Last night marked the second outing of the new HBO comedy/social commentary/fake news program satire of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Certainly and obviously a branch off of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tree (even more so than the more straight satire of the character starring in The Colbert Report), its half-hour format without commercials has admittedly on occasion had me checking the clock, but it also affords him segments like the clip imbedded below – the almost thirteen minute unleash of a full-formed opinion on the horrors of the death penalty. As Bill Maher’s final “new rule” on each episode of Real Time has shown us, this type of elongated editorial can have an elongated impact. John Oliver has always been undeniably witty and hilarious, but if this type of truth-telling can become a staple of his new platform, there will be weeks of tonights ahead of him on HBO.
Culture Challenged 
Who would have thought a comedian could spend over 12 minutes getting an audience to laugh at his commentary on the death penalty? Not me, but John Oliver’s segment was indeed one of the most effective anti-death penalty presentations I have seen. The question is: Who watches his show? Is he just preaching to the choir here, or are there some potential “converts” in his TV or Internet audience?