John Oliver sees the endless U.S. election coverage as the gift that keeps on giving. The host of Last Week T0night with John Oliver also says the Trump and Cruz circuses and all the other primary concerns bring their own unique challenges for a TV satirist. “Sometimes it’s hard to joke a joke,” says Oliver. “If people are
CHML’s Scott Thompson wanted to know what I was doing in New York this week. I tell him about my visit with John Oliver, gearing up for the third season launch of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (returning Feb. 14 on HBO and HBO Canada). The interview was conducted around a boardroom table with five other
Mick Jagger’s giant face was among the disturbing images from my first day at the winter 2016 TCA press tour. I timed my arrival at the Langham in Pasadena to coincide with the afternoon HBO sessions. Among them was a panel for Vinyl, HBO’s big-name rock ‘n’ roll drama coming in April. The panelists sitting in
The past four or five years I feel like I’ve been a researcher for the HBO series Getting On. The dark comedy, based on a British series, is airing its final short season on HBO Canada (Sundays at 10 p.m.). I’ve had my dad pass away during those years and my mom has recently transitioned to a
Wednesday on our weekly CHML radio chat, Scott Thompson asks about Jon Stewart’s new deal with HBO. The former Daily Show host has signed an exclusive, four year production pact focused on short-form digital content. Brilliant move. Like Jerry Seinfeld, Stewart is smart to avoid competing against himself with a series or format he has already
John Oliver weighs in on Canada’s federal election and nails it. Makes Oliver’s dissection of the bumbling Fords look like a valentine. Consider this gem: “Canada is America’s next-door neighbour, and Stephen Harper is her dick-head boyfriend.” The host of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver seizes on an obscure, lame-ass law forbidding outsiders to weigh in
In a shocker, Ricky Gervais cleaned up at the 67th Annual Emmy Awards Sunday Night. Yes he did. The proof is right on the right–there he is with one of his 14 Emmy statuettes. Well deserved, mate. Actually, no he didn’t. He just grabbed one award and waved it around so people would blog that
MONTREAL–The cast and creators of HBO’s Silicon Valley had a packed banquet room full of fans in stitches–or was it the session moderator? The poor chap never knew what hit him. T.J. Miller has been tearing up Just for Laughs for days at Club Lucky and other stand-up venues and is on fire. Thomas Middleditch