As the host ofLast Week Tonight since 2014, Oliver has received widespread critical and popular recognition for the series, including winning twentyEmmy Awards and twoPeabody Awards. The show's influence over US culture, legislation, and policymaking has been dubbed the "John Oliver effect", and he was included in the 2015Time 100, where he was described as a "comedic agent of change [...] powerful because he isn't afraid to tackle important issues thoughtfully, without fear or apology".[1] His work has been described as journalism orinvestigative journalism, labels that he rejects. He became an American citizen in 2019.[2]
John William Oliver[3] was born in the Birmingham suburb ofErdington on 23 April 1977,[4][5][6] the son of music teacher Carole and school headmaster andsocial worker Jim Oliver. His mother is fromLiverpool, while his father comes fromthe Wirral. He has a younger sister who lives in Australia.[7] His uncle was the composerStephen Oliver.[8] He grew up inBedford, where he attended theMark Rutherford School and learned to play theviola.[8][9][10] He was raisedAnglican, but later told interviewerTerry Gross that he lapsed at the age of 12 after the death of a school friend and an uncle, followed by a feeling of receiving no useful answers from the church.[10][11] In the mid-to-late 1990s, he studied atChrist's College, Cambridge, where he was a member of theCambridge Footlights.[3] His Footlights contemporaries included comediansDavid Mitchell andRichard Ayoade, and he became the club's vice president in 1997.[3][12][13] He and Footlights president Ayoade wrote and performed in several productions together, appearing in both Footlights' 1997 and 1998 touring shows:Emotional Baggage (directed byMatthew Holness) andBetween a Rock and a Hard Place (directed byCal McCrystal).[14] In 1998, Oliver graduated with a degree inEnglish.[15][16]
Since childhood, he has been a fan ofLiverpool F.C., noting in interviews that "my mum's family are fromKnotty Ash and my dad's family are fromthe Wirral, so supporting Liverpool was very much not a choice".[17]
In 1985, Oliver made his first on-screen appearance playing Felix Pardiggle, a minor role in theBBC dramaBleak House. In an appearance onLate Night with Seth Meyers, he commented, "When I was six years old ... [the BBC] wanted a kid with dark hair and brown eyes, and I was two-for-two on that".[18][19] In 2001, Oliver appeared as a bank manager in series two ofPeople Like Us.[20] Oliver said in a laterSeth Meyers appearance that one of his first paying jobs was writing for the British morning showThe Big Breakfast.[21]
In 2007, Oliver wrote and presented aBBC America campaign to have viewers useclosed captions. Shown in brief segments before shows, one of the campaign messages said, "The following program contains accents you would have heard a lot more if you hadn'tthrown our tea into Boston Harbor," another "Not even British people can follow the British accent 100 per cent of the time. Therefore you, like me, might want to use closed-captioning." Oliver used some of these jokes in his stand-up routine.[34]
After moving to New York City, Oliver began performing stand-up comedy in clubs, later headlining shows in larger venues.[35] From October 2007 to May 2015, Oliver co-hostedThe Bugle, a weekly comedypodcast, with Andy Zaltzman. Originally produced byThe Times, it became an independent project in 2012.[36][37] In 2008,John Oliver: Terrifying Times, his first stand-up special,[38][39] premiered onComedy Central.[40][41] In 2009, Comedy Central announced that it would be ordering six episodes of theJohn Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show, a series on Comedy Central that featured sets from himself and other comedians, includingJaneane Garofalo,Brian Posehn,Paul F. Tompkins andMarc Maron.[42][43] From 2010 to 2013, four seasons were produced.[44] In 2013, he went toAfghanistan on aUSO tour to perform for the troops.[45][46] Oliver continues to perform stand-up.[47][48]
Starting in June 2013, Oliverguest-hostedThe Daily Show for eight weeks while Stewart directed his filmRosewater.[56] Oliver's performance received positive reviews,[57][58][59][60] with some critics suggesting that he should eventually succeed Stewart as the host, or receive his own show.[61][62][63]CBS discussed the possibility of Oliver replacingCraig Ferguson onThe Late Late Show.[30] Three months after his role as the interimDaily Show host ended, HBO announced it was giving Oliver his own late-night show.[64]
In 2014, Oliver began hosting his late-night news satire showLast Week Tonight with John Oliver.[65] The show features thoroughly researched segments dedicated to topics or events in the news.[66] His initial two-year contract was extended through to 2017 in 2015,[67][68] to 2020 in September 2017,[69] to 2023 in September 2020,[70] and to 2026 in December 2023.[71] Oliver has stated that he has full creative freedom, including free rein to criticise corporations, given HBO's ad-freesubscription model.[30] In 2015, Oliver was named one ofTime 100 influential people of the year for his work on the show.[1] Across the TV airings,DVR,on-demand, andHBO Go,Last Week Tonight averaged 4.1 million weekly viewers in its first season.[72] In 2014,Last Week Tonight was honoured with aPeabody Award in the "Entertainment" category for "bringing satire and journalism even closer together".[73][74] The show received a second award in 2017.[75][76] The show has also won 26Primetime Emmy Awards,[77] fiveWriters Guild of America Awards,[78] eightProducers Guild Awards,[79] and threeCritics' Choice Television Awards.[80]
Oliver has said that among his comedic influences areArmando Iannucci,David Letterman,Monty Python,Peter Cook,Richard Pryor,[26] andJon Stewart.[96] Oliver said regarding Monty Python, "I sawLife of Brian inmiddle school, when a substitute teacher put it on to keep us quiet on a rainy day ... I've never forgotten how it made me feel".[97] Edward Helmore wrote inThe Guardian about Oliver's comedy, "His style leans toward the kind that Americans like best from the British – exaggerated, full of odd accents and mannerisms, in the vein of Monty Python."[9] Oliver describes his own accent as a "mongrel" ofBrummie,Scouse, andBedford influences.[98]
Oliver was opposed toBrexit, writing multiple pieces about it and calling it "painful, it's pointless, and most of you didn't even agree to run it; you were just signed up by your dumbest friend". He stated that it was "sad" to consider that his children with British citizenship would not experience the benefits of theEU.[99] He has been particularly critical of theConservative Party and of its former leaderBoris Johnson's premiership.[100] He also criticised theRoyal Family's secrecy concerningtheir wealth, calling them "a freeloading multimillionaire family exempt from paying most taxes" and stating that "the Royal Family's wealth—unlike its gene pool—is massive".[101] He supportsabolishing the British monarchy and making Britain a republic,[102] and declined anOBE.[103] On a September 2022 episode ofLate Night with Seth Meyers, he said he declined it because he did not want his name being associated with the words "British Empire" and expressed distaste for theBritish class system.[104]
Oliver favouredJoe Biden for president in the2020 election and celebrated Biden's victory overDonald Trump. He warned that "more than 70 million people voted for [Trump] and everything he said and stands for, and that is something we are going to have to reckon with for the foreseeable future".[105] He has been strongly critical of Trump and theRepublican Party,[106][107] later endorsingKamala Harris for president in the2024 election.[108]Politico argued that Oliver criticised liberal politicians as much as those on the right.[109]
Oliver's comedic commentary has been credited with influencingUS legislation, regulations,court rulings, and other aspects of US culture; this has been dubbed the "John Oliver effect".[110][111]: 298–299 This came fromthe show's fifth episode, which dealt withnet neutrality, a subject that had previously been considered obscure and technical.[112] Oliver documented problems attributed to Internet service providers and argued that theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) could resolve these concerns with upcoming changes to Internet regulation. Oliver then encouraged viewers to submit public comments through the FCC's website. The FCC's website promptly crashed.[111]: 299 [113] Internal FCC emails revealed that the clip was being watched inside the agency.[114] The FCC ChairmanTom Wheeler publicly addressed the video.[115][116]
The day after the broadcast, the FCC had received over 45,000 comments on net neutrality; in total, it received 3.7 million comments on the subject, by far the most for any issue in the agency's history.[117][118]: 1414 Reporters detected a shift in the FCC's stance: Before Oliver's segment,The New York Times described an FCC proposal that would leave net neutrality "all but dead",[119] but the paper later said that Wheeler showed "a steady shift toward stronger regulation".[120] A study conducted in 2018 found that viewers ofLast Week Tonight andThe Colbert Report were generally more familiar with net neutrality than non-viewers;Last Week Tonight viewers were also more likely to support strict regulation to ensure net neutrality.[118]: 1421–1422, 1424 In the end, the FCC enacted robust net neutrality rules that classified thebroadband Internet service as a public utility.[121] Oliver was credited with transforming the net neutrality debate.[112]
ANinth Circuit Court judge cited aLast Week Tonight segment about the lesser constitutional rights of residents ofUS territories in a ruling in favour of the residents ofGuam.[122][123][a] Members ofCongress credited Oliver with helping to win a vote to enforce protections for chicken farmers who speak out about industry practices, after aLast Week Tonight segment on the subject.[124][125][b] AWashington, D.C.,council member proposed a resolution in Oliver's honour after he aired a segment on the district'sstruggle to attain statehood.[126][c] A study published in 2022 found that "calls for action" by Oliver in seasons seven and eight ofLast Week Tonight raised over $5 million for charities and other causes.[66]
Oliver maintains that he is not a journalist,[127] but reporters have contended that his show is a form of journalism.[128][129][130] The Peabody Awards honoured Oliver, saying his programme engages in "investigative reports that 'real' news programs would do well to emulate".[131] One example of Oliver's investigative work is a segment on theMiss America organization, which bills itself as "the world's largest provider of scholarships for women".[132] Oliver's team, which includes four researchers with journalism backgrounds,[133] collected and analysed the organization's state and federal tax returns to find that its scholarship programme only distributes a small fraction of the claimed "$45 million made available annually".[134] Oliver said that at the national level, the Miss America Organization and Miss America Foundation together spent only $482,000 in cash scholarships in 2012.[132] As of October 2024,[update] the official YouTube video of Oliver's Miss America segment has been viewed more than 24 million times.[135] TheSociety of Women Engineers said Oliver's reference to their scholarship led to $25,000 in donations over the subsequent two days.[136]
Oliver also founded and legally incorporated a church,Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption, to demonstrate how easy it is to qualify as a church and receivetax-exempt status in the United States.[137][138] The church was created in conjunction with a segment ontelevangelists who have tax-free mansions and private jets funded by millions of dollars in donations, which are sent in the belief that money given to televangelists can result inGod rewarding donors with money, blessings, and by curing diseases.[139][d] The next week, Oliver showed off the large quantity of donations posted to him, which included $70,000 in cash, a largecheque, and other gifts. The church's website stated that donations would go toDoctors Without Borders upon the church's dissolution.[140][138]
In May 2018, actorRussell Crowe donated approximately $80,000 to theAustralia Zoo wildlife hospital for the creation and naming of "The John OliverKoalaChlamydia Ward".[146] Oliver had previously bought in an auction severalfilm props that had been used by Crowe, includinghis jockstrap fromCinderella Man, which he sent to one of the last AlaskanBlockbuster Video shops for exhibition.[147][148] Crowe then donated the proceeds from the auction towards the establishment of the Chlamydia Ward named after Oliver, calling it "a cool way" to honour him.[149] Covering the story on his show, Oliver admitted admiration for the gag: "Well played, Russell Crowe. Well played indeed. That may honestly be the greatest thing I've ever seen."[146] Crowe visited the ward in early 2020, posing with the nameplate bearing Oliver's name.[150]
In August 2020, the mayor ofDanbury, Connecticut,Mark Boughton, announced in a Facebook video his intention to rename the DanburyWater Pollution Control Plant as the "John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant" as a comedic symbol of his displeasure at Oliver'shyperbolic insult to the city during a segment concerning allegedracial disparities in a jury selection process.[151] After reporting that Connecticut jury rolls had excluded two entire towns, Oliver said, "If you're going to forget a town in Connecticut, why not forget Danbury?" Oliver then humorously offered to "thrash" the entire town, including its children.[152][153]
As a response to Boughton's video, Oliver embraced the idea enthusiastically, promising to donate $55,000 to Danbury charities if the city renamed the sewage plant after him.[153][154][155] After the city council voted 18–1 in favour of naming the plant after him, Oliver visited Danbury to attend the unveiling ceremony on 8 October 2020 in person, wearing ahazmat suit.[156] Mayor Boughton had made Oliver's personal attendance a condition for the renaming, and Oliver complied, revealing footage of his trip onLast Week Tonight the following week.[157]
Oliver met Kate Norley, anIraq War veteran who served as a medic in the U.S. Army's1st Cavalry Division, at the2008 Republican National Convention; he was reporting forThe Daily Show and she was campaigning withVets for Freedom, then led byPete Hegseth. She and other veterans hid Oliver, the other correspondents, and the camera crew from security.[158] The two were married in October 2011 and reside inNew York City.[159][160] They have two sons, one born prematurely in 2015 and the other born in 2018.[161] Oliver occasionally wears a 1st Cavalry Division lapel pin in honour of Norley.[162]
Oliver's immigration status when he joinedThe Daily Show in 2006 placed certain constraints on what he could do in the United States, but also provided him with comedy material as he poked fun at the opacity and occasional absurdity of the process of obtainingUS residency.[2][163][164] During the2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, which temporarily stopped production ofThe Daily Show, Oliver participated inpicketing protests;[165] he appeared on the show upon its resuming production on 7 January 2008. During a sketch, he pointed out that he was then in America on avisitor visa that requires him not to strike while the show is in production, as violation of the terms of the visa would be grounds fordeportation.[166]
In an episode ofThe Bugle released on 2 November 2009 and recorded three days earlier, Oliver announced that he was approved for hisUS green card, noting that now he can "get arrested filming bits forThe Daily Show".[167] Oliver says he was given a scare while applying at theUS embassy in London when an immigration officer asked, "Give me one good reason I should let you back in to insult my country" before following up with, "Oh, I'm just kidding, I love the show." Since then, he has referred to Americans as "us" or "you" based on what each segment has demanded.[164] Oliver wasnaturalized as aUS citizen on 13 December 2019.[2][163] Since moving to the United States, he has been a fan of theNew York Mets.[168] He has said that being aNew York Yankees fan would be the "wrong thing to do morally".[169]
Oliver's philanthropy includes an on-air giveaway in which he forgave over $15 million ofmedical debt owed by over 9,000 people. He purchased the debt for $60,000 and forgave it on his show on 4 June 2016.[170]
^Meyers, Seth; John, Meyers (25 July 2023)."John Oliver Camped for Two Human Weeks".Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers (Podcast). Simplecast. Event occurs at 55:19. Retrieved11 November 2023.
^abcdefgh"John Oliver (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved19 May 2025. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
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