{"id":121519,"date":"2025-08-05T18:14:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T18:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/121519\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T18:14:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T18:14:13","slug":"john-oliver-trashes-jay-lenos-late-night-advice-hard-pass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/121519\/","title":{"rendered":"John Oliver Trashes Jay Leno\u2019s Late-Night Advice: \u2018Hard Pass\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Oliver isn\u2019t interested in Jay Leno\u2019s advice about what today\u2019s late-night hosts<\/a> are doing wrong.<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporte<\/a>r out Tuesday, the Last Week Tonight host was asked about Leno\u2019s take that late nights hosts like Oliver, Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, and others are \u201ccozying too much to one side or the other\u201d in their political comedy. \u201cI love political humor, don\u2019t get me wrong,\u201d Leno also said, but \u201cWhy 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.\u201d <\/p>\n

Oliver slammed Leno\u2019s opinion, telling THR, \u201cI\u2019m going to take a hard pass on taking comedic advice from Jay Leno.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"JayWICHITA, KANSAS – MAY 08: Jay Leno performs at the Orpheum Theatre on May 08, 2025 in Wichita, Kansas. (Photo by Gary Miller\/Getty Images) Gary Miller\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Oliver explained further, \u201cWho thinks that way? Executives? Comedy can\u2019t be for everyone. It\u2019s 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\u2019t think it\u2019s a question of what you should do because I don\u2019t think comedy is prescriptive in that way. It\u2019s just what people want.\u201d <\/p>\n

Jon Stewart similarly slammed Leno\u2019s advice<\/a>, calling the take \u201cf—ing ridiculous\u201d and mocking the veteran host for his repetitive self-injuries.<\/p>\n

The sharp pushback to Leno\u2019s comments comes after CBS\u2019 abrupt cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert<\/a>, which, though it regularly aired the host\u2019s 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<\/a> that he may have played a \u201cmajor part<\/a>\u201d in getting Colbert axed and tries to get more of his critics off the air, analysts say late-night\u2019s reckoning has more to do with the numbers<\/a> than politics. <\/p>\n

That said, amid reports that Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav CEO has been making nice with Trump\u2019s daughter<\/a> Ivanka, Oliver said he doesn\u2019t \u201cwaste energy\u201d worrying about potential political interference in his content. \u201cThe moment that intrudes on our show, I will react very badly to it, but it hasn\u2019t.\u201d He added, \u201cMy tolerance level, were it to, would be zero. This would be over real quick.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JohnLos Angeles, CA – January 15: John Oliver wins an Emmy for Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series and Outstanding Scripted Variety Series at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards at Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, CA, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. (Dania Maxwell \/ Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) Dania Maxwell\/Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag <\/p>\n

Oliver attributes his show\u2019s staying power at HBO to the value it brings the network during awards season. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are insulated by golden armor,\u201d he told THR of Last Week Tonight\u2019s near-decade long Emmy winning streak. \u201cIf that stops, we might be going away.\u201d <\/p>\n

Oliver\u2019s show is the most Emmy\u2011awarded late\u2011night series of its era, with a series of wins that began in 2015 and has continued through 2024. It\u2019s nominated for three more awards this year. \u201cI 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,\u201d he added, because, \u201cIt\u2019s something that I know has always been important to HBO.\u201d<\/p>\n

He concluded, \u201cI\u2019m massively grateful that we\u2019ve won them, and long may that continue. Please! I don\u2019t want my theory tested.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Oliver isn\u2019t interested in Jay Leno\u2019s advice about what today\u2019s late-night hosts are doing wrong. In an…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":121520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[171,63619,53747,13895,173,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-121519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-jay-leno","10":"tag-john-oliver","11":"tag-stephen-colbert","12":"tag-tv","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114977522964597211","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}