John Oliver: Why Everything is a Scam: FIFA, Mergers, & Information Literacy

1. 0:00 – 1:15

   The John Wick Hotel: High Stakes Service

   1. JOJohn Oliver0:00

      [upbeat music] Best thing about John Wick was the hotel.

   2. SPSpeaker0:06

      Yeah, that was pretty badass.

   3. JOJohn Oliver0:08

      His-

   4. SPSpeaker0:08

      The hotel was such a great concept

   5. JOJohn Oliver0:09

      ... like, I love, the martial arts is great.

   6. SPSpeaker0:10

      Yeah.

   7. JOJohn Oliver0:10

      I think part of that is people's just longing for a hotel w- that well-run.

   8. SPSpeaker0:15

      [laughs]

   9. JOJohn Oliver0:15

      It's so... I like the fighting, but I love the service.

   10. SPSpeaker0:20

       [laughs]

   11. TNTrevor Noah0:20

       Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

   12. JOJohn Oliver0:20

       You can turn up nearly dead, "Sir, we'll take care of it."

   13. TNTrevor Noah0:22

       With a dog.

   14. JOJohn Oliver0:23

       And we take pets.

   15. TNTrevor Noah0:23

       With a dog. Yeah.

   16. JOJohn Oliver0:25

       It, for me, it's a hotel movie with some fighting in it.

   17. TNTrevor Noah0:27

       Wait, didn't they say they don't take... Wasn't there something they don't do that they did for him?

   18. SPSpeaker0:32

       Maybe the dog.

   19. TNTrevor Noah0:33

       I feel like there was something that they don't-

   20. JOJohn Oliver0:34

       They don't, it is no, it's a no pets building?

   21. TNTrevor Noah0:37

       No pets.

   22. SPSpeaker0:37

       No, no, no.

   23. TNTrevor Noah0:37

       There's something.

   24. SPSpeaker0:37

       But they did it for him.

   25. TNTrevor Noah0:39

       Yes, but I swear they don't accept pets.

   26. JOJohn Oliver0:40

       But it was a n- it was a no pets enterprise.

   27. TNTrevor Noah0:43

       I, I, I hope I'm not wrong about this.

   28. JOJohn Oliver0:45

       It has s- international assassins-

   29. SPSpeaker0:46

       Can always find out

   30. JOJohn Oliver0:47

       ... like, "No pets."
2. 1:15 – 2:14

   John Wick’s Takeaway: Fighting or Concierge?

   1. TNTrevor Noah1:15

      I mean-

   2. SPSpeaker1:15

      I love, I love the fact that you watched John Wick-

   3. JOJohn Oliver1:17

      Fluff McGraw

   4. SPSpeaker1:17

      ... and your biggest takeaway was, "What a hotel."

   5. JOJohn Oliver1:20

      I'd, I love the fact that you thought it was plausible they didn't take pets-

   6. SPSpeaker1:23

      [laughs]

   7. JOJohn Oliver1:23

      ... and that that was the line.

   8. TNTrevor Noah1:24

      I still think it might be there.

   9. JOJohn Oliver1:25

      You come in with a blood-dripping samurai sword-

   10. SPSpeaker1:27

       [laughs]

   11. TNTrevor Noah1:27

       [laughs]

   12. JOJohn Oliver1:27

       ... and a dog cage, and they're like, "Put the cage down." [laughs]

   13. SPSpeaker1:32

       [laughs]

   14. TNTrevor Noah1:32

       [laughs]

   15. JOJohn Oliver1:32

       "I'll give you a towel for the sword."

   16. SPSpeaker1:33

       "I've seen, I, I, I see you've had your shots, but has he?"

   17. JOJohn Oliver1:36

       [laughs]

   18. TNTrevor Noah1:37

       [laughs]

   19. SPSpeaker1:37

       [laughs]

   20. JOJohn Oliver1:38

       No, it's just one of-

   21. SPSpeaker1:38

       You know, some, some of the other assassins, they go, "There's the hair of the dog left."

   22. TNTrevor Noah1:41

       Yeah, they're allergic to dogs.

   23. JOJohn Oliver1:43

       Yeah. [laughs]

   24. TNTrevor Noah1:43

       I don't know, man. I feel like there was something. You should check it. I think there was something about, about no pets. There was just, like, a, there was just, like, a vibe, but you know?

   25. JOJohn Oliver1:50

       It's a great hotel.

   26. TNTrevor Noah1:51

       It really is.

   27. SPSpeaker1:52

       But New York is an entire pet-friendly zone. [upbeat music]

   28. TNTrevor Noah1:59

       This is What Now? With Trevor Noah. [upbeat music] How long have you lived in New

3. 2:14 – 3:10

   John Oliver’s Daily Show Origin Story

   1. TNTrevor Noah2:14

      York now?

   2. JOJohn Oliver2:15

      I've been here since 2006, so nearly 20 years.

   3. TNTrevor Noah2:17

      What, what, what first brought you to New York?

   4. JOJohn Oliver2:19

      The Daily Show. I, I got offered the job. That was my first, my first day in New York was the, the, The Daily Show.

   5. TNTrevor Noah2:26

      Dad, dad. Are you serious?

   6. JOJohn Oliver2:26

      Yep.

   7. TNTrevor Noah2:27

      Hmm.

   8. JOJohn Oliver2:27

      Yep.

   9. TNTrevor Noah2:27

      No, wait, tell me your Daily Show origin story.

   10. JOJohn Oliver2:29

       So I was, uh, they were looking for a new correspondent.

   11. TNTrevor Noah2:31

       Okay.

   12. JOJohn Oliver2:32

       I'm in London, right, having, you know, doing the Edinburgh Festival every year.

   13. TNTrevor Noah2:35

       Okay.

   14. JOJohn Oliver2:36

       Uh, so they say, "Put yourself on tape." You saw, I-

   15. TNTrevor Noah2:40

       Who said this to you?

   16. JOJohn Oliver2:40

       They were, they were looking for a correspondent from the world-

   17. TNTrevor Noah2:43

       Mm, mm

   18. JOJohn Oliver2:44

       ... right, for the first time.

   19. TNTrevor Noah2:45

       Mm-hmm.

   20. JOJohn Oliver2:45

       Not from America-

   21. TNTrevor Noah2:46

       Mm-hmm

   22. JOJohn Oliver2:46

       ... from outside of the borders of this land.

   23. TNTrevor Noah2:49

       [laughs]

   24. JOJohn Oliver2:49

       Uh, and so there were a bunch of people in London who just got-

   25. SPSpeaker2:52

       The only last time they did that. [laughs]

   26. TNTrevor Noah2:54

       [laughs]

   27. JOJohn Oliver2:54

       As a British person, I'd love to criticize, but, you know.

   28. SPSpeaker2:56

       [laughs]

   29. TNTrevor Noah2:56

       [laughs]

   30. JOJohn Oliver2:56

       Game recognize game. [laughs] You know, India, you know.
4. 3:10 – 5:31

   Auditioning for Jon Stewart: The Gold Standard

   1. TNTrevor Noah3:10

      [laughs]

   2. JOJohn Oliver3:10

      Uh, yeah, so, uh, uh, the, a bunch, I think a bunch of, uh, English comedians had been asked, like, to put themselves on tape. Then, like, they, so I think I'm never gonna hear from them again. Then they say, "Oh, they wanna, they wanna meet you."

   3. TNTrevor Noah3:21

      Hmm.

   4. JOJohn Oliver3:21

      "So you can..." So I think, "Fine. I've never been to New York before. This will be my free trip to New York for 36 hours." So I flew over here, stayed in Midtown, uh, uh, went to the, I sort of went to Applebee's for a meal, thought it, thought this must be, like, a quintessential American diner.

   5. TNTrevor Noah3:39

      [laughs]

   6. JOJohn Oliver3:40

      Applebee's.

   7. TNTrevor Noah3:41

      I love how you're ticking all the boxes-

   8. JOJohn Oliver3:42

      Yeah

   9. TNTrevor Noah3:42

      ... of every immigrant who comes here.

   10. JOJohn Oliver3:45

       That's right.

   11. TNTrevor Noah3:45

       It's Midtown.

   12. JOJohn Oliver3:46

       Mm-hmm.

   13. TNTrevor Noah3:46

       You think, "Best location."

   14. JOJohn Oliver3:47

       That's right.

   15. TNTrevor Noah3:47

       "Best, you can't get better than this."

   16. SPSpeaker3:49

       Mm-hmm.

   17. TNTrevor Noah3:49

       Hell's Kitchen, what a great name.

   18. JOJohn Oliver3:51

       It's true. [laughs]

   19. TNTrevor Noah3:52

       You know what I mean?

   20. JOJohn Oliver3:52

       There's probably-

   21. TNTrevor Noah3:53

       Probably, probably ironically named.

   22. JOJohn Oliver3:54

       Yes.

   23. TNTrevor Noah3:54

       Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean.

   24. JOJohn Oliver3:54

       This must be where everything is.

   25. TNTrevor Noah3:56

       And, and then Applebee's-

   26. SPSpeaker3:57

       Yeah, it's Midtown

   27. TNTrevor Noah3:58

       ... yeah, and then you go to Applebee's-

   28. SPSpeaker3:59

       The middle of it

   29. TNTrevor Noah3:59

       ... or one of, you're like, "Wow."

   30. SPSpeaker4:00

       Yeah.
5. 5:31 – 6:28

   Trevor’s Scammed Call from Jon Stewart

   1. TNTrevor Noah5:31

      And no, but I'm saying, like-

   2. SPSpeaker5:32

      The whole entire-

   3. TNTrevor Noah5:32

      What I... Listen, listen to what I mean by tiny.

   4. SPSpeaker5:34

      Oof. Baby.

   5. TNTrevor Noah5:34

      It was like-

   6. SPSpeaker5:35

      Oh

   7. TNTrevor Noah5:35

      ... 200-seaters, 150-seaters.

   8. SPSpeaker5:37

      [laughs]

   9. JOJohn Oliver5:37

      Yeah.

   10. TNTrevor Noah5:37

       Does it make sense?

   11. JOJohn Oliver5:38

       Venues.

   12. TNTrevor Noah5:38

       Venues tiny.

   13. SPSpeaker5:39

       Oh, okay. Okay.

   14. JOJohn Oliver5:39

       He's not talking about population size.

   15. SPSpeaker5:40

       Okay, okay. Okay.

   16. TNTrevor Noah5:41

       Yeah. Thank you for clarifying.

   17. SPSpeaker5:42

       [laughs]

   18. TNTrevor Noah5:43

       Thank you for clarifying.

   19. JOJohn Oliver5:44

       He's not saying Chipping Norton, a village.

   20. TNTrevor Noah5:45

       No. [laughs]

   21. JOJohn Oliver5:45

       You know? 120 people, but an amphitheater.

   22. SPSpeaker5:49

       [laughs]

   23. TNTrevor Noah5:49

       [laughs]

   24. JOJohn Oliver5:49

       Weirdly.

   25. TNTrevor Noah5:50

       So my tour was tiny is what I'm saying.

   26. JOJohn Oliver5:52

       Yeah.

   27. SPSpeaker5:53

       Okay, cool.

   28. TNTrevor Noah5:53

       Okay. So-

   29. SPSpeaker5:54

       Huh

   30. TNTrevor Noah5:54

       ... I get a call, don't know the number. I'm standing in Harrods. That's why I'll never forget this call.
6. 6:28 – 9:27

   The Harrods Underwater Scooter Obsession

   1. TNTrevor Noah6:28

      I'm-

   2. JOJohn Oliver6:28

      You find anything-

   3. TNTrevor Noah6:29

      I'm in the w-

   4. JOJohn Oliver6:29

      ... you can't afford anything

   5. TNTrevor Noah6:30

      ... I'm, I'm in one...

   6. EUEugene6:31

      [laughs]

   7. TNTrevor Noah6:31

      Yeah, you can't. I'm in the low-

   8. JOJohn Oliver6:32

      Yeah

   9. TNTrevor Noah6:32

      ... lower level one below the-

   10. EUEugene6:34

       Yeah

   11. TNTrevor Noah6:34

       ... like, m- minus one level.

   12. EUEugene6:36

       Wait, and there's different levels?

   13. TNTrevor Noah6:37

       Yeah, and they all have different things, so clothing, uh, perfumes, food-

   14. EUEugene6:41

       Okay, okay

   15. TNTrevor Noah6:41

       ... what, you know what I mean?

   16. EUEugene6:42

       So I'm-

   17. JOJohn Oliver6:42

       International arms dealing.

   18. TNTrevor Noah6:43

       [laughs]

   19. EUEugene6:45

       Misogyny.

   20. JOJohn Oliver6:46

       Yes.

   21. TNTrevor Noah6:46

       [laughs]

   22. EUEugene6:46

       'Cause apparently you are famous for that as well.

   23. JOJohn Oliver6:48

       Well, that's, that's, no, that's pumped in through the vents.

   24. TNTrevor Noah6:49

       [laughs]

   25. JOJohn Oliver6:49

       That's, that's, historically, that's everywhere.

   26. TNTrevor Noah6:52

       So, and then my phone rings. I was staring at an underwater scooter.

   27. EUEugene6:56

       [laughs]

   28. TNTrevor Noah6:56

       I will never forget this moment. The, I'm... I was staring at it, thinking, "How in my life will I ever be able to afford one of these?"

   29. EUEugene7:03

       Mm.

   30. TNTrevor Noah7:03

       'Cause it's impossible. I didn't even think about where I would use it. I just went, "I need this in my life."
7. 9:27 – 11:15

   Staring at Scooters vs. Joining the News

   1. TNTrevor Noah9:27

      know I need this in my life."

   2. JOJohn Oliver9:27

      I'm in the market for an instantly depreciating asset.

   3. TNTrevor Noah9:30

      [laughs]

   4. EUEugene9:32

      [laughs]

   5. JOJohn Oliver9:33

      To call this thing an investment would not be fair.

   6. TNTrevor Noah9:36

      [laughs]

   7. JOJohn Oliver9:36

      You are setting fire to money.

   8. EUEugene9:38

      To your money. [laughs]

   9. JOJohn Oliver9:39

      To your money.

   10. TNTrevor Noah9:40

       But I didn't have the money. I was just staring at it. Then my phone rang, and it was Jon Stewart. I didn't know Jon Stewart. Unlike you, I didn't know who he even was.

   11. EUEugene9:50

       Mm-hmm.

   12. TNTrevor Noah9:50

       And, and then he came on, and you, you know Jon better than anyone.

   13. EUEugene9:54

       Mm-hmm.

   14. TNTrevor Noah9:55

       Like, Jon does not take himself as seriously as people take him.

   15. JOJohn Oliver9:58

       No.

   16. TNTrevor Noah9:59

       Right?

   17. EUEugene9:59

       Mm.

   18. JOJohn Oliver10:00

       Yeah.

   19. TNTrevor Noah10:00

       So he calls me, goes, "Uh, hey, um, can I speak to Trevor?" I'm like, "Speaking." He says, "Hey, you speaking to John Stewart? Uh, I host a little show." That's what he said. He, the exact phrasing was, "I host a little show in America called The Daily Show."

   20. JOJohn Oliver10:12

       Mm.

   21. TNTrevor Noah10:12

       Um, and I-

   22. JOJohn Oliver10:14

       That joke only works if you know what The Daily Show is. Otherwise, it just seems-

   23. TNTrevor Noah10:17

       Yes

   24. JOJohn Oliver10:17

       ... like a description.

   25. EUEugene10:18

       Was wasted on you.

   26. TNTrevor Noah10:18

       'Cause this was the big... So I was like-

   27. EUEugene10:19

       Just like the water, underwater scooter-

   28. TNTrevor Noah10:21

       I was just like-

   29. EUEugene10:21

       ... totally wasted on you

   30. TNTrevor Noah10:22

       ... I was like, "No, no, that was not wasted on me."
8. 11:15 – 14:58

   Turning Down The Daily Show (The First Time)

   1. TNTrevor Noah11:15

      how this goes.

   2. EUEugene11:15

      Never mind the underwater scooter.

   3. TNTrevor Noah11:16

      No.

   4. JOJohn Oliver11:16

      Nuh-uh.

   5. TNTrevor Noah11:17

      He's going, "What is your credit card details?"

   6. EUEugene11:18

      Obviously a scam on the phone right away.

   7. JOJohn Oliver11:19

      He's, he's barely listening to the guy. He's more just looking at the scooter.

   8. TNTrevor Noah11:21

      I'm still reading the, the, the specs-

   9. JOJohn Oliver11:23

      Exactly. Yeah

   10. TNTrevor Noah11:23

       ... on the thing while he's talking.

   11. EUEugene11:25

       [laughs]

   12. TNTrevor Noah11:25

       Then he said, "Can you come to New York?" And then I was like, "Uh, no." Then, and I was like, "What's, what's..." He's like, "We wanna hire you. You're gonna come to New York," and what. I was like, "Oh, no, I, I, no thank you." Uh, he's like, "I'm sorry, what?" [laughs] And I'll never forget, he went, "I'm sorry, what?" And I said, "Yeah, I've got a, I've got a tour that I'm, I'm, I'm doing now." Luton, like, all these places.

   13. EUEugene11:45

       Chipping Norton.

   14. TNTrevor Noah11:46

       Like, I'm out here, baby.

   15. EUEugene11:47

       Squawksbury.

   16. JOJohn Oliver11:48

       I said the same thing. I said a version of that when they offered me the job.

   17. TNTrevor Noah11:52

       You didn't.

   18. JOJohn Oliver11:52

       My, my manager said, "Yeah, they're o- there's, they want you to do the job." And I said, "I can't do it. I'm going to Edinburgh."

   19. TNTrevor Noah11:58

       You see?

   20. JOJohn Oliver11:58

       And he said-

   21. EUEugene11:59

       Mm. Mm

   22. JOJohn Oliver11:59

       ... "Yeah, you're not going to Edinburgh."

   23. TNTrevor Noah12:00

       [laughs]

   24. JOJohn Oliver12:00

       "You're gonna go-"

   25. EUEugene12:01

       Oh.

   26. JOJohn Oliver12:01

       "You're gonna go-"

   27. TNTrevor Noah12:01

       You had a manager. That's what saved you

   28. JOJohn Oliver12:03

       ... "You're gonna go, you're gonna go do this job." Otherwise, I was thinking, yeah, but I got an 80-seater room at The Stand.

   29. TNTrevor Noah12:07

       Guys, do you know how hard it is to book Edinburgh?

   30. JOJohn Oliver12:09

       Yeah. I got a room
9. 14:58 – 16:15

   John’s First Day: Thrown Straight on Air

   1. JOJohn Oliver14:58

      I come-

   2. TNTrevor Noah14:58

      And that's it, you start on The Daily Show

   3. JOJohn Oliver14:59

      ... I come in to start work immediately. So I don't know if they did this with you.

   4. TNTrevor Noah15:02

      This is so insane.

   5. JOJohn Oliver15:02

      I, I, when I got my stuff, I came back. My first day in the office, I think I've found out since then, this is a very nice thing that they would do.

   6. EUEugene15:09

      Hmm.

   7. JOJohn Oliver15:09

      They would try and get you on the show straight away.

   8. TNTrevor Noah15:11

      [laughs]

   9. EUEugene15:11

      Mm-hmm.

   10. JOJohn Oliver15:12

       So you're not hanging around too long, watching, thinking about what it will be like. I la-

   11. TNTrevor Noah15:16

       Ah

   12. JOJohn Oliver15:17

       ... I landed back here-

   13. TNTrevor Noah15:19

       Mm-hmm

   14. JOJohn Oliver15:19

       ... exhausted, got, went to the office. They said, "You're gonna be on the show tonight." Like, "Wait, what?" And so the whole thing then moved very, very quickly-

   15. TNTrevor Noah15:28

       Wow

   16. JOJohn Oliver15:28

       ... and all of a sudden I was in. In retrospect, I see that that is a very kind thing to do for people-

   17. TNTrevor Noah15:34

       Yeah. Yeah

   18. JOJohn Oliver15:34

       ... to get them in quickly.

   19. EUEugene15:35

       Yeah.

   20. TNTrevor Noah15:35

       Yeah.

   21. JOJohn Oliver15:35

       So you're not overthinking it.

   22. TNTrevor Noah15:36

       Essentially it's, I think it's, like, the same tactics that a, like, a drug gang uses.

   23. EUEugene15:40

       Hmm.

   24. TNTrevor Noah15:41

       When you, when you're flirting with the idea of being part of the cartel-

   25. JOJohn Oliver15:44

       [laughs]

   26. TNTrevor Noah15:44

       ... they get you into a deal as quickly as possible so that you can't now back out.

   27. JOJohn Oliver15:48

       Perfect analogy. I, I did this-

   28. EUEugene15:50

       Wait, wait, wait, wait. You have to explain to us. You said no at the shop, right?

   29. TNTrevor Noah15:53

       I said no, yeah.

   30. EUEugene15:54

       So how long before you say yes? And what, what makes you say yes?
10. 16:15 – 19:31

    Joining the "News Cartel": The Recruitment Tactic

    1. TNTrevor Noah16:15

       "I heard you're in New York."

    2. JOJohn Oliver16:16

       Oh, wow.

    3. EUEugene16:17

       He doesn't have an excuse now.

    4. TNTrevor Noah16:17

       Then I'm like, "Ah, man, this," I'm like, "This guy."

    5. JOJohn Oliver16:19

       Yeah.

    6. TNTrevor Noah16:20

       Yo. Now I still don't... So here's, here's what I have to explain about this. I didn't, first of all, I didn't know what The Daily Show was because we didn't get it in that way in South Africa.

    7. EUEugene16:30

       Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

    8. TNTrevor Noah16:31

       But more importantly, I had seen what John did, and I've told him this. I'd seen it, but it used to air on CNN.

    9. JOJohn Oliver16:38

       Yeah, that's right, the global edition.

    10. TNTrevor Noah16:39

        The international edition.

    11. JOJohn Oliver16:40

        Yes, exactly. Yeah.

    12. TNTrevor Noah16:41

        The global edition.

    13. JOJohn Oliver16:42

        Yeah.

    14. TNTrevor Noah16:43

        So what I saw was Christiane Amanpour.

    15. JOJohn Oliver16:46

        Yeah.

    16. TNTrevor Noah16:47

        Richard Quest.

    17. JOJohn Oliver16:48

        [laughs]

    18. TNTrevor Noah16:49

        News from Hong Kong.

    19. JOJohn Oliver16:50

        Yeah.

    20. TNTrevor Noah16:50

        News from, uh, India, news from England, you na- Then this guy would come on TV, I assumed drunk.

    21. JOJohn Oliver16:59

        Mm-hmm.

    22. TNTrevor Noah16:59

        Because he was reading the news, but man, this guy was not taking it seriously.

    23. JOJohn Oliver17:04

        Yeah.

    24. EUEugene17:05

        Hmm.

    25. TNTrevor Noah17:05

        But this was, so Jon Stewart was part of CNN in my world.

    26. EUEugene17:08

        Hmm, he used to, part of the lineup.

    27. JOJohn Oliver17:08

        He used to do a package, but he would introduce it standing up by a green screen.

    28. TNTrevor Noah17:12

        Yes.

    29. EUEugene17:12

        Mm-hmm.

    30. JOJohn Oliver17:12

        And I then watched him do it, because it would be one of the writers' jobs-
11. 19:31 – 21:03

    "That British Dude from South Africa"

    1. JOJohn Oliver19:31

       [laughs] Well, again-

    2. TNTrevor Noah19:33

       But that was-

    3. JOJohn Oliver19:34

       Again, historically, there-

    4. TNTrevor Noah19:36

       But that was so perfect to what you're saying.

    5. JOJohn Oliver19:37

       Mm.

    6. TNTrevor Noah19:37

       He said, "You're that British dude-

    7. JOJohn Oliver19:39

       Yes, indeed. Yeah. Yes

    8. TNTrevor Noah19:41

       ... from South Africa."

    9. JOJohn Oliver19:41

       Couldn't distinguish between the two, yeah.

    10. TNTrevor Noah19:41

        Yeah. He knew where I was from.

    11. JOJohn Oliver19:42

        Yeah.

    12. TNTrevor Noah19:43

        But he's like, "But-

    13. JOJohn Oliver19:43

        He can't hear it

    14. TNTrevor Noah19:44

        ... you're British."

    15. JOJohn Oliver19:45

        Yeah.

    16. TNTrevor Noah19:46

        So I'm at the show.

    17. JOJohn Oliver19:48

        Mm-hmm.

    18. TNTrevor Noah19:48

        They're using the John template-

    19. JOJohn Oliver19:49

        Mm

    20. TNTrevor Noah19:49

        ... which I'm grateful to you for, by the way-

    21. JOJohn Oliver19:51

        Mm

    22. TNTrevor Noah19:51

        ... in many ways, because now they had, like, a, an idea. They're like, "All right. You, you, these are things that we think work for you."

    23. JOJohn Oliver19:56

        Mm-hmm.

    24. TNTrevor Noah19:56

        "'Cause you like tea, not coffee. You're that kind of guy."

    25. JOJohn Oliver19:58

        Sure, yeah.

    26. TNTrevor Noah19:59

        Right? [laughs] So they go, "This is what we're gonna do." John goes, just hang out. I go into one of their meetings. If you go into a Daily Show meeting, you will not know a single thing. Maybe now, because of Trump, the world has become more attuned with what America's talking about.

    27. JOJohn Oliver20:16

        Mm.

    28. TNTrevor Noah20:16

        Back then, it was John Boehner-

    29. JOJohn Oliver20:19

        Yeah

    30. TNTrevor Noah20:19

        ... which threw me off, because on the screen, I read Boner.
12. 21:03 – 23:53

    Homework vs. Comedy: Building the Show Foundations

    1. TNTrevor Noah21:03

       on the air."

    2. JOJohn Oliver21:04

       Did it sound the same? But yeah, but interestingly, c- 'cause having been in that process-

    3. TNTrevor Noah21:10

       Mm

    4. JOJohn Oliver21:10

       ... you're there at the morning. It's... I, I understand the distinction you're making between you're doing homework, I'm doing comedy. That time of the day, for the best comedy to happen, that time of the day has to be homework.

    5. TNTrevor Noah21:22

       Yes.

    6. JOJohn Oliver21:22

       Right?

    7. TNTrevor Noah21:23

       Yeah.

    8. JOJohn Oliver21:23

       So, uh, what, what feels like an anathema when you're looking at it is, "Hey, this is a writers meeting of comedy writers. Why is no one making jokes?" And the thing is, you can get too attracted to a joke, right? And you can try and-

    9. TNTrevor Noah21:39

       Mm

    10. JOJohn Oliver21:39

        ... build the whole day's show around a joke that you loved, whereas the truth is you need it to be foundationally solid.

    11. TNTrevor Noah21:45

        Oh, I love that.

    12. JOJohn Oliver21:45

        You build that joke on-

    13. TNTrevor Noah21:47

        I love that

    14. JOJohn Oliver21:47

        ... you build that joke on sand-

    15. TNTrevor Noah21:48

        Mm

    16. JOJohn Oliver21:48

        ... the joke you loved collapses, or you're gonna do some very dicey work trying to reinforce a joke-

    17. TNTrevor Noah21:53

        And prop it up

    18. JOJohn Oliver21:54

        ... that should not be standing up.

    19. TNTrevor Noah21:55

        Mm.

    20. JOJohn Oliver21:56

        So that is why those meetings can appear humorless if you're looking at it from the outside. But what they are doing is building the foundations for jokes that will come later.

    21. TNTrevor Noah22:07

        No one explained it like this to me.

    22. JOJohn Oliver22:09

        Yeah.

    23. TNTrevor Noah22:09

        I-

    24. JOJohn Oliver22:09

        'Cause you had just left

    25. TNTrevor Noah22:10

        ... I wish you were there. No one explained it like that.

    26. JOJohn Oliver22:12

        [laughs]

    27. TNTrevor Noah22:12

        First of all, using the word anathema to describe what's going on in there.

    28. JOJohn Oliver22:15

        Yeah, no, no, no.

    29. TNTrevor Noah22:16

        [laughs]

    30. JOJohn Oliver22:16

        I mean, already. Already, already, already.
13. 23:53 – 25:28

    Manager Advice: Don't Sign a Long Lease

    1. JOJohn Oliver23:53

       to call home, in my case.

    2. TNTrevor Noah23:54

       Did you always know, like, what, what were you doing in-

    3. JOJohn Oliver23:56

       No

    4. TNTrevor Noah23:56

       ... what were you doing in, in the UK?

    5. JOJohn Oliver23:58

       No, because my manager, the same guy that said, "You're not going to Edinburgh this year"-

    6. TNTrevor Noah24:01

       Yeah

    7. JOJohn Oliver24:01

       ... he said, "Just go. Like, uh, don't, don't sign anything more than a three-month lease-

    8. TNTrevor Noah24:06

       Mm-hmm

    9. JOJohn Oliver24:06

       ... because American TV shows fire you after three months."

    10. TNTrevor Noah24:09

        Okay.

    11. JOJohn Oliver24:09

        That was his inspiring team talk. [laughs] To me

    12. TNTrevor Noah24:12

        This is an English manager

    13. JOJohn Oliver24:13

        This is an... Very, this is an English manager. You're right.

    14. TNTrevor Noah24:15

        Yeah, you can tell.

    15. JOJohn Oliver24:16

        Yeah, exactly. This is just-

    16. TNTrevor Noah24:16

        American, American managers would be like-

    17. JOJohn Oliver24:18

        [laughs]

    18. TNTrevor Noah24:18

        ... "Yo, this is it, baby."

    19. JOJohn Oliver24:20

        Yeah, that's right.

    20. TNTrevor Noah24:20

        "Sign, sign a seven-year lease. You're going six seasons, baby. You got it."

    21. JOJohn Oliver24:24

        That-

    22. TNTrevor Noah24:24

        English manager, I can see him being like, "All right, nothing more than three months."

    23. JOJohn Oliver24:27

        That's right.

    24. TNTrevor Noah24:27

        Um-

    25. JOJohn Oliver24:28

        "Look, it's a huge opportunity for you, but to be honest, I'll see you in September-

    26. TNTrevor Noah24:30

        [laughs]

    27. JOJohn Oliver24:31

        ... with your tail between your legs, having been humbled by what they're about to do to you. Good luck." The, so that, yeah, so, uh, I- he had told me this is not gonna take long.

    28. TNTrevor Noah24:41

        Yeah.

    29. JOJohn Oliver24:41

        So I'd put all my stuff in storage-

    30. TNTrevor Noah24:43

        Hm
14. 25:28 – 27:55

    Falling in Love with a Country You Don't Belong To

    1. JOJohn Oliver25:28

       [laughs] in New York, and thinking to myself, "Oh, it's good to be home." And then I thought, "Uh-oh, that's a dangerous thing to think, because-

    2. TNTrevor Noah25:35

       Hm

    3. JOJohn Oliver25:35

       ... this is not my home. Like, I'm on a working visa. [laughs] That's a pro- if I, if I feel that way, I might need to start making plans for this truly being my home."

    4. TNTrevor Noah25:48

       Huh.

    5. JOJohn Oliver25:48

       Because I, it, before it had just felt like a, a fun adventure-

    6. TNTrevor Noah25:54

       Yeah, yeah, yeah

    7. JOJohn Oliver25:55

       ... that I was having. Then you realize, "Oh, no, I think I love this more than I've loved anything." And, um, there were people at The Daily Show at the time using it as a springboard, because it was such a big deal, the show. It was like-

    8. TNTrevor Noah26:06

       I mean, it was, it was huge

    9. JOJohn Oliver26:07

       ... "You're going to a sitcom. You can be-"

    10. TNTrevor Noah26:07

        When, yeah, when I think about, in y- in your-

    11. JOJohn Oliver26:10

        Right

    12. TNTrevor Noah26:10

        ... era, sort of like where you came on towards the end of, when I look at the class of people around that time, you had Steve Carell-

    13. JOJohn Oliver26:17

        Steve Carell was just, uh, was before me. He'd gone.

    14. TNTrevor Noah26:19

        Yeah, he had just left

    15. JOJohn Oliver26:20

        I, I turned up, Ed Helms was, uh-

    16. TNTrevor Noah26:22

        I mean-

    17. JOJohn Oliver26:22

        ... it was, it was his last week, so he was off, going off to do the, uh, Office.

    18. TNTrevor Noah26:26

        The s-

    19. JOJohn Oliver26:26

        But 40 was off-

    20. TNTrevor Noah26:26

        And The Hangover as well was coming up

    21. JOJohn Oliver26:27

        ... exact- exactly.

    22. TNTrevor Noah26:28

        Yeah.

    23. JOJohn Oliver26:28

        So they were all doing stuff, but I didn't wanna do any of that. So I didn't want it to be a springboard at all.

    24. TNTrevor Noah26:34

        This was it.

    25. JOJohn Oliver26:34

        I didn't wanna go out on auditions.

    26. TNTrevor Noah26:36

        Yeah.

    27. JOJohn Oliver26:36

        I just wanted to do that show. I didn't wanna be in movies.

    28. TNTrevor Noah26:39

        But wait, w- w- but-

    29. JOJohn Oliver26:39

        I didn't wanna be in a sitcom.

    30. TNTrevor Noah26:41

        Hm.
15. 27:55 – 29:27

    Eugene’s Conspiracy: Is Football Just Men Loving Men?

    1. JOJohn Oliver27:55

       con-

    2. TNTrevor Noah27:55

       No

    3. JOJohn Oliver27:55

       ... the concept of it?

    4. TNTrevor Noah27:56

       No, no, because I think football fans basically like other men.

    5. JOJohn Oliver28:01

       [laughs]

    6. TNTrevor Noah28:01

       Because if they really love football, they would watch women's football too, but because they appreciate just watching men only play football.

    7. JOJohn Oliver28:08

       This argument is flawed on so many levels.

    8. TNTrevor Noah28:11

       Take it there.

    9. JOJohn Oliver28:11

       [laughs]

    10. TNTrevor Noah28:12

        It's over for you. [laughs]

    11. JOJohn Oliver28:14

        Take, take it away.

    12. TNTrevor Noah28:15

        What, what, what are you talking about? Also add in the fact that he also thinks it's all a scam. It's all rigged.

    13. JOJohn Oliver28:20

        Yeah, yeah. It's all-

    14. TNTrevor Noah28:21

        It's all, like, manufactured

    15. JOJohn Oliver28:23

        ... staged. It's all actors.

    16. TNTrevor Noah28:24

        He, he thinks we're watching WWE.

    17. JOJohn Oliver28:25

        It's all staged, auditioned. People have been groomed from childhood. They've been put in these camps to kick this ball. They're promised jerseys.

    18. TNTrevor Noah28:32

        Oh, wow.

    19. JOJohn Oliver28:32

        Other people are being co-opted into the scam.

    20. TNTrevor Noah28:34

        I, I-

    21. JOJohn Oliver28:34

        The World Cup's coming.

    22. TNTrevor Noah28:35

        Yep.

    23. JOJohn Oliver28:36

        Nobody wants this shit right now.

    24. TNTrevor Noah28:38

        That World Cup-

    25. JOJohn Oliver28:38

        America's gearing up.

    26. TNTrevor Noah28:39

        That World Cup of ours, bought. It was just for Madiba.

    27. JOJohn Oliver28:43

        Oh, oh, oh, that, the World Cup was bought?

    28. TNTrevor Noah28:46

        And that goal.

    29. JOJohn Oliver28:47

        No, no.

    30. TNTrevor Noah28:47

        For the whole Siri.
16. 29:27 – 31:25

    FIFA: The "Sinaloa Cartel" of Beautiful Sports

    1. JOJohn Oliver29:27

       all of it is a scam. But the, the World Cup, FIFA as an organization is, you, you, I have to think of it in terms of crime.

    2. TNTrevor Noah29:34

       Mm. Mm.

    3. JOJohn Oliver29:35

       You can't, you can't really think of them as a sporting organization.

    4. TNTrevor Noah29:38

       No.

    5. JOJohn Oliver29:38

       The sport is somehow immune from their fuckery. So I was even seeing that Zoran Mamdani had that, uh, he's just re- he had released that video.

    6. TNTrevor Noah29:47

       The one about ticket prices?

    7. JOJohn Oliver29:48

       No, the, was it the one just saying, like, "FIFA, like, choose the game over greed"?

    8. TNTrevor Noah29:54

       Yeah.

    9. JOJohn Oliver29:54

       And that was the first time-

    10. TNTrevor Noah29:55

        He said that

    11. JOJohn Oliver29:55

        ... with Mamdani I'm thinking, "Well, hold, who do you think you're talking to?" [laughs]

    12. TNTrevor Noah29:59

        [laughs]

    13. JOJohn Oliver29:59

        Like, if I was FIFA-

    14. TNTrevor Noah30:00

        Choose the game over greed

    15. JOJohn Oliver30:01

        ... choose, but, but Infantino, the head of FIFA, is just gonna s- "I choose greed."

    16. TNTrevor Noah30:05

        Yeah.

    17. JOJohn Oliver30:05

        Every, I've always chosen greed.

    18. TNTrevor Noah30:07

        Easily, anytime.

    19. JOJohn Oliver30:07

        I've not-

    20. TNTrevor Noah30:08

        I've not chosen anything else, ever

    21. JOJohn Oliver30:09

        ... there's no moral compass that you can appeal to here. Nothing points north in my soul So yeah, FIFA is a terrible organization that happens to produce the best imaginable product. But those two things can-

    22. EUEugene30:22

        It's like a drug organization making the best drugs

    23. JOJohn Oliver30:24

        ... the greatest cocaine.

    24. EUEugene30:25

        And the worst thing is when I saw this one documentary where they spoke about the football, the ball itself, that every ball for the World Cup has a name.

    25. JOJohn Oliver30:32

        Well, that's-

    26. EUEugene30:32

        Oh, the Jabulani. Yeah, yeah.

    27. JOJohn Oliver30:33

        That's true. Yeah.

    28. EUEugene30:34

        And it has its own idiosyncrasies.

    29. JOJohn Oliver30:36

        Yes.

    30. TNTrevor Noah30:36

        Yeah, that's true.
17. 31:25 – 34:43

    Talking to Racist South Africans: Stoking the Id

    1. JOJohn Oliver31:25

       oh, yes.

    2. EUEugene31:25

       Our best imports.

    3. TNTrevor Noah31:26

       Let me tell you something.

    4. EUEugene31:27

       Or exports, yeah.

    5. TNTrevor Noah31:28

       John Oliver talking to racist white South Africans-

    6. EUEugene31:30

       Oh, man

    7. TNTrevor Noah31:30

       ... and them rolling with him.

    8. JOJohn Oliver31:31

       Yes. But you know what?

    9. TNTrevor Noah31:33

       They loved him.

    10. JOJohn Oliver31:33

        I was, what I was, of c- [laughs]

    11. TNTrevor Noah31:35

        [laughs]

    12. EUEugene31:35

        [laughs]

    13. JOJohn Oliver31:35

        Of course, there is something about me they like. But the interesting thing is that with that interview, I, what I wanted to do was get the ugliness-

    14. EUEugene31:45

        Mm

    15. JOJohn Oliver31:45

        ... out in the open.

    16. EUEugene31:46

        Mm-hmm.

    17. JOJohn Oliver31:46

        The, in a short space, right? And so it's difficult because there is, as you well know, a polish [laughs] to racism-

    18. EUEugene31:54

        Very much so

    19. JOJohn Oliver31:54

        ... in South Africa.

    20. EUEugene31:55

        Yeah.

    21. JOJohn Oliver31:55

        A real, a, a, a real patina of-

    22. TNTrevor Noah31:58

        [laughs]

    23. EUEugene31:58

        [laughs]

    24. JOJohn Oliver31:58

        ... dignity around the horror. So I wanted to get under this guy's skin.

    25. EUEugene32:03

        Yeah.

    26. JOJohn Oliver32:03

        And I got, I, Louis Theroux, you know-

    27. TNTrevor Noah32:05

        Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

    28. JOJohn Oliver32:06

        ... had, had done some pieces in South Africa.

    29. TNTrevor Noah32:07

        Yes. Yeah.

    30. JOJohn Oliver32:07

        And so I, uh, one of the producers of The Daily Show had worked, uh, with Louis Theroux, so I'd asked him, "Hey, can you ask, is there anything, how does he get to the id of this ugliness?"
18. 34:43 – 37:47

    Guest Hosting Fear: Agreement without Thinking

    1. JOJohn Oliver34:43

       I was terrified of it. So John, he did this, a similar version of that conversation that he pinged on you-

    2. TNTrevor Noah34:48

       Yeah

    3. JOJohn Oliver34:48

       ... was that, uh, he called me at, at home, and I'm in my apartment, and he said, "Hey, I'm gonna, um, uh, that movie that I've been writing, I'm gonna be able to direct it." I'm going, "Oh, that's great." This feels like a conversation ... I know L- this, this can't be the first call. [laughs] You're just calling everyone you know to say you're excited. So he talks about when he's gonna do it over the summer. I'm like, "Oh, okay. Great. Yeah. So what?" And he went, "And could you, um-

    4. EUEugene35:14

       Mm. Mm

    5. JOJohn Oliver35:15

       ... could you host the show for me?" I went, "Yeah." I'd, I've, I, because he'd given me everything, I think I was just hardwired-

    6. TNTrevor Noah35:22

       Yeah, yeah, yeah

    7. JOJohn Oliver35:22

       ... I would say yes to everything he said.

    8. TNTrevor Noah35:23

       Right.

    9. JOJohn Oliver35:24

       You need something from me, I will do it.

    10. TNTrevor Noah35:25

        Anytime.

    11. JOJohn Oliver35:25

        Whatever that thing is.

    12. TNTrevor Noah35:26

        Anytime.

    13. EUEugene35:26

        Yeah.

    14. JOJohn Oliver35:27

        Cri- criminal or not.

    15. EUEugene35:28

        Say the word, and I'm there.

    16. JOJohn Oliver35:28

        I'll do it.

    17. EUEugene35:29

        Mm-hmm.

    18. JOJohn Oliver35:29

        So I said yes like, like it's nothing, put the phone down, and then thought, "Whoa, boy. What have I just agreed to?" And that was terrifying. So then I m- for the month before he left, I shadowed him much more closely to work out exactly what the day is like, right?

    19. TNTrevor Noah35:47

        Yeah.

    20. JOJohn Oliver35:48

        The parts of the day that I didn't see-

    21. TNTrevor Noah35:49

        Yes

    22. JOJohn Oliver35:49

        ... just as a writer in the correspond-

    23. TNTrevor Noah35:51

        Yes, yes, yes

    24. JOJohn Oliver35:51

        ... on that show, what things need to happen so you get a fuller understanding of what mistakes do you need to fix earlier in the day, otherwise you're gonna be-

    25. TNTrevor Noah36:00

        Can I tell you-

    26. JOJohn Oliver36:00

        ... living inside them for the rest of the day

    27. TNTrevor Noah36:02

        ... can I tell you-

    28. EUEugene36:03

        Wow

    29. TNTrevor Noah36:03

        ... 'cause it's lit- it's literally, that's something people don't understand about making The Daily Show or, like, you know, a version of Last Week Tonight, which is, has a different process. But it's, it's the, that first block-

    30. JOJohn Oliver36:15

        Yes
19. 37:47 – 41:47

    Why Corporate "Shit-Stirring" is the Most Fun

    1. JOJohn Oliver37:47

       And then an hour later we'll have an answer for you. Now we have a much bigger scaled out research department now so that they can spend weeks before the writers get anywhere near a story to work out what, uh, what can you say, and then you can craft the story from those ingredients.

    2. TNTrevor Noah38:05

       Hmm.

    3. JOJohn Oliver38:05

       And then you can craft jokes from that story.

    4. TNTrevor Noah38:08

       I've always wondered why, like, why you like stirring the shit that you like stirring. 'Cause I, just because you are a shit stirrer does not-

    5. JOJohn Oliver38:16

       Yeah

    6. TNTrevor Noah38:16

       ... necessarily mean that you choose to stir shit in every cup.

    7. EUEugene38:19

       Hmm.

    8. JOJohn Oliver38:20

       Yeah.

    9. TNTrevor Noah38:20

       Does that make sense?

    10. JOJohn Oliver38:20

        Yeah.

    11. EUEugene38:20

        Why is it in a cup anyway?

    12. TNTrevor Noah38:22

        Well, I feel like that's, like, more shit stirry.

    13. JOJohn Oliver38:24

        Yeah.

    14. TNTrevor Noah38:24

        Like where... If you're doing it in, like, a toilet, it's just weird.

    15. EUEugene38:27

        Yeah, yeah.

    16. TNTrevor Noah38:27

        You know what I mean?

    17. JOJohn Oliver38:28

        I, I do love-

    18. EUEugene38:29

        [laughs]

    19. JOJohn Oliver38:30

        ... the feeling of trouble.

    20. TNTrevor Noah38:31

        Yeah, you do, but a specific type of trouble is-

    21. JOJohn Oliver38:33

        Yeah

    22. TNTrevor Noah38:33

        ... what I've noticed.

    23. JOJohn Oliver38:34

        Yeah.

    24. TNTrevor Noah38:34

        Like, maybe it's just me, but you, you, you'll correct me if I'm wrong. When I, when I think of John Oliver, I go, like, political shit stirring. I'm like, a little bit, but not so much.

    25. EUEugene38:42

        Mm-hmm.

    26. TNTrevor Noah38:43

        But when you get into, like, corporate-

    27. JOJohn Oliver38:45

        Yeah.

    28. TNTrevor Noah38:46

        Yeah. You listen.

    29. JOJohn Oliver38:48

        I j- I love it so much.

    30. EUEugene38:49

        You a guy who almost maybe became corporate. If you, if it wasn't for comedy, maybe you would've been in corporate, right?
20. 41:47 – 44:53

    Liverpool Gallows Humor: Finding the Funny in Grief

    1. JOJohn Oliver41:47

       think so

    2. TNTrevor Noah41:47

       ... who would you say you have the closest comedic-

    3. JOJohn Oliver41:48

       Probably my dad's dad. But no, my, my family's from Liverpool, right? And so that is a city that's been through some shit.

    4. TNTrevor Noah41:54

       Oh, okay, okay.

    5. JOJohn Oliver41:56

       And that, uh, that its main processing technique was often comedy.

    6. TNTrevor Noah42:01

       Yeah.

    7. JOJohn Oliver42:01

       And my, my grandad was a really, really funny guy. A very odd man.

    8. TNTrevor Noah42:06

       Okay.

    9. JOJohn Oliver42:07

       And loved jokes.

    10. TNTrevor Noah42:08

        I remember John Bishop explaining this to me. The-

    11. JOJohn Oliver42:10

        Yes

    12. TNTrevor Noah42:10

        ... Liver- Liverpool comedian

    13. JOJohn Oliver42:12

        Yeah

    14. TNTrevor Noah42:12

        ... he was like... I was like, "Why are you so..." And he, and he said, "Honestly," he said, "I'm not even the funniest person in this place."

    15. JOJohn Oliver42:17

        For sure.

    16. TNTrevor Noah42:17

        "I just do it professionally."

    17. JOJohn Oliver42:19

        For sure.

    18. TNTrevor Noah42:20

        And it's just, it's just a vibe of people... It- it's interesting you say that, because it almost feels like-

    19. JOJohn Oliver42:25

        [laughs]

    20. TNTrevor Noah42:25

        ... like the people of Liverpool, things, so many shit things happened to them that they were like, "We will exist in a world of shit-stirring f-

    21. JOJohn Oliver42:33

        Yeah

    22. TNTrevor Noah42:33

        ... in this world now."

    23. JOJohn Oliver42:34

        Yeah.

    24. EUEugene42:34

        Mm.

    25. TNTrevor Noah42:34

        Do you know what I mean?

    26. EUEugene42:35

        Mm, mm.

    27. JOJohn Oliver42:35

        It's just how you survive. Gallows humor, right?

    28. TNTrevor Noah42:38

        Oh, yeah.

    29. JOJohn Oliver42:39

        So-

    30. TNTrevor Noah42:39

        Okay
21. 44:53 – 47:36

    Breaking the Accent Barrier in American Media

    1. TNTrevor Noah44:53

       Yeah, yeah, yeah

    2. EUEugene44:53

       ... because that's their life.

    3. TNTrevor Noah44:54

       Keep it moving.

    4. JOJohn Oliver44:54

       You can see why, though, right? 'Cause there-

    5. TNTrevor Noah44:55

       Oh, completely

    6. JOJohn Oliver44:56

       ... yeah, there is, like... It, it feels like you earn the right to criticize.

    7. TNTrevor Noah45:01

       Mm-hmm.

    8. JOJohn Oliver45:01

       Right? And, and they, they can, they can be questioning, I think understandably, Americans think, "Where is this coming from?" And it's, it's a shi- it was a shift for me to go often from, "You, you do this, you do this," to, "We do this."

    9. TNTrevor Noah45:15

       Oh, yeah, man, I noticed you started saying, "We do this."

    10. JOJohn Oliver45:16

        We, because I'm an American now.

    11. TNTrevor Noah45:18

        Yeah.

    12. JOJohn Oliver45:18

        Right? Uh, and so, uh, I c- I, I play with you and we. [laughs] Uh, but there was at least a sense of ownership. And again, as a British person-

    13. TNTrevor Noah45:27

        Mm

    14. JOJohn Oliver45:27

        ... a sense of ownership of the country has a bit of an asterisk on it.

    15. TNTrevor Noah45:30

        [laughs]

    16. JOJohn Oliver45:30

        But, uh, it, it did feel like this is, this isn't coming from... I think there have been people who've come, like done a smash and grab in America, and there's-

    17. TNTrevor Noah45:39

        Right

    18. JOJohn Oliver45:39

        ... no real emotional investment-

    19. TNTrevor Noah45:40

        Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, right

    20. JOJohn Oliver45:41

        ... in it. Whereas that was not the case with me, and I don't think it was ever gonna be the case with you.

    21. TNTrevor Noah45:46

        Yeah, but I, but I think at the time, the industry, this wasn't people.

    22. JOJohn Oliver45:49

        Oh, oh, sure.

    23. TNTrevor Noah45:49

        This was just the industry going, "Hey, it doesn't work. Don't even bother."

    24. JOJohn Oliver45:52

        [laughs]

    25. TNTrevor Noah45:52

        I remember one of my, one of my good friends, Neil Brennan, the comedian, he was, he said to me, he's like, "Just leave." We were in a, we were in a-

    26. JOJohn Oliver45:59

        Oh

    27. TNTrevor Noah45:59

        ... small little diner in Denver, Colorado. He had been performing at The Improv, I'd been performing at, like, a, like, the Happy Clap whatever, you know, like one of the second-

    28. JOJohn Oliver46:07

        Yeah, sure

    29. TNTrevor Noah46:07

        ... type clubs. And he was just like, "What are you doing here?" He said, "Just go home. Go home." I was like, "I'm doing comedy." He's like, "No, just, just..." He's like, "America won't give you... Just go home."

    30. JOJohn Oliver46:14

        Yeah, I'm not sure that's true.
22. 47:36 – 51:16

    Last Week Tonight: Indian Elections & Risk-Taking

    1. JOJohn Oliver47:36

       panic about Jon ever leaving, and I think at least it showed that that staff was solid enough that somebody could do that job temporarily.

    2. TNTrevor Noah47:46

       Yes.

    3. JOJohn Oliver47:46

       I still don't think there was any confidence that somebody could do it forever.

    4. TNTrevor Noah47:50

       Yes, yeah.

    5. JOJohn Oliver47:51

       That, that, that-

    6. TNTrevor Noah47:51

       Yeah, yeah, yeah

    7. JOJohn Oliver47:51

       ... like, someone could fill in for him in a panic. I don't think there was [laughs] any, any real institutional confidence at Comedy Central of, "Oh, great, so, uh, someone else can do it."

    8. TNTrevor Noah48:00

       Yeah, no, no.

    9. JOJohn Oliver48:00

       It still was very much-

    10. EUEugene48:01

        Mm

    11. JOJohn Oliver48:02

        ... his thing.

    12. TNTrevor Noah48:03

        Yeah, but you being successful even at HBO made people go, "Oh, there's a possibility."

    13. JOJohn Oliver48:07

        That, I think that was different.

    14. TNTrevor Noah48:08

        Do you get what I'm saying?

    15. JOJohn Oliver48:08

        Yeah, because I think we, what we were trying to do was stretch the form a bit, and it took us a while, but I think what, that Indian election was such a gift for a first show, because to my mind, there was nothing more interesting- ... happening in the world that week than the Indian election. The largest exercise of democracy in human history, and it was nowhere on American television, which was just wildly insular. It felt nothing is happening that, in America, that was more interesting this week than what is about to happen in India. That was almost a gift. From there, we had to kinda get out of our system, that rhythm from The Daily Show where you're just-

    16. TNTrevor Noah48:47

        Reacting

    17. JOJohn Oliver48:48

        ... reacting.

    18. TNTrevor Noah48:48

        Yeah, reacting.

    19. JOJohn Oliver48:49

        And, uh, we did one show that wasn't very good, I remember, about, um, immigration early on, that felt like we'd done, like, a 10-minute headline that was really just, you coulda kinda done it on The Daily Show.

    20. TNTrevor Noah49:02

        Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

    21. JOJohn Oliver49:03

        It was stuff that you'd already seen. It didn't feel good. Luckily, we had, I think, I, I think it's that I'd shot an interview with Stephen Hawking that we did after that.

    22. TNTrevor Noah49:12

        Mm-hmm.

    23. JOJohn Oliver49:12

        And so that was the main thing that people thought about. For us, the real lesson that we learnt that day was that what we wanted our show to be about was showing people something they hadn't seen before.

    24. TNTrevor Noah49:26

        Mm-hmm.

    25. JOJohn Oliver49:26

        Yeah. 'Cause it felt like then you're actually using the extra time that you got. Otherwise, it feels like cheating, as just doing one show a week-

    26. TNTrevor Noah49:32

        Yeah, yeah

    27. JOJohn Oliver49:33

        ... that you could've written in a day or two.

    28. TNTrevor Noah49:35

        [laughs]

    29. JOJohn Oliver49:35

        To be fair. Now, we, from that lesson on, we extrapolated our process out so that we're spending six weeks on each story.

    30. TNTrevor Noah49:44

        Mm.
23. 51:16 – 53:11

    Handful of Handfuls: Getting Sued by Big Corp

    1. JOJohn Oliver51:16

       uh, not, a lot of times. We've, uh, we, we've been threatened with lawsuits, um, huge amounts.

    2. TNTrevor Noah51:21

       Okay, okay.

    3. JOJohn Oliver51:22

       Actual number of lawsuits, uh, is n- less, is one, one handful, but we've, we haven't lost any. That's the key thing. I w- always, I always say to our audience, like, the-

    4. TNTrevor Noah51:31

       Undefeated

    5. JOJohn Oliver51:32

       ... that's the thing. We, like, it can be a fractious, albeit functional, relationship with our lawyers, but I think we have, like, a different view of their job. 'Cause I think what they think their job is is to stop us getting sued.

    6. TNTrevor Noah51:43

       Yeah, yeah, yeah.

    7. JOJohn Oliver51:43

       And I think their job is to make sure that when we get sued, we win, right? And that, that part of it is everything that I love. When you know you're in trouble, the company's angry with you, your own lawyers are angry with you, the only people that are excited are the people that you work with, and you think, like-

    8. TNTrevor Noah52:00

       And the audience

    9. JOJohn Oliver52:00

       ... and the audience. Yeah, the audience, 'cause they love.

    10. TNTrevor Noah52:02

        Mm-hmm.

    11. JOJohn Oliver52:02

        Like, everyone loves watching a car crash.

    12. TNTrevor Noah52:04

        Mm.

    13. JOJohn Oliver52:04

        Right? And it's so much fun to be in that position, and it feels like, to me, because it's not commercial, because you have full freedom of speech-

    14. TNTrevor Noah52:15

        Mm-hmm, mm-hmm

    15. JOJohn Oliver52:16

        ... as well, that you sh- it is incumbent upon you, if you're lucky enough to be in that position, to push it as hard as you can.

    16. TNTrevor Noah52:23

        So then are you worried at all about all the mergers and stuff that are coming?

    17. JOJohn Oliver52:26

        Oh, sure. But I mean, we've, this would be-

    18. TNTrevor Noah52:28

        Because you, your show would be, what is, HBO's under Warner, so if Warner-

    19. JOJohn Oliver52:32

        Yeah

    20. TNTrevor Noah52:32

        ... gets sold-

    21. JOJohn Oliver52:33

        Yep

    22. TNTrevor Noah52:33

        ... you would, if it was Netflix, you'd be under Netflix-

    23. JOJohn Oliver52:35

        Yep

    24. TNTrevor Noah52:35

        ... technically, or if it was Paramount-

    25. JOJohn Oliver52:37

        Paramount, we'd be under Paramount

    26. TNTrevor Noah52:37

        ... you'd be under Paramount.

    27. JOJohn Oliver52:37

        If it was Comcast, we'd be under Comcast.

    28. TNTrevor Noah52:38

        And then they might break it up as well, and then-

    29. JOJohn Oliver52:40

        Of course

    30. TNTrevor Noah52:40

        ... everything could go everywhere.
24. 53:11 – 55:22

    The "Unreasonable Village" Strategy for Mergers

    1. JOJohn Oliver53:11

       um, I think mergers are generally bad. I think you, you're-

    2. TNTrevor Noah53:13

       My man

    3. JOJohn Oliver53:13

       ... always hoping for the least bad option.

    4. TNTrevor Noah53:16

       Yeah.

    5. JOJohn Oliver53:16

       And I think that, like, the key thing for us is to act with enough [laughs] d- enough, like, aggression or confidence. Like, I would, I will act assuming nothing is gonna happen. We're not gonna change, right? I think we've been on, we've been behaving the way we've been behaving-

    6. TNTrevor Noah53:35

       Yeah

    7. JOJohn Oliver53:36

       ... for long enough that you can't really reason with us.

    8. TNTrevor Noah53:40

       [laughs]

    9. JOJohn Oliver53:40

       So there's no point in doing that.

    10. TNTrevor Noah53:44

        It's unseemly.

    11. JOJohn Oliver53:44

        There's no, yeah, you're not gonna be able-

    12. TNTrevor Noah53:45

        You know what I just pictured? Like, you and your team are like that, like, that village. You, you know those, those stories that they would talk about? Like, e- every empire had it.

    13. JOJohn Oliver53:52

        Mm-hmm.

    14. TNTrevor Noah53:53

        Whether it was the Romans or the Mongols or whoever it was, and there would always be this one village-

    15. JOJohn Oliver53:56

        Chipping Norton

    16. TNTrevor Noah53:57

        ... where they went, [laughs] they went, "You know what?"

    17. JOJohn Oliver53:59

        Yeah.

    18. TNTrevor Noah54:00

        "We've technically conquered this whole area."

    19. JOJohn Oliver54:01

        Yeah.

    20. TNTrevor Noah54:02

        "Just leave them."

    21. JOJohn Oliver54:03

        Oh.

    22. TNTrevor Noah54:03

        "Just, just leave them."

    23. JOJohn Oliver54:04

        Absolutely.

    24. TNTrevor Noah54:04

        "Just let them do their thing because-"

    25. JOJohn Oliver54:05

        Yeah, they're just, it's not worth it. That's, you wanna be that village. You wanna be that village so unreasonable that gigantic corporate armies just go, "Just leave them alone." That's all you want. Be enough trouble that you're too much trouble-

    26. TNTrevor Noah54:19

        [laughs]

    27. JOJohn Oliver54:20

        ... to deal with Well, I mean, again, it's least bad, right? There's no, it's not like there's good options, like, as, as played out during mergers. Like, you know these things come with cuts

    28. TNTrevor Noah54:30

        I have yet to see a merger that has done well for the whole th- you know what I mean? Like-

    29. JOJohn Oliver54:34

        Yeah

    30. TNTrevor Noah54:35

        ... it's just almost, it's almost like the only mergers that do well are outliers. Almost every merger doesn't do well.
25. 55:22 – 58:14

    The Legendary R. Kelly "Ignition" CPR Joke

    1. TNTrevor Noah55:22

       jokes ever is a joke of yours that I never heard you tell, that someone told me you told.

    2. JOJohn Oliver55:28

       Uh-oh.

    3. TNTrevor Noah55:28

       It was your R. Kelly joke.

    4. JOJohn Oliver55:30

       [laughs]

    5. TNTrevor Noah55:31

       The ignition joke.

    6. JOJohn Oliver55:32

       Oh, yeah.

    7. TNTrevor Noah55:32

       Do you remember that?

    8. JOJohn Oliver55:33

       Yeah. What was that?

    9. TNTrevor Noah55:34

       So the jo- it's crazy that I remember it. It's just one of my favorite jokes ever.

    10. JOJohn Oliver55:37

        I can't remember this.

    11. TNTrevor Noah55:37

        So it was, it was, uh, the John Oliver joke, and the joke was, um, it was basically you saying, um, "I hate how my brain chooses what it wants to remember and what it doesn't want..." And I'm paraphrasing everything here.

    12. JOJohn Oliver55:51

        Yeah.

    13. TNTrevor Noah55:51

        But it was basically, the premise was, "I hate how my brain chooses what it wants to remember and doesn't allow me to choose what I want to remember."

    14. JOJohn Oliver55:57

        Mm.

    15. TNTrevor Noah55:57

        "Because there's very important things that I want to remember in the world, you know, like, uh, the capital of this place, or the laws-"

    16. JOJohn Oliver56:02

        Uh-huh

    17. TNTrevor Noah56:02

        "... and da, da, da of this place. But instead, my brain is filled with random things." Like, so for instance, um, I went to a CPR class, and I learned how to do CPR. Like, they taught me how to do CPR, and this, th- th- there's very specific steps that you have to do, right? Uh, I also-

    18. EUEugene56:15

        Is it coming back to you?

    19. TNTrevor Noah56:15

        ... heard R. Kelly's, um-

    20. EUEugene56:17

        Ignition

    21. TNTrevor Noah56:17

        ... Ignition song. Which I know all the words to. He's like, he, and John was like, "I've never sat down and I've l- never learned the words."

    22. EUEugene56:24

        [laughs]

    23. TNTrevor Noah56:24

        "I've never tried to remember the words, but I know them all. It's the remix to Ignition."

    24. JOJohn Oliver56:28

        How did you freshen up the CPR?

    25. TNTrevor Noah56:28

        Then he's like, "When I was at the CPR class-"

    26. EUEugene56:30

        [laughs]

    27. JOJohn Oliver56:30

        Yeah

    28. TNTrevor Noah56:30

        ... they said to me, they were like, "The CPR technique, the rhythm of it, is the same as-"

    29. JOJohn Oliver56:34

        Yeah

    30. TNTrevor Noah56:34

        ... "the, the rhythm of Ignition."
26. 58:14 – 1:04:24

    Why Stand-Up is Calming (and Why Eugene Hates It)

    1. EUEugene58:14

       Um, you know, every time I do stand-up, I'm like, "Thank God I'm, I'm naturally good at it, but I don't rely on it."

    2. TNTrevor Noah58:22

       [laughs] Okay. Because?

    3. EUEugene58:24

       Because I'd be miserable.

    4. TNTrevor Noah58:27

       Why?

    5. JOJohn Oliver58:27

       Doing what?

    6. EUEugene58:27

       If, if it's all I had to do, I would die. So when I do it, I'm going, "I'm not gonna suck. I know that."

    7. JOJohn Oliver58:34

       Mm-hmm.

    8. EUEugene58:34

       "So thank God for that part."

    9. JOJohn Oliver58:35

       Okay.

    10. EUEugene58:36

        But I'm like, "Thank God I don't have to come back here every day and do this thing to survive."

    11. TNTrevor Noah58:39

        Huh.

    12. JOJohn Oliver58:40

        Ah.

    13. TNTrevor Noah58:41

        So you s- that's why I think every comedian has a different, like, I don't-

    14. EUEugene58:43

        I don't hate it

    15. TNTrevor Noah58:44

        ... calm I don't get, John.

    16. EUEugene58:45

        No. And I don't get nervous. So when-

    17. JOJohn Oliver58:48

        'Cause when you first said, "Thank goodness I'm so preternaturally talented at this-"

    18. EUEugene58:52

        Yeah

    19. JOJohn Oliver58:52

        ... you sounded like Cristiano Ronaldo at that point.

    20. EUEugene58:55

        [laughs]

    21. TNTrevor Noah58:55

        No, no, no.

    22. JOJohn Oliver58:55

        He wouldn't even get the reference-

    23. TNTrevor Noah58:56

        [laughs]

    24. JOJohn Oliver58:56

        ... or he'll think he's just some kind of puppet from the CIA.

    25. TNTrevor Noah58:58

        No, no, no.

    26. JOJohn Oliver58:59

        But-

    27. TNTrevor Noah58:59

        Oh, no, no. Eugene knows everyone in football just to troll people who know football.

    28. JOJohn Oliver59:04

        I, I, where I, where I understand is that, like-

    29. EUEugene59:07

        Mm

    30. JOJohn Oliver59:07

        ... the, the grind of stand, especially when you're starting off, right, where it is such a slog just to get by.
27. 1:04:24 – 1:07:24

    Meeting the Greatest Comedian You've Never Heard Of

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:04:24

       Everywhere I could.

    2. EUEugene1:04:25

       Huh.

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:04:25

       Everywhere I could. Uh, Australia.

    4. JOJohn Oliver1:04:27

       Oh, sure. Of course.

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:04:28

       Yeah, yeah. Uh, Melbourne.

    6. JOJohn Oliver1:04:30

       Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:04:30

       Um, uh, Edinburgh.

    8. EUEugene1:04:30

       Is the guy who loves late shows?

    9. TNTrevor Noah1:04:32

       He, he, yeah, but again, the myth around him is people... I'm, I don't know if you've heard any of these. People will be like, "Oh, the Daniel Kitson, he does shows at 12:01 or 11:59 because he likes-

    10. JOJohn Oliver1:04:46

        Yeah

    11. TNTrevor Noah1:04:46

        ... how the, how the..."

    12. EUEugene1:04:46

        Seances.

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:04:46

        Yeah, and you're like, "Wait, wait." They're like, "He does a show at 12:03 midnight." And, and you're like, and I heard all these myths about him.

    14. EUEugene1:04:53

        Yeah, yeah.

    15. TNTrevor Noah1:04:54

        Or he only does a show at 1:00 PM because he wants real comedy fan. And then I met him, and I was like, "Yo, man, I have to ask you about some of these myths. I'm sorry." And then Daniel was just like, he's like, "Oh, I, I put the show on at 12:03 because then it's the next day. Otherwise, if you put it on at midnight, it screws up most booking systems." So he's like, "That's why I did that."

    16. JOJohn Oliver1:05:11

        Yeah, it, there's much more practical things.

    17. TNTrevor Noah1:05:12

        Yeah.

    18. JOJohn Oliver1:05:12

        I think, I think there's-

    19. TNTrevor Noah1:05:13

        Mm.

    20. JOJohn Oliver1:05:13

        It's a bit of a hangover from the fact that when he won the Perrier Award, you know, the big award in-

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:05:18

        In Edinburgh

    22. JOJohn Oliver1:05:18

        ... Edinburgh, I think that that came with-

    23. EUEugene1:05:21

        Like the Ballon d'Or of-

    24. TNTrevor Noah1:05:22

        Yeah, it is

    25. JOJohn Oliver1:05:22

        ... the Ba- That's right. See? Yeah. It's the Ballon d'Or of comedy.

    26. TNTrevor Noah1:05:25

        [laughs]

    27. JOJohn Oliver1:05:25

        Right? In that I imagine you think you have to pay for it somehow.

    28. TNTrevor Noah1:05:29

        [laughs]

    29. JOJohn Oliver1:05:29

        Is that right?

    30. TNTrevor Noah1:05:30

        Yep.
28. 1:07:24 – 1:10:01

    The Utility of Fame vs. The Awkwardness of Award Shows

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:07:24

       what is it about... 'Cause everyone has a different reason, that's why I'm interested. What is it about the fame or the spotlight or the anything that just, like, makes you-

    2. JOJohn Oliver1:07:35

       I don't like it

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:07:35

       ... just a little-

    4. EUEugene1:07:36

       Mm.

    5. JOJohn Oliver1:07:36

       I don't like it.

    6. EUEugene1:07:37

       You're done with the glam.

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:07:37

       Even now, look at your body.

    8. JOJohn Oliver1:07:38

       I don't like it.

    9. TNTrevor Noah1:07:38

       Even now, you, you just-

    10. JOJohn Oliver1:07:38

        Yeah, I don't like it. I, it's not, I, uh, I don't like... I, I'm very conscious of the fact that because, be- because our show has become well known-

    11. TNTrevor Noah1:07:50

        Yeah

    12. JOJohn Oliver1:07:50

        ... I am the face of that show.

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:07:52

        Yeah.

    14. JOJohn Oliver1:07:53

        And so there are things that you can do with that in terms of protecting your ability to say what you want.

    15. TNTrevor Noah1:07:59

        Yeah, yeah, yeah.

    16. JOJohn Oliver1:07:59

        To not conform to a corporation who employs you.

    17. TNTrevor Noah1:08:01

        Yeah, totally.

    18. JOJohn Oliver1:08:02

        Uh, to go, yeah, you can do whatever you want. So tho- tho- the, the value of it is extreme there. The, uh-

    19. TNTrevor Noah1:08:11

        Mm

    20. JOJohn Oliver1:08:11

        ... that's the utility-

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:08:12

        Mm

    22. JOJohn Oliver1:08:12

        ... of fame, as you, as you put it, is that you can do what you want in your show. Everything else around it, I, it is not for me. I d- I don't feel, have any kind of real connection-

    23. EUEugene1:08:22

        But I think that's, that's-

    24. JOJohn Oliver1:08:22

        ... connection to it at all

    25. EUEugene1:08:23

        ... that's the comic's curse, right? You want people to love you, but you want them to love you at your own terms.

    26. TNTrevor Noah1:08:28

        Or you want them to love what you do, I would even say.

    27. EUEugene1:08:30

        Yeah, but they have to love you.

    28. TNTrevor Noah1:08:31

        To a man-

    29. EUEugene1:08:31

        Because there's nothing else to distract them-

    30. JOJohn Oliver1:08:33

        No, but you don't want-
29. 1:10:01 – 1:21:21

    Explaining "Being Famous" to a 7-Year-Old

    1. JOJohn Oliver1:10:01

       [laughs]

    2. TNTrevor Noah1:10:01

       Oh, man.

    3. EUEugene1:10:02

       Have, have you had the fame, uh, conversation with your kids? Do your kids know how famous you are?

    4. JOJohn Oliver1:10:06

       No, I w- initially-

    5. EUEugene1:10:07

       How old are your kids now?

    6. JOJohn Oliver1:10:07

       Initially I didn't. They're 10 and seven now.

    7. EUEugene1:10:09

       Okay.

    8. JOJohn Oliver1:10:10

       Initially I didn't, because there's no need to.

    9. EUEugene1:10:12

       Mm.

    10. JOJohn Oliver1:10:12

        Right? And so I would, if I just ran into people in the street, uh, like, I, they would say, "Who's that?" And I would say, "Oh, that's just a friend."

    11. EUEugene1:10:19

        Yeah.

    12. JOJohn Oliver1:10:19

        Like after, after some of the time.

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:10:20

        It works itself-

    14. JOJohn Oliver1:10:20

        Then you realize, well, [laughs] hold on-

    15. EUEugene1:10:22

        Mm-hmm

    16. JOJohn Oliver1:10:22

        ... New York, what a friendly city. Everyone says hello. [laughs]

    17. EUEugene1:10:25

        [laughs]

    18. TNTrevor Noah1:10:25

        [laughs]

    19. JOJohn Oliver1:10:25

        Actually, that's not the city that you live in. So then I, and I didn't wanna lie to them, right? I didn't want kids at school to know things they didn't.

    20. EUEugene1:10:34

        Yeah.

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:10:35

        Ah.

    22. JOJohn Oliver1:10:35

        That was the problem, when you realize, "Oh, I think there are other kids that know." [laughs]

    23. EUEugene1:10:39

        That have figured it out.

    24. JOJohn Oliver1:10:39

        Yeah, have figured it out.

    25. EUEugene1:10:40

        Yeah, the jig is up.

    26. JOJohn Oliver1:10:41

        And, and, uh, and you feel like something is-

    27. EUEugene1:10:42

        Your kids are the only ones who don't

    28. JOJohn Oliver1:10:43

        ... yeah, that something's been kept from you. I didn't want that to be the case.

    29. EUEugene1:10:45

        Mm.

    30. JOJohn Oliver1:10:45

        So I kind of explained to them as best I could. They came to see one sh- the one thing that I thought that would be fun for them to see was when we were messing with that New Zealand Bird of the Year contest.
30. 1:21:21 – 1:25:13

    Information Literacy: The Biggest Existential Threat

    1. JOJohn Oliver1:21:21

       feels like it's something that societally is gonna have to change. There's g- th- there's gonna have to be a premium put on good information.

    2. TNTrevor Noah1:21:28

       So where do you get your information?

    3. JOJohn Oliver1:21:30

       Well, again, like, that, that's where we are very lucky, and this is [laughs] not scalable. I have a staff who can go out and speak to experts for weeks-

    4. TNTrevor Noah1:21:39

       Hmm

    5. JOJohn Oliver1:21:40

       ... produce a packet of good information.

    6. TNTrevor Noah1:21:42

       Oh, okay, yeah.

    7. JOJohn Oliver1:21:43

       They can-

    8. TNTrevor Noah1:21:43

       Yeah

    9. JOJohn Oliver1:21:43

       ... update. They can f- they can, they can find out, is this data still current? So often you're passing around data in, maybe in good faith, doesn't apply anymore. You don't know-

    10. TNTrevor Noah1:21:53

        Yeah, you don't know that, that-

    11. JOJohn Oliver1:21:54

        ... something that, that, that, that once was true-

    12. TNTrevor Noah1:21:55

        ... that study's been, that study's been updated. Yeah, yeah, yeah

    13. JOJohn Oliver1:21:57

        ... that's not true anymore.

    14. TNTrevor Noah1:21:58

        Yeah.

    15. JOJohn Oliver1:21:58

        It's very difficult. That, so I think that that kind of information literacy is something I think people are gonna have to get better at understanding. I h- it may be that this generation of kids are going to be better, I hope, are gonna be better at seeing through the garbage than older people are now.

    16. TNTrevor Noah1:22:16

        Do you think AI makes it better or worse?

    17. JOJohn Oliver1:22:17

        I mean, we'll see. We'll see. It imminently seems like it's making things significantly worse, but, uh, I, I hope that long term there are ways to fix that. But, um, yeah, the, again, the kind of unearned confidence of these billionaire AI cowboys-

    18. TNTrevor Noah1:22:34

        [laughs]

    19. JOJohn Oliver1:22:34

        ... is not inspiring.

    20. TNTrevor Noah1:22:35

        I like that, the unearned confidence.

    21. JOJohn Oliver1:22:36

        Oh, God, yeah.

    22. TNTrevor Noah1:22:37

        It is pretty, I mean, that's a, that's a, that's a perfect way to describe it, because they approach a situation that they have never been in with the confidence of someone who has lived there for a century.

    23. JOJohn Oliver1:22:49

        They just don't cons-

    24. TNTrevor Noah1:22:50

        They, they make it seem like they exist in the future that they're preaching, and they, they, they're selling it to us as if it's already concluded in a good way. Mm-hmm.

    25. JOJohn Oliver1:22:57

        Or just they're making decisions on a series of best case scenarios.

    26. TNTrevor Noah1:23:01

        Yeah.

    27. JOJohn Oliver1:23:02

        That's, that feels, like, fatally problematic. I think there was a story about K- Kumail Nanjiani, when he was at, doing that show Silicon Valley.

    28. TNTrevor Noah1:23:10

        Yeah.

    29. JOJohn Oliver1:23:10

        And they would go up to Silicon Valley and walk around and, like, into these companies, these startup companies, and he would ask them kind of, "Yeah, w- what though if, uh, how could this be used for fascism?" Just in [laughs] just in general. And he would, like, see them go, "Oh, yeah, we don't really think about that here." Like, oh, you don't? That's interesting. Feels like something you might wanna think about.

    30. TNTrevor Noah1:23:31

        Hmm.
31. 1:25:13 – 1:31:34

    Siri, Dada, and the Peppa Pig Grandfather Accent

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:25:13

       kidnapper in public [laughs]

    2. JOJohn Oliver1:25:14

       ... it, you never, that-

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:25:15

       'Cause you, if you don't, if you don't have the same accent as your child-

    4. JOJohn Oliver1:25:17

       That is the-

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:25:18

       ... it's a thin line, eh?

    6. JOJohn Oliver1:25:19

       It's the craziest thing though-

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:25:20

       I know, yeah

    8. JOJohn Oliver1:25:20

       ... 'cause it, it's the stupidest thing that I'd never considered-

    9. TNTrevor Noah1:25:22

       Mm-hmm

    10. JOJohn Oliver1:25:23

        ... was that it didn't occur to me that they would not, y- when, when you grow up, the idea of having kids, you always, like, think they'll sound like you.

    11. TNTrevor Noah1:25:31

        Yeah, an version of you.

    12. JOJohn Oliver1:25:32

        So it is odd-

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:25:32

        Yeah

    14. JOJohn Oliver1:25:32

        ... the first time it hits your ear, and they're, they're around for a while not speaking, right?

    15. TNTrevor Noah1:25:37

        Yeah. [laughs]

    16. JOJohn Oliver1:25:37

        So it feels like, "Oh, this is, there's gonna be a, 'Hello, how you doing? Oh, nice to see ya.'"

    17. TNTrevor Noah1:25:41

        [laughs]

    18. JOJohn Oliver1:25:41

        That's coming out one day.

    19. TNTrevor Noah1:25:42

        Chipping Norton all the way.

    20. JOJohn Oliver1:25:43

        And then, yeah.

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:25:44

        [laughs]

    22. JOJohn Oliver1:25:44

        And then the first time you catch them saying, "Hey, how's it going? Nice to see," or what, you know, uh, what, any kind of, like, American R.

    23. TNTrevor Noah1:25:53

        Yeah.

    24. JOJohn Oliver1:25:53

        And you go, "Oh, oh. [laughs] Oh, yeah, of course, that makes sense. You're gonna sound like the people that you're around all the time." But-

    25. TNTrevor Noah1:26:01

        And even better for them is they've got the immigrant dad.

    26. JOJohn Oliver1:26:04

        Mm.

    27. TNTrevor Noah1:26:05

        'Cause you realize for them-

    28. JOJohn Oliver1:26:07

        Yeah

    29. TNTrevor Noah1:26:07

        ... in your head, you're normal.

    30. JOJohn Oliver1:26:09

        Mm-hmm.
32. 1:31:34 – 1:40:53

    Mo Salah’s Haircut & The Art of the Ending

    1. EUEugene1:31:34

       thinking to myself, "In that field, there's a bunch of foreigners."

    2. JOJohn Oliver1:31:37

       Mm-hmm.

    3. EUEugene1:31:37

       Right? With their lives, who've left their homes, who get incentivized very well to play for this team for our amusement and the sponsors', obviously-

    4. JOJohn Oliver1:31:45

       Yeah

    5. EUEugene1:31:45

       ... um, payback. But life happens. They get injuries, they move on.

    6. JOJohn Oliver1:31:50

       Of course.

    7. EUEugene1:31:50

       The Mo Salah thing happens. So in all this time of being a fan of an individual inside a team, institution, you've never thought they'll have to one day be put to pasture or move on to some other things?

    8. JOJohn Oliver1:32:00

       No, I think you know it's ephemeral, right? Which is why-

    9. EUEugene1:32:02

       Mm-hmm

    10. JOJohn Oliver1:32:02

        ... you d- try and enjoy it so much when it's happening. You don't expect victory or pleasure from football. You kind of know you ... It's a much more complicated relationship.

    11. EUEugene1:32:16

        Right.

    12. JOJohn Oliver1:32:16

        And you know that you should i- take the joy when you get it-

    13. EUEugene1:32:20

        Mm-hmm

    14. JOJohn Oliver1:32:20

        ... and you should, you know, absorb the stress, the anxiety, and the misery when it comes. You know that, that even with Mo, you know it's ... We loved this guy Jürgen Klopp, right?

    15. EUEugene1:32:31

        The coach.

    16. JOJohn Oliver1:32:32

        Yeah. It was clear that was never gonna last forever.

    17. EUEugene1:32:35

        Yeah.

    18. JOJohn Oliver1:32:35

        That was not gonna be-

    19. TNTrevor Noah1:32:36

        Yeah, yeah, yeah

    20. JOJohn Oliver1:32:36

        ... like a long Alex Ferguson run. He's always just done these 10 years. One of the many, many ways in which he's a unique man is you would have these unique, intense periods with the club.

    21. EUEugene1:32:45

        Stints, yeah.

    22. JOJohn Oliver1:32:45

        So you knew it was not gonna be forever-

    23. EUEugene1:32:48

        Mm-hmm

    24. JOJohn Oliver1:32:48

        ... which is why it meant ... every second of it meant so much.

    25. EUEugene1:32:51

        Mm-hmm.

    26. JOJohn Oliver1:32:52

        'Cause you know it's gonna come to a close. And I think I felt the same with Mo. You know it's ... When you know that something's not gonna last forever, all you want is the best possible ending for the thing that's meant so much to you. And you want that-

    27. EUEugene1:33:07

        Mm

    28. JOJohn Oliver1:33:07

        ... for him as well. He deserves a good ending-

    29. EUEugene1:33:10

        Mm-hmm

    30. JOJohn Oliver1:33:11

        ... to Liverpool, whenever that ending is. And it shouldn't be now because this would not be one.
33. 1:40:53 – 1:42:42

    Jewish Yoda: Jon Stewart’s Advice on Interviews

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:40:53

       "Oh," 'cause, like, I'm really struggling to, um, get to the crux of somebody in, in this like four, five-minute segment. What are, what are, what are, how, what are you trying to do there? And he was like, "Oh, I was trying to fill five minutes."

    2. JOJohn Oliver1:41:05

       I could not do those things. Uh, that was the one part of that job I could never do-

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:41:10

       It is, I would argue, the hardest

    4. JOJohn Oliver1:41:10

       ... was talk to someone I had no interest in whatsoever. So if it w- it was the actors was the problem for me.

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:41:16

       Yeah, you struggle with that.

    6. JOJohn Oliver1:41:17

       Oh, man, that was tough.

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:41:19

       Yeah, you struggle with that. Hmm.

    8. JOJohn Oliver1:41:21

       It was, yeah, I'd just, I ran out of things to say so quickly. I remember once, I was talking to one actor, [laughs] and I would look at Spinney sometimes, the floor manager, to see, like he would say, "How long have you got left?" And I looked over to him as if to say, "Are we, are we good?" And he said, "You've been going one minute."

    9. TNTrevor Noah1:41:36

       [laughs]

    10. JOJohn Oliver1:41:38

        60 human seconds, and I was all out of questions.

    11. TNTrevor Noah1:41:41

        Is that why you just cut guests out of your show?

    12. JOJohn Oliver1:41:44

        Yeah, it was. We built a big, uh, we built a whole-

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:41:46

        'Cause you used to, remember, you had a, you had a guest section.

    14. JOJohn Oliver1:41:48

        We had a guest area.

    15. TNTrevor Noah1:41:49

        Yeah, yeah. I remember the guest area.

    16. JOJohn Oliver1:41:50

        Yeah, the, the whole first part of the thing.

    17. TNTrevor Noah1:41:51

        First season, you had the guest area.

    18. JOJohn Oliver1:41:51

        Yes, because it, it felt like you were supposed to-

    19. TNTrevor Noah1:41:55

        Yeah

    20. JOJohn Oliver1:41:55

        ... have a guest.

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:41:55

        Have a guest.

    22. JOJohn Oliver1:41:56

        Yeah. That was all, the only thing I knew about American late night shows was you-

    23. TNTrevor Noah1:42:00

        You have to have a guest

    24. JOJohn Oliver1:42:01

        ... anything can happen, but there has to be a guest.

    25. TNTrevor Noah1:42:02

        Yeah.

    26. JOJohn Oliver1:42:02

        There's gotta be someone else. And to their credit, HBO, after our two test shows that we did, just said, "You know, you don't have to have someone."

    27. TNTrevor Noah1:42:11

        Oof.

    28. JOJohn Oliver1:42:11

        "You don't have to talk to anyone at the end if you want. You can just like-"

    29. TNTrevor Noah1:42:15

        Was it that bad?

    30. JOJohn Oliver1:42:16

        Uh, one, I think it was that bad. I think it genuinely was that bad, and two, that changed everything for me. Like, oh, I can have that six minutes-
34. 1:42:42 – 1:49:10

    Cutting Guests: The Best Thing HBO Ever Allowed

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:42:42

       You had a good question there about how you'd want to see your ending, because I think-

    2. JOJohn Oliver1:42:44

       Oh, yeah. 'Cause, w- sorry

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:42:45

       ... I, I have sympathy for sports people. They give so much of their lives.

    4. JOJohn Oliver1:42:48

       Yeah.

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:42:48

       They start very, very early.

    6. JOJohn Oliver1:42:49

       Yes, yes. That's so difficult.

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:42:50

       They miss so many milestones. That's all they know for such a long time. I sometimes wish for them that wouldn't they want to retire at their, at, at their prime of their l- human lives, not of their sporting lives, where they can have families.

    8. JOJohn Oliver1:43:01

       Yeah.

    9. TNTrevor Noah1:43:02

       They can-

    10. JOJohn Oliver1:43:02

        Yeah, yeah, yeah

    11. TNTrevor Noah1:43:02

        ... they can also be rubbed out of the zeitgeist of, of, of that side of their life, and then people will not recognize or know them as much, you know?

    12. JOJohn Oliver1:43:09

        Yes.

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:43:09

        So don't you wish that for Mo Salah?

    14. JOJohn Oliver1:43:10

        It must be so difficult.

    15. TNTrevor Noah1:43:12

        For him to have humility and-

    16. JOJohn Oliver1:43:13

        It must be so difficult for them, because it's amazing to think that that part of your l- ev- your whole life has been built into-

    17. TNTrevor Noah1:43:17

        Yeah

    18. JOJohn Oliver1:43:17

        ... this one thing. It's over, and you're 37 years old. [laughs]

    19. TNTrevor Noah1:43:21

        Yes.

    20. JOJohn Oliver1:43:21

        That's a young age to be-

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:43:23

        To retire

    22. JOJohn Oliver1:43:23

        ... for everything to have stopped.

    23. TNTrevor Noah1:43:25

        Yeah.

    24. JOJohn Oliver1:43:25

        It's no wonder that there can be big problems in terms of what you want the rest of your life-

    25. TNTrevor Noah1:43:30

        Absolutely

    26. JOJohn Oliver1:43:30

        ... to functionally be. And that-

    27. TNTrevor Noah1:43:31

        Yeah

    28. JOJohn Oliver1:43:32

        ... that thi- to the idea of it slipping through your fingers, something that came so naturally to you since you were three years old.

    29. TNTrevor Noah1:43:38

        Mm-hmm.

    30. JOJohn Oliver1:43:39

        And all of a sudden you realize, when you are the best in any environment that you're in, to all of a sudden feel it fading away.
35. 1:49:10 – 2:01:37

    Retirement Plan: Catheters and the Ugandan Election

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:49:10

       like, "Oh, boy. Here we go, John."

    2. JOJohn Oliver1:49:12

       Goddamn.

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:49:12

       He's like, "You probably think it's just a thing that you wear inside your pants to help you pee."

    4. JOJohn Oliver1:49:15

       Yeah. Okay, yeah, I know this move.

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:49:15

       But then it's like-

    6. EUEugene1:49:16

       [laughs]

    7. JOJohn Oliver1:49:16

       Yeah. Oh

    8. TNTrevor Noah1:49:16

       ... like, here we go. And it's like, they're like, you know, everyone in the lounge is like, "Ah, what, what's John..."

    9. JOJohn Oliver1:49:20

       Yeah.

    10. TNTrevor Noah1:49:20

        And someone's like, "Shut up. This is interesting. Tell me how the old age home is screwing me over, John."

    11. JOJohn Oliver1:49:24

        I know, it sounds dark. He might do something dumb at the end of this.

    12. EUEugene1:49:27

        [laughs]

    13. JOJohn Oliver1:49:27

        It's, it's-

    14. TNTrevor Noah1:49:27

        He's gonna bring it up. It's gonna-

    15. EUEugene1:49:29

        [laughs]

    16. TNTrevor Noah1:49:29

        But you know what? You know what you did, and I, I, I hope people are giving you flowers for this.

    17. JOJohn Oliver1:49:33

        Mm.

    18. TNTrevor Noah1:49:33

        It's not just, like, the awards. You created, like, a new thing.

    19. EUEugene1:49:37

        Mm.

    20. TNTrevor Noah1:49:37

        You do realize that?

    21. JOJohn Oliver1:49:38

        I, I don't know, but I wanted, I was very, very conscious of not doing ... And because of John's thing, right?

    22. TNTrevor Noah1:49:44

        Yeah.

    23. JOJohn Oliver1:49:44

        I, we did not want to just do John's thing, because that felt like stealing, right? [laughs]

    24. TNTrevor Noah1:49:49

        Yeah, yeah.

    25. EUEugene1:49:49

        Mm.

    26. JOJohn Oliver1:49:49

        It felt like, well, that's, he did that.

    27. TNTrevor Noah1:49:51

        Yes.

    28. JOJohn Oliver1:49:52

        So it feels like our responsibility is to take what we learned with him and develop it.

    29. TNTrevor Noah1:49:57

        Do a different thing.

    30. JOJohn Oliver1:49:58

        Stretch it, right? See, see what you can do with it in a different form.

Episode duration: 2:01:38