There have been a lot of comparisons to the Daily Show so I decided to point out some important distinctions. Aside from what one can only consider Jon Stewart's showbiz fatigue, there are two glaring differences between the Daily Show and Last Week Tonight.
First, Last Week Tonight is not only fresher, younger, and therefore has more to prove (and has been successful so far), but perhaps most importantly its on HBO. At first the difference didn't really strike me, then they did a long segment on Comcast and Time Warner Cable that was not only eye-opening in an investigative manner, but is a subject you would NEVER see on the Daily Show, probably because it is ultimately a subsidiary of a subsidiary of one of those two companies.
Secondly, and perhaps less importantly, Last Week Tonight is not, like its title suggests, a weekly show. Just look at its episode air dates. I'm not sure why so much time goes on between two episodes, but as long as they keep up what they've done so far I'm looking forward to it.
Primarily I'm excited to see a comedy news anchor go after the things that have been off-limits for comedy central personas due to their network status.
First, Last Week Tonight is not only fresher, younger, and therefore has more to prove (and has been successful so far), but perhaps most importantly its on HBO. At first the difference didn't really strike me, then they did a long segment on Comcast and Time Warner Cable that was not only eye-opening in an investigative manner, but is a subject you would NEVER see on the Daily Show, probably because it is ultimately a subsidiary of a subsidiary of one of those two companies.
Secondly, and perhaps less importantly, Last Week Tonight is not, like its title suggests, a weekly show. Just look at its episode air dates. I'm not sure why so much time goes on between two episodes, but as long as they keep up what they've done so far I'm looking forward to it.
Primarily I'm excited to see a comedy news anchor go after the things that have been off-limits for comedy central personas due to their network status.