Join or Sign In
Sign in to customize your TV listings
By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 9 Episodes
Season 9 Episode Guide
30 Episodes 2022 - 2022
Episode 1
Critical Race Theory
Sun, Feb 20, 202234 mins
LWT returns for a new season with John talking about critical race theory (CRT), the manufactured panic around it and the protests against it in school board meetings across the U.S. CRT attempts to understand why racism and inequality persisted after the civil rights movement with the underlying idea being that racism is not just the product of individual prejudice but is also something that is embedded in legal systems and policies. Though CRT is not taught in schools, critics argue that the ideas behind it are being taught in schools. By selectively picking out the worst examples from books, classroom lessons and teacher training manuals, anti-CRT activists have managed to create a panic among the American public regarding any conversation about race that one doesn't want to have. This manufactured fear has caused many states to restrict teaching about race and is likely to promote 'school choice', which conservative activists have been pushing since U.S. Supreme court decision of Brown vs. Board of Education. John argues that though the debate on CRT is dumb, it is important to engage with it to have honest discussions about race in public schools in the U.S. John also talks about the truckers' protest in Ottawa, Canada against vaccine mandates and COVID restrictions.
Episode 2
Sex Work
Sun, Feb 27, 202240 mins
This week John discusses the unfair laws and policies that target sex work which is the exchange of sex for money or goods. Sex work is illegal everywhere in the US except Nevada even though porn is legal. People talk about sex work in demonizing, patronizing or incorrect ways on moral grounds or its association with crime or on the belief that sex work is inherently exploitative even though it is the current system of criminalizing sex work which makes life harder for the most vulnerable people involved. Sex work is a job but lawmakers are uncomfortable treating it like any other job because they argue that most sex workers are victims and need help. The police, who also make this argument, position themselves as saviors of sex workers while actively arresting and charging them due to which sex workers do not trust the police. Discriminatory laws and policies have made sex work unsafe for sex workers and limit job opportunities for sex workers who want to leave the trade. Additionally, crackdown on sex trafficking is routinely conflated with consensual sex work under the assumption people don't enter this field by choice which is incorrect. Prosecuting consensual sex work takes away time and resources from cracking down on actual trafficking. John mentions various ways in which other countries have dealt with the problem viz. criminalizing buying of sex and not sex workers, legalizing and regulating sex work in specific areas and decriminalization which he argues it the right direction which laws and policies should take in consultation with sex workers. John acknowledges that some sex workers are economically forced in sex work but argues that current laws don't address this issue. John also talks about the unjustified Russian invasion of Ukraine and how Ukrainians are defiantly fighting to keep their independence.
Episode 3
Wrongful Convictions
Sun, Mar 6, 2022
John Oliver talks about the current practices of overturning a wrongful convictions and how it is quite unsupportive of even apparently innocent people. He urges for urgent reforms for the flawed system which is clearly not working in favor of the innocents.
Episode 4
Tickets
Sun, Mar 13, 2022
John Oliver unravel the story behind the tickets of live event. He explains companies like ticketmaster make immense profits by exploiting the emotions of the fans. So he urges everyone to do something about it by mentioning some of the ways by which the issue could be resolved and companies with bad intentions will be at bay.
Episode 5
Harm Reduction
Sun, Mar 27, 2022
This week John Oliver makes a case for Harm reduction strategies to prevent drug overdose deaths. Millions of Americans use illegal drugs recreationally which has led to an sharp rise in overdose deaths primarily driven by the use of fentanyl. Past policies like mandatory minimums, criminalizing drug paraphernalia and forcing drug users into abstinence have not worked to alleviate the problem. On the other hand harm reduction methods like syringe services program, drug checking, naloxone use and overdose prevention centers have managed to prevent the spread of disease and overdose deaths. John says that measures like drug users having a say in drug use policy discussions, funding community based organizations giving services to drug users and removing barriers to addiction treatment in addition to harm reduction techniques could go a long way to mitigate the bad effects of drug use. John also talks about the ill-timed British royal visit to the Caribbean and the Nenana Ice classic betting competition.
Episode 6
Trucks
Sun, Apr 3, 2022
This week John examines the American trucking industry and the exploitation of American truck drivers. Trucks are a vital part of the American economy since they carry 70% of the tonnage and employ more than 3.5 million people in the U.S. from port truckers and long-haul truckers to last mile drivers. However, a recent shortage of truck drivers has caused a supply chain crisis in America. John points out that the real issue for logistic companies is truck driver retention because drivers' wages have been cut by half since the deregulation of the trucking industry. Also drivers are paid by the mile and not by the hour and hence are not paid for the waiting period during loading/unloading. Additionally, safety rules mandated by the govt. also sometimes makes the job harder for drivers since their work timings are unpredictable. Logistic companies also classify drivers as independent contractors shielding themselves from liability and maintenance and allowing them to not pay fair wages and drivers who cannot afford to purchase their own trucks, lease-purchase agreements ensure they are always in debt. John says that to improve driver retention big changes are needed from remuneration to improving working conditions. John also talks about congressman Madison Cawthornand his obnoxious statements.
Episode 7
Data Brokers
Sun, Apr 10, 2022
This week John Oliver talks about Data brokers - companies which collect our personal information on the Internet and sell it to third parties. These companies use third party cookies which track our online activity, pair them with other relevant data and sell it to advertisers and other businesses. Personal data which companies collect or infer include personal medical data, sexual preferences, religious affiliation, current location etc. While some companies anonymize collected data, the collected personal data can be used to precisely identify a person and their contact details. In some cases, this data was used by stalkers and abusers to find and track people in order to harm them. Governments too use such data to investigate a person without a warrant. John argues that lawmakers need to do something about it. John also talks about the portrayal of Russian military atrocities in Ukraine by the Russian state TV and about DirectTV dropping OAN for spreading misinformation about the Ukraine war.
Episode 8
Police Interrogations
Sun, Apr 17, 2022
John Oliver explains the flawed procedure of police interrogations. He says how and why many innocent people get wrongfully convicted for crimes they did not commit. He further explains what needs to be done to punishing innocent people, where the main culprits are out in the open and probably doing more crime. So proper investigation is a must rather than forcing a false confession out of an innocent person to avoid due diligence.
Episode 9
Environmental Racism
Sun, May 1, 2022
John Oliver sheds some light on 'Environmental Racism'. He talks about how it got this bad, how government and industries continues to fail people of color, how zoning is manipulating people of color to live in adverse conditions and what can be done about it.
Episode 10
Philippines
Sun, May 8, 202242 mins
This week John Oliver discusses two issues which are dominating the headlines viz. The U.S. Supreme court draft opinion on abortion and The Philippine Elections. John begins by taking apart Justice Alito's arguments for banning abortion and then explains the catastrophic consequences of overturning the Roe v. Wade ruling which includes a total abortion ban in 22 states. John points out that the present situation has resulted from years of apathy and reluctance of the Democratic party to codify the abortion ruling into law in addition to intense lobbying by the anti-abortion movement led by evangelical christian leaders. He says that the only way out of this is staying put for the long struggle to regain our hard-won rights and holding elected officials accountable. John also discusses the candidates running in the Philippine presidential elections particularly the leading candidate Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr., the son of the previous Philippine dictator, supported by the outgoing president Duterte's daughter, Sara. Bongbong's father, whom he holds in high esteem, reportedly stole billions of dollars from the Philippine people and escaped to Hawaii after he was deposed. But with the country's history, during Bongbong's father's martial law, being rewritten in school's textbooks and social media and his rival, Leni Robredo, falsely accused of being a communist rebel and having murdered her husband, Bongbong has surged in the polls. John appeals to the Filipino voters to remember the looting and past atrocities done by Bongbong's father and vote to keep that family out of power.
Episode 11
Electric Utilities
Sun, May 15, 2022
This week John Oliver talks about the power of electric utilities, how under-regulated they are and the damage this can do. Electric utilities in the U.S. charge exorbitant rates for providing electricity and are exceptionally prone to scandal. Most electric utilities operate as monopolies and their remuneration model incentivizes them to build excess and often unnecessary capacities. Electric utilities also stifle innovation like distributed solar-based electricity generation that could make power cheaper. Public utility commissions who are supposed to regulate utility companies don't do a good job because of various reasons like bad planning, corruption and politics. John advocates for making utility companies government owned or at least incentivize them to maintain existing infrastructure and promote renewables.
Episode 12
Subway
Sun, May 22, 2022
This week John Oliver talks about the restaurant chain Subway, its history, how it operates and why its franchisees are afraid. Subway, which is the biggest restaurant chain in the U.S. and previously had the most number of locations worldwide, has been in the news for all the wrong reasons from bread sizes being smaller than advertised and putting wrong ingredients in sandwiches to being promoted by a pedophile like Jared Fogle. Started by Fred DeLuca, Subway initially focused on expansion even though it didn't turn a profit for 15 years. Though entry fees are low compared to other restaurant chains, Subway franchisees have to give more to the parent company as a percentage of gross sales and have to compete with other Subway restaurants in the same location. Additionally, Subway's business development agents, who are responsible for inspection, regularly pull up franchisees for frivolous causes forcing them to close handing over the franchise to the agents. Subway also engages in unethical practices like not disclosing financial performance of a restaurant before its sale to a franchisee and prohibiting franchisees from talking to the media about Subway. John also talks about the results of primary races for the mid-term election this November.
Episode 13
School Police
Sun, Jun 5, 2022
In the wake of the Uvalde school massacre, this week John Oliver talks about the effectiveness of school police to prevent school shootings and other issues associated with them. Research has shown that the presence of a 'School resource officer (S.R.O)', as the school police are called, does nothing to prevent school shootings and may in fact cause more casualties. S.R.O.s are used to handle disciplinary problems at school and frequently arrest students for frivolous reasons. Often students with disabilities and students of color are arrested giving them a criminal record. John suggests that school police should be removed from schools or at least they should be given training on how to handle students. John also talks about Queen Elisabeth II's platinum jubilee celebrations and an Australian banana sculpture.
Episode 14
Tech Monopolies
Sun, Jun 12, 2022
This week John Oliver talks about the big tech corporations which control the Internet viz. Amazon, Facebook, Google and Apple and how they engage in anti-competitive practices. These companies which run various platforms and marketplaces on the Internet, promote their own products over other competitor's products and charge huge commissions from their competitors who use their platforms. John mentions the couple of bills viz. Open App markets bill and American choice and innovation online bill, which proposes to regulate some of the anti-competitive practices of these companies. Hence these tech companies are fighting this bill by running attack ads and lobbying hard. Also it doesn't help that many children of current U.S. politicians work for these companies. John also talks about the candidates from the Republican party running for the U.S. senate seat from Arizona.
Episode 15
Rent
Sun, Jun 19, 2022
John Oliver discusses why rent has become increasingly unaffordable, what we can do to combat a system that is stacked against tenants, and, of course, Dakota Johnson's complex relationship to limes.
Episode 16
Water
Sun, Jun 26, 2022
John Oliver discussed the water storage which is affecting many parts of the country, how it was impacted by the choices people made, and what can be done about it. He focused the piece around the Colorado river water, how it is being treated and what steps can be taken to reserve its water.
Episode 17
Inflation
Sun, Jul 24, 2022
John Oliver focuses on the running inflation which is hurting everybody, especially the most vulnerable people. He explains why it is not possible to blame the inflation on any particular issues. There are more than one issues which are contributing to the inflation. He suggests some ways of tackling it and affirms everyone that it might go away within a year or eighteen months.
Episode 18
Mental Health Care
Sun, Jul 31, 2022
John Oliver talks about the existing flaws and drawbacks in the mental health care system. He discusses things related to health insurance, the number of qualified caregivers, how apps related to mental health are failing to aid their users, and what can be done to improve the situation.
Episode 19
Monkeypox
Sun, Aug 7, 2022
John Oliver discusses the recent up rise of monkeypox outbreak in the United States of America., how properly equipped authorities were to contained it in early stage, and how terribly they failed to execute it effectively. Also he shared some gleam of hope in the horizon to tackle the crisis.
Episode 20
Afghanistan
Sun, Aug 14, 2022
John Oliver discusses the conditions of Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrawal. He discusses the impact of political conditions and other natural disasters which created a dire food insecurity among inhabitant of Afghanistan. Without any humanitarian aid a lot of people are taking some drastic measures, even selling own kidney to feed his daughters. He says that he understand the broad worries about sending money in Afghanistan may fell in Taliban's hand but he worries more about what will happen if nobody came forward to help the Afghans.
Episode 21
Carbon Offsets
Sun, Aug 21, 2022
John Oliver breaks down the real scenario behind the carbon offsets. He detailed out that how the loopholes are in this process and what little impact it has in the environment. Finally he himself opened a carbon registry company to show easy to open one and what little effort it takes it to run it with such low standards.
Episode 22
Law & Order
Sun, Sep 11, 2022
A television series called Law and Order is the central point of discussion. Particularly how it portrays the law enforcing agency to the mass people to create a illusion about a successful and effective law enforcing agency where actually the reality is quite different.
Episode 23
Bolsonaro
Sun, Sep 25, 2022
John Oliver briefly talks about the absurd things Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are doing these days before discussing the upcoming election of Brazil. He talks about the scary and ominous tactics of the current president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro about the election ahead and the mismanagement of his time in the office. And the most troublesome thing is that, despite all the incompetency and recklessness he holds a strong hold on his supporters and has a good connection with the nation's military.
Episode 24
Museums
Sun, Oct 2, 2022
This week John Oliver brings up the issue of stolen art and antiquities stored and displayed in various museums and the extreme reluctance by these museums to repatriate these stolen items to their country of origin. Most of these antiquities, which are a historical record of the societal culture of their places of origin, were looted during the colonial period by European colonial powers. However, this practice continues to the present day with museums and auction houses dealing with shady art dealers and thieves who manage to surreptitiously ship these pieces of art out of their country of origin. John addresses the arguments put forward by museums who don't want to return these stolen art pieces and argues that museums must put more due diligence and research into the ownership of art items before acquiring them.
Episode 25
Crime Reporting
Sun, Oct 9, 2022
John Oliver talks about crime reporting. He primarily focused on: the incentives driving the outlets to cover crimes, the flawed sources they actually rely upon; especially the police version of incident, and the greater harm that can do all of us in the society.
Episode 26
Transgender Rights II
Sun, Oct 16, 2022
John Oliver discusses the latest round of attacks on transgender rights, what's at stake, and the filthiest of the "Peanuts" characters.
Episode 27
Bail Reform
Sun, Oct 30, 2022
John Oliver discusses the issue about the bail reform, which is one of key talking points of republican politicians for attacking their opponents. Approximately 2/3 people are in the jail are not convicted of any crime so cash bail reform a logical idea to reduce state expense and save innocent people from unnecessary troubles.
Episode 28
Election Subversion
Sun, Nov 6, 2022
John Oliver talks about the number of election deniers who are currently campaigning for various key positions of the government. He shared some ideas how these election deniers are planning on changing the outcome of the next elections. Finally he urges the voters to vote again, not because it is fun but it is the right thing to do.
Episode 29
The Monarchy
Sun, Nov 13, 2022
John Oliver discusses the future of the British monarchy, what they have and have not acknowledged about their past, and how Winston Churchill preferred to go down water-slides.
Episode 30
Qatar World Cup
Sun, Nov 20, 2022
John Oliver starts with the recent chaos cooked by the eccentric billionaire Elon Musk. Then he talks about all the red flags about FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022; how they won the bid, how they were able to transform their city and who suffered for making this a reality.
