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Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 8 Episodes
Season 8 Episode Guide
30 Episodes 2021 - 2021
Episode 1
The Next Pandemic
Sun, Feb 14, 2021
As COVID-19 continues to spread, John Oliver discusses what could cause the next pandemic, what we can do to avoid it, and why you shouldn't kiss pigs.
Episode 2
Meatpacking
Sun, Feb 21, 202131 mins
The pandemic has thrown into high relief some of the longstanding issues surrounding working conditions in meatpacking facilities. John Oliver explains why greater oversight is needed, and how we can go about getting it.
Episode 3
Raids
Sun, Feb 28, 202135 mins
John Oliver explains how raids became a favorite tool of police, how few guardrails there are on their use, and what we should do about that.
Episode 4
Unemployment
Sun, Mar 7, 202133 mins
John Oliver details the many obstacles that impede access to unemployment benefits in the US - often by design - and why the entire system needs to be rethought.
Episode 5
Tucker Carlson
Sun, Mar 14, 202135 mins
Today's star is Tucker Carlson who currently has a popular show with million of viewers in Fox news. He is admired by white supremacists because of his contribution from a national platform. John Oliver explains how he operates, how he convince his audience and how he got there.
Episode 6
Plastics
Sun, Mar 21, 202135 mins
Plastic is in everything, from the clothes we wear to the water we drink. John explains how plastics are harming the planet, why recycling isn't the solution, and why fixing the problem will be up consumers, corporations and policymakers.
Episode 7
The National Debt
Sun, Apr 4, 2021
The national debt has long been portrayed as a burden we're placing on future generations. John Oliver discusses how national debt works, why people are so concerned about it, and why it might be more helpful than you think.
Episode 8
Long-Term Care
Sun, Apr 11, 202133 mins
John Oliver talks about nursing homes and assisted living facilities which are providing long term care for elders. He also states how these things operate without much accountability and what dire situations staffs and residents both has to face here.
Episode 9
Bankruptcy
Sun, Apr 18, 2021
John Oliver details why people file for bankruptcy, how needlessly difficult the process can be, and the ways we can better serve people struggling with debt.
Episode 10
Vaccine
Sun, May 2, 2021
John talks about Covid-19 vaccines and why people are hesitant to get the vaccine shot. He points out the reasons behind their hesitancy and answered some valid concerns as well as some totally absurd ones. He closed the piece with some advice for the government twitter accounts .
Episode 11
Hair
Sun, May 9, 2021
John Oliver talks about issues revolving around black hair and how the various black hairstyles are actually a part of black people's cultural heritage which has evolved through generations. He brings up white people's lack of understanding and lack of interest in understanding about black hair and their attempts to erase this cultural heritage by reinforcing the idea that black hair was dirty and unkempt by marketing products like hair straighteners and skin lightener creams which has resulted in real life consequences for black people and has become yet another pretext for discrimination against black people. He also talks about the sham that is the Arizona election audit/recount and how it is only amplifying the conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 US election.
Episode 12
Stand Your Ground
Sun, May 16, 2021
John Oliver talks about stand your ground laws, passed in 30 states in the U.S., which have significantly expanded how guns are used. These laws which were introduced as a law and order measure to protect people forced to make difficult life or death decisions while defending themselves, have actually been used as an excuse to justify incidents which need not have turned deadly like the murders of Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery. He explains the inherent racial bias in these laws which have been used against black people in the U.S. John Oliver also talks about the Israel - Palestine conflict that is raging and how unwavering U.S. support for Israel and Israel's apartheid policy against Palestinians have led to the present humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Episode 13
Sponsored Content
Sun, May 23, 2021
This week John Oliver brings up the issue of Sponsored Content, the practice of local news stations in the U.S. where advertising is blended directly into the broadcast. Though, F.C.C. has rules requiring broadcast stations to announce when content has been sponsored or paid for, local news stations frequently break them or violate the spirit of these rules by setting up local shows built around sponsored content because it is financially lucrative making the practice widespread and harder to detect. John also talks about the recent efforts by some states in the U.S. to curtail abortion rights and also talks about some clowns running for public office next year in the U.S.
Episode 14
Asian Americans
Sun, Jun 6, 2021
John Oliver discusses the histories and experiences of the Asian American community which are overlooked by majority of people living in the U.S. and is only discussed in the context of racism influenced mass shootings. He explains why the stereotype that Asian Americans are a model minority has been a persistent and problematic idea by exploring the genesis of the term 'Asian American' and the history of Asian American immigration. He talks about the dangers of treating the Asian American coalition as a monolith as it obscures the reality of what is happening to various sub-groups inside it. John Oliver also talks about how countries like the U.K. and Brazil bungled the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic due to a lack of planning and vision.
Episode 15
Prison Heat
Sun, Jun 13, 2021
John Oliver explains the issue of lack of air-conditioning in many prisons in the U.S. Heat in U.S. prisons is a big problem. In some of the hottest areas of the U.S. like Texas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, half the prisons lack air conditioning in their inmate housing areas with heat index in some prisons hitting 150 deg F. With a growing population of older prisoners in the prison system, with many of them having a chronic condition like hypertension or diabetes, high temperatures makes them very susceptible to heat stroke. Prisons also house people with mental health concerns who require medication that can compromise with their body's ability to regulate temperature which makes them avoid taking their medications explaining the increase in suicides and self-harm incidents during summer months. However, whenever the issue is brought up, lawmakers and prison officials say that they cannot afford it or they really don't care about it. John also talks about the weird people running in the NYC mayoral election and weird local car dealership commercials.
Episode 16
PACE
Sun, Jun 20, 2021
John Oliver takes a look at PACE which stands for 'Property Assessed Clean Energy' which is a lien on a real-estate property with the money designated for repairs or upgrades to the said property. However, its residential program has huge problems. PACE administrators routinely push and promote PACE sales through individual contractors who are not qualified to explain the financial details. They also exaggerate the savings in energy cost without an independent energy audit. These practices have led to people losing their homes. John also talks about the public opposition to the Tokyo Olympics which are being held in the middle of a pandemic.
Episode 17
Health Care Sharing Ministries
Sun, Jun 27, 2021
Access to healthcare is a big problem in America since health insurance is often linked to employment which makes people struggle to find health coverage when they are unemployed. This week John Oliver talks about Health Care Sharing Ministries, an option for the uninsured, which are non-profits where people who share religious beliefs agree to help cover each other's medical bills. But these have significant drawbacks. HCSMs don't have to abide by insurance laws, don't have to cover preexisting conditions, don't cover substance abuse treatment or mental health or STDs in some cases and also don't cover same-sex families citing religious or moral values. Additionally the process of reimbursement is long and complicated which can result in payments for approved procedures being delayed. This has led to many subscribers of HCSMs being left to fend for themselves. John also talks about the election fraud conspiracies which are being spread in the U.S. resulting in restrictive voting laws being passed in many states.
Episode 18
Housing Discrimination
Sun, Jul 25, 202140 mins
This week John Oliver talks about housing discrimination - an insidious and widespread form of wealth appropriation which include policies like racial covenants, red-lining, refusal of loans to black veterans under the GI Bill, zoning regulations and practices like realtors steering buyers away from racially integrated neighborhoods. These policies and practices led to devastating effects on black communities, significantly expanding and locking in segregation, as well as leading to massive wealth gap between black and white communities and wide ranging consequences to quality of life such as access to better schools and teachers, cleaner streets, cleaner air and water. John strongly suggests that the solution to this issue is reparations, which is necessary, practical and the right thing to do. John also talks about the premature easing of COVID-19 restrictions in various countries and the Tokyo Olympics being conducted in the middle of a pandemic.
Episode 19
Emergency Medical Services
Sun, Aug 1, 2021
This week John Oliver discusses the major issues hampering Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in the U.S. EMS operate ambulances and provide support to people facing medical emergencies. However, they're prohibitively expensive. According to John, there are several reasons for EMS being expensive. EMS is not considered to be an essential service in most states in the U.S. and there is no dedicated federal agency overseeing and supporting EMS. This makes it easier for state and federal governments to cut funding for EMS which makes them underfunded. Funding deficiencies cause EMTs and other EMS workers to be poorly paid which makes it difficult to retain good workers/volunteers and also cause shortage of ambulances and longer response time for ambulances. This situation is made worse by private-equity firms which buy financially distressed EMSs and strip their value for higher profits. They also engage in practices of surprise billing and transporting a patient to the hospital even if unnecessary. Also, EMSs are not required to accept private medical insurance which makes it harder for patients to pay their bills. Additionally, there is no consistency or uniformity in the services provided by EMS or how they are run in various parts of the U.S. John also talks about the plight of Afghan translators who are left behind after the pull-out of U.S. forces from the region.
Episode 20
Sacklers
Sun, Aug 8, 2021
This week John Oliver talks about the role of the Sackler family in the opioid epidemic in the U.S. The Sackler family, who owns Purdue Pharma, largely fueled the opioid crisis in the U.S., by aggressively selling their painkiller Oxycontin. Lately they've been facing thousands of lawsuits and have been negotiating their way out of it with a proposed $8 billion settlement. However, John argues that this settlement will ensure that the Sacklers will escape any accountability, will face no criminal liability with a non-consensual third party release and will have preserved a majority of their ill-gotten wealth. John asks if the Sackler family has any right to keep their ill-gotten billions which came at the expense of hundreds of thousands of Americans addicted to Oxycontin. John also talks about the Russian participation at the Tokyo Olympics in the aftermath of the doping scandal.
Episode 21
Ransomware
Sun, Aug 15, 2021
This week John Oliver talks about ransomware attacks which are instances where hackers get into a computer, lock up the data and force the owners to pay a ransom in order to unlock it. Ransomware attacks have caused chaos in cities, schools, police departments, hospitals etc. and hackers using them have released private medical records, personal records, un-aired TV shows and movies as well as compromise 'smart' home appliances. With the costs of ransomware getting higher while the barrier to deploy them going down, its not just companies and governments who are getting affected but individuals as well. John explains that the explosion in ransomware has been because of 3 reasons - 'ransomware as a service' where hackers develop ransomware programs and sell them to anyone who might want to launch an attack, the rise of cryptocurrencies and countries who provide safe havens for cyber-criminals. While the U.S. government has taken steps like setting up a cybersecurity task force and budgeting $1 billion to improve cybersecurity for local governments, John argues that the only way to prevent such attacks is by taking precautions like setting up multi-factor authentication, keeping computers up to date and not click on suspicious links. John also talks about the fiery debates in school board meetings about children returning to schools while the COVID-19 pandemic rages on.
Episode 22
Afghanistan
Sun, Aug 22, 202133 mins
This week John Oliver explains the reasons behind the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and its role in the ongoing humanitarian crisis there. America's war in Afghanistan is coming to a close after 20 years of fighting and it has joined a long line of countries who came to Afghanistan to serve their own interest only to leave defeated. While the primary reason for invading Afghanistan was the 9/11 attack, the U.S. mission was changed to nation building and human rights. But instead of engaging with and understanding the country's complex local politics, the U.S. paid off and co-opted local warlords and drug traffickers which eroded trust between the Afghan people and the corrupt Afghan government. The U.S. came and built projects and institutions on the American model, wholly dependent on American support, with the funds going to American military contractors and put no effort to make them sustainable after the U.S. left. While staying indefinitely was also not an option since the Taliban had been escalating violence, the focus of U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was solely based in American interests and not about the well-being of the Afghan people. John argues that the U.S. has an obligation to provide refuge to vulnerable Afghans before it leaves Afghanistan and that America should stop trying to solve the world's problems by imposing its will on other countries.
Episode 23
Lukashenko
Sun, Sep 12, 2021
This week John Oliver takes a look at Belarus's president and autocratic leader Aleksandr Lukashenko who has ruled Belarus for nearly 3 decades. Belorussians have been angry with Lukashenko for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic along with his mismanagement of Belarus's economy and corruption scandals. Though Lukashenko won the country's first free and fair elections in 1994, his promises to combat corruption quickly fell apart. He banned all press coverage of the corruption scandals which was the beginning of his decades long assault of press and freedom of speech making Belarus the most dangerous country in Europe for media personnel. Lukashenko has used controversial referendums to remove term limits and weaken the legislature while rigging presidential elections in his favor. He has also clamped down on dissent with a heavy hand. Opposition leaders have disappeared with some suspected to have been killed. Many dissidents have been raided and sent to prison. The only hope is if somehow the people overthrow this dictator, reform their constitution and conduct a free and fair election. John also talks about the controversial Texas anti-abortion law.
Episode 24
Voting Rights
Sun, Sep 26, 202141 mins
This week John Oliver talks about the latest attack on voting rights in the U.S. 18 states in the U.S. have passed laws restricting voter access. Proponents of the laws say that they're not meant to restrict citizens from voting but to prevent voter fraud. However, even though instances of voter fraud in the U.S. are rare, these laws/bills make it harder to vote for some people, mainly people of color. Measures like 24 hour and drive through voting which made it easier for people to vote in urban counties have been prohibited under these new laws. These laws also put barriers to voting by mail and put harsher voter ID requirements that target people of color. The passing of these laws has been a concerted and organized effort over many years supported by well funded groups like the Heritage Foundation who have routinely helped Republican politicians to draft and pass these laws. But now these laws can become more effective because of a couple of U.S. supreme court rulings that undermined the voting rights act of 1965. The only way now these discriminatory laws can be challenged is by showing them to be racially motivated which is why the proponents of these laws don't want to discuss the racial impact of these laws. To fight these laws John suggests that the filibuster in the U.S. Senate should be ended to support proposed legislation in the U.S. Congress like the John Lewis voting rights advancement act and the Freedom to vote act. John also talks about the migrant crisis and the questionable tactics used by the U.S. government in dealing with asylum seekers at Del Rio near the Texas border with Mexico. He also presents his entries to the Duck Stamp competition.
Episode 25
PFAS
Sun, Oct 3, 2021
This week John Oliver takes a look at PFAS a.k.a 'forever chemicals'. PFAS are chemicals that make surfaces which do not stick to other surfaces. But these chemicals have links to many health issues including cancer and decreased response to vaccines. These chemicals accumulate in humans and animals, don't degrade in the environment with lifetimes of thousands of years and cause birth defects; risks that were known to the manufacturers of these chemicals like 3M and DuPont. But they ignored the evidence, actively suppressed sale of less toxic alternative chemicals to protect their profits and didn't disclose the potential risks to regulators like the EPA. These policies of 3M and DuPont made these chemicals ubiquitous and are now present in the blood of almost every living human. John says that the only solution to this horrible problem is legislation which restricts the use of PFAS to certain applications and regulates the manufacturers of these chemicals. John also talks about the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act and how a couple of Democrats in the U.S. Senate along with their Republican counterparts are blocking it.
Episode 26
Misinformation
Sun, Oct 10, 2021
This week John Oliver talks about misinformation that spreads in immigrant diaspora communities and how easily it spreads. Though social media companies have some controls over the spread of misinformation when written in English, non-English posts on social media do not have the same kind of oversight. These kinds of misinformation taps into culturally specific interests or fears. Lack of alternative news outlets and fact checkers in their own languages leads to the spread of misinformation in immigrant communities who rely on social media like Youtube or private messaging apps like Whatsapp and Wechat for their news. The use of messaging apps to forward unverified and often fake news content has become an epidemic in many immigrant diaspora communities. These messaging apps became popular in many countries since the companies running them, like Facebook, partner with mobile phone carriers to make access to messaging apps, like Whatsapp, cheaper or free than accessing the rest of the internet. Consequences of such spread of misinformation range from doubts getting cast on free and fair elections to mob lynchings. John argues that social media companies need to at least have the same oversight for non-English language posts as they have for the English ones. Public pressure on social media platforms might push these companies to establish some controls. John also talks about the political fight between the Governor and the Lt. Governor of Idaho over COVID restrictions and mask mandates. He also talks about how AT&T funds OAN (One America News network) which gives a platform for conspiracy theories.
Episode 27
Taiwan
Sun, Oct 24, 2021
This week John Oliver takes a look at Taiwan and its fraught relationship with China. Military tension between China and Taiwan are soaring as China's air-force regularly sends an increasing number of warplanes into the Taiwan Air defense zone. The Chinese government considers Taiwan an integral part of China and condemns any statement made referring to Taiwan as an independent country. Taiwan transitioned from a dictatorship to a vibrant democracy and is now the key manufacturer of computer chips which has made it into a developed and wealthy country. But due to stiff Chinese opposition, most countries and international organizations like the WHO, the IOC etc. either don't recognize it or prefer to keep Taiwan's status ambiguous. While China's warmongering has forced Taiwan to buy arms from the U.S. to bolster its defenses, polls show that a vast majority of Taiwanese want to preserve the status quo which John argues seems to be the best option at the moment. John also talks about the vaccine hesitancy shown by some police officers in the in some cities in the U.S. and how it is harming them and the people they are supposed to protect and serve.
Episode 28
Homelessness
Sun, Oct 31, 2021
This week John Oliver discusses the problem of homelessness in the U.S. which has been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic. Even before the pandemic struck, homeless people were increasing due to public policies like funding cuts to poverty alleviation programs and housing subsidies along with lack of affordable housing. To make matters worse, stories focusing on homelessness demonize the homeless and are presented solely through a lens of how it affects those who have homes. These media portrayals have led to public policy choices like hauling away portable public toilets at night and criminalizing behavior associated with being homeless like bans on camping, loitering and living in vehicles. Homeless shelters are overwhelmed and the homeless don't prefer to stay there as the shelters are only a place to sleep and not one for staying. John argues that the best solution to the homelessness problem is to provide affordable housing but opposition from local residents a.k.a NIMBYs (Not In My BackYard) have not allowed such projects to start and these residents need to get over their perception of the homeless being mentally ill or drug addicted criminals who have chosen this life for themselves. John also talks about the cuts to the Build Back Better plan as a compromise is reached by the Democrats on how much money can be spent and who can be taxed to fund this plan.
Episode 29
The Power Grid
Sun, Nov 7, 2021
This week John Oliver talks about the current state of the power grid in the U.S. The U.S. grid which is made up of the Eastern, the western and the Texas interconnections was considered to be the supreme engineering achievement of the 20th century. However it has been going down more frequently in recent years mainly due to old age and climate change. Extreme weather like hurricanes, tornadoes and extreme temperature coupled combined with aging electrical infrastructure has been disastrous for the power grid making it ill-equipped to deal with the present needs. However things could get a lot worse in the future because combating climate change will require 40-60% increase in peak electricity consumption which could push the power grid to its limit. However upgrading the power grid is a massive undertaking since it will require new renewable power plants to be made away from population centers and new transmission lines to transport that power. Stringing power lines across the U.S. is a logistical nightmare since it requires approvals from multiple state and federal agencies along with buy-ins from landowners whose land is to be used. People do not want such transmission lines on their land due to multiple reasons which have been effective in killing transmission line projects or delaying it by a decade or longer which makes it harder to bring renewable energy plants online. Also these projects are very expensive and there has been opposition to investing the money that is needed to execute these projects. John argues that fair compensation for land-use and placing transmission lines on land already disturbed lands like along rail-roads, pipelines and highways could alleviate this problem. John also talks about the Democratic defeats in the recent elections and the pledges made by world leaders in the COP26 summit which are insufficient to tackle climate change.
Episode 30
Union Busting
Sun, Nov 14, 202140 mins
This week John Oliver takes a look at the practice of Union busting i.e. preventing the formation of a union. Since 1980s union membership has declined considerably. Americans are living in one of the worst times for organized labor in U.S. history even though nearly half of the American workforce would like to be in a union. To prevent a union from getting registered, companies tell their managers to be on the lookout for potential signs of organizing. Once workers start organizing to form a union, companies hire union busting firms who engage in practices like inundating workers with anti-union signs and messages, having mandatory meetings designed to spread fear about the unions and its dues, promoting lies about union changing the work ethic/culture of the company and threaten to close down the workplace if unions are formed. Companies also target employees who try to unionize by making their jobs harder or fire them since the consequences of doing that are next to nothing. To save unions, John says that the U.S. congress could pass the P.R.O. act and till then workers shouldn't get disheartened or afraid of these union busting tactics by companies. John also talks about the Jan. 6 insurrection, some of the rioters who have escaped or are going to prison and politicians who instigated the violence.
