John Oliver Slamar Jay Leno after giving advice on late evening shows: ‘Hard Pass’

There is at least one comic John Oliver Will not take advice from: Jay Leno.

When Hollywood Reporter erected Leno’s latest suggestion that some comedians on late night were foreign “A half audience” with its political humor in the light of CBS break The late show with Stephen ColbertOliver had a blunt answer.

“I will take a hard pass on taking comic advice from Jay Leno,” Last week tonight Host, 48, told the outlet in an interview that was published on Tuesday, August 5.

“Comedy can’t be for everyone,” said Oliver, whose show has won 30 Primetime Emmys since debuting at HBO 2014, told Thr. “It is in itself subjective.”

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Oliver said it was “completely legitimate” for some standup comedians to try to appeal to a wide audience, but also legitimate for some to do the opposite.

“I guess I don’t think it’s a matter of what you should do because I don’t think comedy is prescribing that way,” Oliver explained. “That’s exactly what people want. I think our show clearly comes from a point of view, but most of the long stories we do are not party political.”

“They are about systemic problems”, the former Daily show Correspondent continued. “Our last shows were about gang databases, AI Slop, Juvenile Justice, with SPA, Air Traffic Control. I’m not saying that they have no point of view in them. Of course they do. But I hope many of them actually reach people’s political persuasions. You want people to at least be able to come up with the problem, even if you agree with what

On July 27, Leno, 75, said at Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute that although he loves political humor, he tried not to turn off half of his audience during his years as The Tonight Shows host.

“Why shoot for half an audience? Why not try to get the whole? I like to bring people into the big picture. I don’t understand why you would promote a certain group,” Leno said. “Or just don’t do it at all. I’m not saying you have to throw your support or whatever, but just do what’s fun.”

Leno went on to say that he liked to get a hate post from both Republican and democratic viewers because it meant he got a “whole” audience. “(Nowadays) you have to be satisfied with half of the audience because you have to give your opinion,” he said.

The Much future for late evening TV came under a microscope on July 17, when CBS surprisingly was canceled Stephen ColbertDespite its popularity. The time led to speculation that the decision was bound to politics, such as CBS’s parent company, Paramount, sought approval from the Trump administration for its merger with Entertainment Company Skydance. FCC approved the merger July 25th.

Earlier in July, CBS also reached a settlement of $ 16 million with president Donald Trump. President sued CBS News and accused 60 minutes by fraudulently editing an interview with Deputy President Kamala Harris during the Presidential Campaign 2024.

In a statement, CBS said that Late showCancellation was “purely an economic decision against a challenging background at the end of the night” and “in no way related to the show’s performance, content or other issues happening at Paramount.”

Since Colbert’s shooting, His colleagues have shown his support. Oliver joined Jon StewartJimmy Fallon, Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper on July 21st Late night episode. Jimmy Kimmel has also shown his support on social media.

“Well, we’ve been in touch as a group since the strike … As soon as the news broke, we all checked with Stephen in that chat and then he came up with the idea and asked us to come, and of course we will all do it,” Oliver told Thr. “You want to be able to support him and his staff in a horrible, horrible time.”