If you feel like you don’t know what to do in the news chaos and cascades since President Donald Trump launched his second term on January 20th, John Oliver feels it too It’s there.
“That’s something everyone is struggling,” Oliver says. “I think it’s very helpful to have a show that will handle all these emotions.”
The comedian, who recently appeared in the stomping spot of his old “Daily Show” due to fast Trump-related rants, has revealed how things will work in the upcoming 12th season of “last week” (HBO, Sunday, 11 EST) I’m trying to figure out what? /PST). The show attempts to balance Trump’s headlines with its distinctive long-term research narrative.
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“This is very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very,” he says.
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Oliver talks about his new season, his personal dealing with Trump’s second term, which he actively supports, and how he wants to reassure viewers without giving him “false hope.” I caught up with USA Today on the phone to do so.
“I don’t know what that will happen,” he says. “We will do our best.”
Question: Many people are your viewers and have felt confused and aimless since Trump was re-inaugurated. What do you say to people asking, “What are we doing now?”
Answer: I think that’s what we’re (struggling) right now. For the last show last year, we were trying to meet people where they were. We definitely don’t want to give false hope. There are a lot now. Yes, I don’t know. That’s what we’re working on this week. We are about to land on something that is uplifting in the way you can stand. (We can’t say) If obviously not, everything will be fine.
When people feel so isolated and hopeless, it’s okay to feel hopeless or not isolated. We should tackle this, talk about it and try it out in a way that feels help rather than helpless.
With you being away and Trump taking office, how are you going to deal with all the news? There were a lot.
Since our last show, we have spent most of our time writing stories that are in a timeless mold of questions that are not conditional on what this administration is doing. . We can do them all year round. For now, you feel like you have to deal with what’s in front of you before you can reach any of them.
We generally don’t like to follow what’s going on in this week’s news, but when the administration is this chaotic, it’s difficult. Hopefully we can contain the turmoil of the Trump administration at the start of the show. And its main body can be left to more systematic issues that we are interested in covering. They aren’t what they see all the time, they’ve never seen them before.
In the final episode of 2024, my wish for 2025 was “Elon Musk Less.” It doesn’t show exactly how you wanted.
(laughs) I think I might stop wanting things. There is a demon somewhere with a very sick sense of humor. We don’t see that we’ve got that much of Elon Musk right away. We are gaining him more and more to the extent that he is not medically used to.
In this new environment, do you expect more pushbacks to content from corporate parents (HBO owned by Warner Bros. Discovery)?
We will definitely continue to act like there is nothing we can’t speak. That’s how we’ve been running it for the past 11 years. And that’s certainly the way we continue to do it.
Have you returned to the “Daily Show” earlier this week and met John Stewart again?
It felt like I was going through the portal until I first came to this country in 2006. It was surprisingly fun. “Oh, I’ve become a correspondent again!” There are still many people there who were there when I was there. It was like I lost ten years of my life. It seemed I didn’t leave. the. Physically, it’s a better office right now. That’s the main difference.
Watch: John Oliver makes a surprising return to The Daily Show. Reunion with John Stewart
Is this Sunday’s premiere the most difficult episode you’ve ever written?
no way. No, no, no. I’d say that there are many difficult episodes that we had to write in the past to list.
That’s something.
Yes, that’s something. Sometimes it can make you feel better just by reminding yourself that things are getting technically worse. That’s not the most uplifting message. I’ve never said anything that sounds more British. It’s the British kind of optimism. “Remember, things are getting worse! They’re not good now, but they’re getting worse.” This is like the British version of a sports coach’s speech to a team. “Yes, you’re losing 7 (to zero), but you could be losing at 20. At least you know it’s built on something real.