Changing Late Night…
It was a huge year of change in late night, which included David Letterman’s retirement from The Late Show, Stephen Colbert shuttering The Colbert Report to take over for Letterman, and Jon Stewart giving up his host chair on The Daily Show. But in a year that saw much discussion about who the hosts should be, one program expanded the definition of what a show could be. With Last Week Tonight, comedian John Oliver has proven that satirical news programs need not stop at commenting on the absurdity of the system — they can do something about it. From putting up awareness-raising billboards to exhorting viewers to Twitter bomb corrupt Congresspeople to founding a “church” to critique the excesses of televangelism, Oliver and company may be making us laugh, but they’re also making a difference.
Last modified: October 22, 2018
