Two sides of the same coin: two HBO comedians shine a light on the American Left
By Wisley Lau
Even though their comments resonate with liberals in general, John Oliver (Last Week Tonight) and Bill Maher (Real Time) are gathering attention from two very different sections of the Left.
You might not expect two talk shows on the same TV channel to have different types of audiences. However, looking deeper into Oliver’s Last Week Tonight and Maher’s Real Time gives a good reflection on the two sides of the political left in the United States.
Oliver’s Last Week Tonight started in 2014 and found success with stunts and commentary while discussing different issues. Some referred to Oliver’s ability to provide real-world changes as the John Oliver effect. For instance, his net neutrality segments in both 2014 and 2017 led to so many people visiting the website of the Federal Communications Commission that it crashed. Another joke about the city of Danbury ended up with a sewage plant named after him. These are just two examples of a long list of miscellaneous actions and jokes that have garnered global attention.
Maher has hosted talk shows since 1993 and his Real Time is renowned for its political diversity. Maher brings in both conservatives and liberals for live debates with no post-production editing. Like Oliver, Maher is also well-known for his strong opinions. He is a major proponent of recreational marijuana use, is openly atheist, and is also often politically incorrect. Maher’s prediction of Trump not willingly leaving the White House if he lost the 2020 elections proved dangerously accurate. His previous comments on Islam were deemed by some as Islamophobic after he referred to burqas as “medieval” and “beekeeper suits”.
After watching both shows, you can conclude that while both hosts maintain liberal views, they are designed for two different audiences. Oliver’s Last Week Tonight seems to be aimed at young millennials with a liberal/progressive stance. His attitude towards problems discussed on the show is that they are caused by the rich and the powerful. John regularly takes aim at the establishment in politics when it comes to issues like criminal justice and racism. The tone and writing of the show - which some called “written by an outrage of Twitter liberals”- appeal to the younger, more progressive crowd.
The style of Maher’s Real Time caters to the “politically homeless” on the left - those who hold liberal values, but do not lean towards ultra-progressive stances held by Oliver’s audience. Maher has mocked the behavior of millennials when it comes to the environment and has bashed cancel culture. Most members of Maher’s audience are older, traditional liberals. They might be more associated with the phrase “OK Boomer” than “Yas Queen.” In fact, Maher’s disdain for the progressive left was so vocal that a commentator for right-leaning news station Fox News has called for him to run for president. Maher stated on How The Left Was Lost, that the left is “now made up of a small contingent who’ve gone mental, and a large contingent who refuses to call them out for it.”
These two shows provide a great summary of the current American left. One side criticizes the establishment fervently, while another side is concerned by developments on the political left. The tension is boiling. Maher blasted progressive liberals that share Oliver’s opinions on wokeness costing Democrats’ votes and seats, giving them less representation in government. In an interview for James Andrew Miller’s book “Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers,” Maher commented that he doesn’t “watch it (Last Week Tonight) all the time, but what I’ve seen of it is extremely down-the-line liberalism. And liberals are wrong about a lot of s**t, too.”
While political biases are visible in Oliver’s Last Week Tonight, their overview of issues such as critical race theory and union-busting is deeply-researched and provides excellent summaries to layman audiences. As for political debates, Maher’s Real Time allows for a diversity of discussions and touches on controversial themes. In general, both shows provide discussions of a higher quality than other late-night shows which simply rely on partisan jokes jabbing at Republicans or Democrats.
Will there continue to be a back-and-forth debate between the target audiences of these two shows? Well, one thing is for sure: HBO is going to make big money out of it!