John Oliver is speaking out about the decision to postpone the YouTube release of his Last Week Tonight segment.
In an interview on The New York Times podcast “The Interview,” the late-night host criticized HBO for the changes in its broadcast schedule. In the lead-up to the series’ 11th season, the premium cable outlet announced that some of the show would not be available on YouTube for several days after the premiere. Previously, viewers were able to watch the show’s main story on YouTube the morning after the episode aired.
“It’s very frustrating to me. I wasn’t happy with it at all,” Oliver said of the decision.
He further explained: That feels really important to me. I really appreciate the fact that they do that. We would have rather done it right after the show like they have in the past, but we’re so grateful they still do it anyway. ”
When announcing the decision earlier this year, HBO said that curbing the segment on YouTube was an effort to get more people to stream the show on its sibling streaming platform, Max.
“When Last Week Tonight With John Oliver premiered on HBO, the convenience of watching it on Max didn’t exist, so YouTube gave us the flexibility to watch promos as well as the main feature. ,” an HBO spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter at the time. “We are currently postponing its viewing availability and hope that fans choose to watch the entire show on Max.”
When it was first announced in February, Oliver said: In the post of X He said he hoped plans would change. “I know I usually share links to the main story here on Mondays, but HBO has decided to wait until Thursday to post to YouTube from now on. I hope they change their minds. Until then, we hope, you can find our coverage of the Supreme Court on HBO, Max, and YouTube in the coming days.”
HBO has renewed Last Week Tonight for three more seasons in 2023, and the weekly late-night show will continue for season 13 in 2026.
Thinking about when his show at the NYT will feel like it’s “done,” Oliver said he’s not there yet.
He explained: “I’ve worked with Jon Stewart for a long time. I’ve seen him exhausted. So I know what it’s like. I’ve worked with Jon Stewart for a long time. I’ve seen him exhausted. I saw him thinking, “I could have done this in every possible way.” And he was right about that. Like, he can’t do any better. We’re not there yet. I still love making shows. You’re right, when I feel like there’s a story to it, or when I come up with something really stupid, I get excited and jump up and down in my chair. It’s so much fun. I can’t believe they can force a story down people’s throats that they probably don’t want to hear to get them to watch it, and I can’t believe they can use HBO’s resources to do something so financially irresponsible. Scales. So my answer is that there may come a point. I don’t feel like we’re there yet. ”
