There are much worse last things to have a grandparent say to you than

you're an idiot, chuckling to himself. I mean, he wasn't wrong. But you gave him a laugh. He did a bit. That's the thing. I guess the thing. As death is, as death is. you can either have a sincere conversation or you can climb out of a window to avoid one. You gave him a laugh at out. That's amazing. So you've got a funny household. You've got funny relatives. But when does the idea strike you

that this is a way a person can have a life and a career? Oh, it has a career. Yes, I guess it was always, even at school, it was clear. It was a good way to connect with people or to diffuse tense situations. I think it was probably when I got to college that myself and my friend

back then Richard Iowardi we started writing shows together and the first one that we did together on stage I remember walking off we'd written like an hour show of sketches walking off stage and feeling different

yeah kind of feeling oh this is my life now I don't know if that's good or bad news but nothing has ever made me feel like this so from that point on I think I decided that that's what I was going to do whatever came from it.

And so after leaving college, it immediately just started doing stand-up, trying to get any writing job as however bad that I could and kind of very slowly foraging a career in comedy. And so it felt like I had a career as soon as I could sustain myself without having to do other jobs. As soon as I could buy orange juice, that was always, that felt like, because that's a luxury item, orange juice, right?

You don't need orange juice. You need water. So if you can upgrade yourself from water to orange juice, you're playing with a house is money from that old. Yep. What was that feeling in your hands? The response from the audience? Yeah.

I think definitely the response to the audience and the feeling of having communicated something that they understood. Right. And agrees to be funny. Like, it was a full expression of yourself. Yeah, the electrical feeling of people laughing at it, and then your body having this response of, well, I need more of that.

I'm literally describing heroin. As I'm talking. Oh, this is great. But it had that kind of addictive quality of this is a high that I've not experienced before. I must have more of this. And you still get it. We were just talking about,

I saw you on stage and an event a couple of months ago. You and Seth are out doing, a stand-up comedy tour, do you still get that feeling up there? Yeah, I love it. It's my favorite thing to do. It's the only thing that actually calms me down. Really? Yeah.

I know it is absurd to say that about something which is many people's literal nightmare. But stand-up is if I don't do it for a long amount of time, I get angsty. So it is the one place I can really relax and calm down. And really comedy is that place for me. It's why during the early days of the pandemic, as everything was shut down and we're suddenly having to do the show from home, the problem was not having an audience.

The problem was the idea that I would not be able to write comedy with people, for people. I didn't mind not having an audience. Because as long as I had our staff working together to try and try and produce funny material from the abyss of human panic. Yeah.

That, the idea of that being taken away was truly panic-inducing to me. Yeah. So I didn't mind being stuck in a room. It wasn't ideal, but stuck in a room delivering jokes to nobody because at least I was getting to deliver jokes. At least we were getting to work together,

even though we weren't together. Stick around for more of my conversation, with John Oliver right after a quick break. Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with John Oliver. Is there something that you enjoy, and I think I know the answer to this, about making or basking in the discomfort of the moment a bit, whether it's yours or the audiences. I love it.

When I see you up there at certain events and we don't have to name them, it feels like you're enjoying a little bit of awkwardness. I guess the thing is, like, when you've done something, Once you've bombed a hundred times, the audience loses its capacity to hurt you anymore. Like, you can't hurt me any more than they did above a pub in Mosley in 1999. You can't do that. There's nothing left. So, yeah, I think lots of comedies are finding it appealing to see,

to either experience a tense situation or to witness their friends do it. I love seeing Seth moments on his show where jokes struggle and you see like that. There's just like a little little soupson of excitement around. I think, look, he's never felt more alive. My ed is whenever jokes bomb on our show, they will like pause the screen and say, look at your face. When I've just delivered a joke, I'm really excited about to silence. You'll just see like a spark in my eyes of pure happiness.

And it goes. there's something about it's so ridiculous I guess it's why I love being played off at the Emmys right because you get so excited to tell a joke if your whole body

is like you're going to love this and then they don't I mean if that's not funny I don't know what is see to a normal reasonable human being they would start sweating and say this is going terribly I have to run off the stage

all I would say is do that 99 more times and then it'll become fun you've just got to push through a hundred nightmares to get to a dream state. And it's worth it on the other side. It really is. It's absolutely euphoria.

Can I ask you, John, would you host any of these award shows? Because people say you would be perfect for that. Because of your lack of fear. I think I would. I don't think I would be perfect. I think I'd actually be very bad for it. So I think I would probably not do that because I know those rooms are a nightmare.

And I think it doesn't seem fair to just go. to ruin everyone's evening. Would it be fun? Yes. It'll be really fun, Willie. Pardon me to ruin an entire Oscars? Oh my God. My granddad would be so proud. But I think, I don't know if I have the skill to do it both ways in the way that Kimmel and Seth are particularly good at, right, of being able to show contempt, enough contempt, right, for a ridiculous over-the-top occasion while also allowing people to have a good time. I think I think I have too self-destructive a streak to be able to make that a functional evening for everyone. That's why Kimmel is the perfect Oscar host.

Right. Because he's, my view is that everyone can enjoy it, right? If you like that show, you can enjoy what he's doing. and if you think it's absurd, as I do, you can see that in his face. There's a certain amount of flattery that goes into the job, but I don't think you'd be willing to. No, I think, I'm not, it's really hard.

Before John left for the summer, the thing that I was the most worried about was interviewing people, especially interviewing actors whose movies I thought were terrible. And I don't think John might say, That is not a part of the job that he was good at. He was good at everything.

Right. That was, he was not good sitting opposite someone and going, tell me about Garfield the movie. There would be like just tiny flickers in his voice where people start laughing. He didn't say anything. He just said,

tell me about Garfield. But you can tell his heart's not in it. And yes, those were the white knuckle moments that summer were looking opposite someone and saying, thinking, well, four minutes. is going to be a really long time.

Right. Yeah. You've been four minutes. So I'm in absolute awe of... I remember talking to one actor who will not name and thinking I'm getting to the end of this interview now, turning to the stage manager of Spinney and to kind of forget sense of how long have I done,

he said, two minutes. This is two minutes. They said 120 seconds is all that was because I'm out. I've had that moment, by the way. Two minutes. No. Two minutes left? Two minutes in? Oh.

Oh, then I need to mentally pace myself for this because I'm out of curiosity. You must have sat up at this table and thought, I know there's five more questions. Not so much on this show, but on other, sometimes. When you do volume sales, when you do a lot of TV, inevitably you're going to have those moments. I've said to Seth, the moments of the moments of the moment. The moments the film with him most glee are watching him really work. I always loved Letterman because he felt like he was grandfathered in to have enough.

He had enough standing that he could just completely disengage from interviews that he was not interested in. The first time I ever did his show, I can't remember who was on. There was some actor who was like, Had some, I think it was like a black and white Shakespeare movie. And they played a clip. It came back in the studio and just looked up and said, good luck with that. Wow. I think you have to have been on TV for 40 years to be able to do that and for it to be charming.

Right, right. There's a year. If you come after that, you're not allowed to do it. John, this has been my Garfield interview. Thank you. Garfield is in theaters and streaming on Fubu. Oh my God, that was perfect. Thank you, man.

That was so much fun. So we've just got some news that John Stewart is going to return to the Daily Show to do Mondays through the election. So we, that's right, we're repeating back what was just handed to us on a phone. So I presume variety is accurate. I've been past a bulletin.

Yes, yes. Apparently so. What do you think? I mean, that's in, that is a surprise. Yeah, that is a show that needs a host. He certainly is a very, very good one. So, yeah, it'll be exciting to see what he does. I do think after 2025,

they should appoint a permanent host. It feels that way, doesn't it? Yes. Yeah. I would have hired Roy Wood or Amber Ruffin. It's very good. Yes. But it's going to be very exciting to see John at an election year as well.

Right. That is watchable. Back in for another bite at the apple. That's right. Wow. Yeah, Jordan's back. It's back. One more time.

So being that we were sitting at McAle's, a Liverpool bar, we had to go downstairs to the bar itself, and watch some football. So John and I, me with a pint, he with a cup of tea, sat and watched some football as he explained what it means to be a Liverpool fan, what it means to live and breathe football, as I told him what it means to live and breathe. American football is a Giants fan. He, by the way, you'll hear, is a Jets fan, his adopted team since moving to the United States. So, little football chatter at the bar right now with John Oliver. Okay, so John, who are we watching? So this is Alexis McAllister.

He's new this year. Got a corner here. Yes. He's Argentine. He won the World Cup, played with Messi. Thank you very much. He's having to play out of position this year. Yeah.

Yeah, he's had to play out of position this year because he's ideally not a defensive midfield but he's having to play that way. He's very, very smart footballer. And I think actually we're, if I remember, if I remember, right, I think we're about to school. We're down here. One-nill. Yeah, I think. Well, you don't know because this is live. Oh, that's right.

Yeah, you have a minute. Unless you had a premonition. This is Joe Gobes. He's been with this since he was a kid. This is, so this is Yergen Klotz. There he is, sure. Yep. Spectacular manager, not just in terms of football, but also.

I think it might be the same case in regular football. They're generally not deep thinkers, coaches. Klop really is, yeah. Goody's local lad You saw that coming Wow Yes

Yeah he's Enjoying the pandemic Clock when Liverpool won't join the pandemic Absolutely incredible He was about pointing out Trying to defend the existence Of football at that time

Because it didn't feel like it made any sense And he said football is the most important Of the least important things Which feels like a That's so wise It's a truly profound thing to say Absolutely true

it felt also at that moment when it was a way to still forge a connection when people are so fractured. He's an amazing guy. We're very lucky to have him. And they've had, he's part of, Liverpool was a city.

Deflected. Oh, was it? Not quite as good as it looked. It took, I believe, it just spins up of his leg. Ah, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, uh,

Liverpool is a city is a very independent place. It's always felt not really won with England. That's why they don't play the national anthem ever there, because it gets booed. So there's been a long history of very, very charismatic managers going back to this guy, Bill Shankly back in the 60s, and he is really part of that. He seems like he's really taken to the...

City loves him. adores him. I mean, I think there'll be statues of him. Who do you, someone? In football? In American football. I'm a Giants fan.

We've had past success. I picked, when I moved here, you know, genuinely could pick a football team. Couldn't pick a baseball team because you can't pick the Yankees, right? So I got to pick the Jets and the Giants won the Super Bowl.

I felt like, oh great. You're like, can I draft again? No, no, it really felt like, no, this is about right. Okay, Jets it is. So you ride with the Jets? Through it all? Yeah, through it all. Through the Zach Wilson and the Aaron Rogers of all.

Mark Sanchez, butt fumble. Oh, yeah. Through the, you know, the joy of wishing for Woody Johnson to be happy about something. Through the electrifying, whatever it was, six and a half minutes of. It was. Four plays? Was it? Oh, with a flag.

Here we go. What's the worst that could happen? How? How? And that was the most Jets thing ever. Did they score again? Yeah, Gapult. Oh, my gosh.

Would you rather have Liverpool win a big match, let's say? Yes. Or win yet another Emmy for the show? I mean, there's a heart and a head talking there, right? Head, Emmy's very important as a protective mechanism against being canceled. The heart is saying, I don't know what this guy's talking about. It's Liverpool. Which do you have a physical response to?

And it's like this. This is it. Yeah. When Liverpool won the league during COVID, it was incredibly meaningful to me in a way I can't justify. Because it, you know, football, sport in general doesn't matter as much as you kind of feel it does. You know it's just a game. And when the death count is spiking, you know it's even less important.

And yet, it meant a huge amount to me to see Liverpool win. Well, it means less intellectually, but here. There's no diminishing that. No, because it's childlike joy. It lifts you out of yourself. Yes. I can still remember going on my first ever game and Liverpool scoring and my dad hugging me. And I can remember the smell.

I can remember the sound his coat made as he hugs me. And it's just because they scored. So those are the, it's those moments. Yes. That's what it is for me. It connects me back. Yeah, exactly. Childhood, father, grandfather, whatever it was. Deeper as you get older. Well, it's kind of just an elemental like binary, joy and pain when you're a kid now, especially, I will say, living in a different country. That's what it really does tether you to the same emotions that you know people are feeling and the emotions that, yeah, that it can stir up from how you felt 30 years ago. And then fun for me to watch my children.

take up the cause too and feel that same joy and pain with the team. Do your kids watch with you? They do. Yeah. They do. They don't like it when I yell. I understand that. But I've tried to explain to them this is not something I'm in great control of.

Right. So you don't like the sound of my extreme excitement and joy? What about that sound repels you so much? This is me happy. you'd like me to mute that oh okay you're scaring us dad but yeah no there is to see them yeah to see them sing

Mosola's name or there was a guy he played for us for years he left it called Bobby Fominio and there was a great song that fans used to sing about him so if I was in one room and I just shouted out

see seigneur I know that whatever they were doing they would look up and say pass the ball to Bobby and he will score. You've done it. I've done it. So you agree this is your team. We're done. Exactly. You'll have so many choices in your life this is not going to be one of them.

Exactly. But it sounds like that's set in stone now. They're on board. If they wanted to really hurt me, they would say I'd like to be a Man United fan. And I'd say, well, I encourage you to find a household in which that's appropriate. And are they Jets fans too? Have you affected that upon?

No, they can choose. They can choose anything else but this. Anything. Honestly, they can be a Yankees fan if they want. They just can't choose this. That's it. That seems fair. Yeah.

This guy's crazy. Are we doing this? Not very much. That's kind of adopted Wii already for eight minutes. Do you follow this at all? I bet. I do. I do.

I think it's going to be quite big here in a couple of years. It's getting there. It's definitely getting there. And I think it will change. Because for the first time, America's going to have actually a good team. I think America's thought it's had a good team in the past. Yes. It's been wrong about that.

He's the greatest thing. He's a C-minus football player. He's fine, but he's not even... And we've been hearing it for 30 years. Freddie Adieu is the new Pelle. And the rest of the world is going, he is not the new Pellé, unless there's a different Pellé that you're talking about. We do hype very well.

Yes. Better than we do football. But there are some, for the first time, there are some legitimately very good American players that are young. Okay. Good? He's very good. Yeah, he's good. But yes, they're everywhere.

You've got guys playing for Barcelona now. Yeah. I went to, years ago in Buenos Aires, I went to the name of the match, the two big teams down there. Both the Juniors? Yeah, both of the years. Holy shit. My sister was living down there, and it just happened to be. Was Maradonna there?

No, it was later than that. But it was, I was like, you know, with the fireworks in the stadium. Oh, my God. I would love it. I was like, I get it. Have you seen that Maradonna documentary? Yes. Phenomenal.

Incredible. Yes. But that was the moment where I got football. Because I grew up here and played as a kid, but then started playing football. And I was like, okay, I see. Got it. Yeah. You know?

It's sacked along. Yeah. 100%. My big thanks to John for a great conversation and to McAiles in Midtown Manhattan for hosting us. You can check out last week tonight on HBO or streaming on Max. And my thanks as always to all of you for listening again this week. If you want to hear more of our conversations every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC.

I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on Sunday Sit Down Podcast. Okay.