All Of 'Last Week Tonight' Will Soon Be Available On YouTube For Free

The Big Picture

Last Week Tonight
is making its first season available for free on YouTube, with subsequent seasons to follow.
The show, hosted by John Oliver, covers relevant topics like the Supreme Court and climate change since 2014.
Known for its humor and satirical take on current events, the show has garnered both critical acclaim and strong ratings.

Last Week Tonight is a rerun this week, but soon you’ll be able to go back to the show’s beginnings in the distant past of 2014 – for free. The popular HBO comedy news show will upload its first season to YouTube this Sunday, April 28; seasons 2-8 will be uploaded on subsequent weeks when Last Week Tonight doesn’t run a new episode.

The show made the announcement in a new video from the show’s host, John Oliver. The video features a montage of early clips from the show (starring a much-less-gray Oliver) It also spotlights how many of the topics covered during that first season are, unfortunately, still all too relevant, from the US Supreme Court to climate change to the Israel-Palestine conflict. It also includes a number of memorable guests, including Jane Goodall, Stephen Hawking, and Bill Nye the Science Guy; sketches with an all-dog Supreme Court, the Muppets, and a pole-dancing chicken; and the show’s first-season finale, in which a “salmon cannon” used to help salmon swim upstream so tickled Oliver that he had a similar device built to launch fish at celebrities.

What is ‘Last Week Tonight’?

Hosted by British comedian and former Daily Show correspondent Oliver, Last Week Tonight began in 2014. It shares a number of similarities with the Daily Show, but dispenses with Jon Stewart‘s merry band of comedy correspondents and focuses largely on Oliver, who typically turns his satirical ire on a particular topic of the week. The show has been a hit with both critics and audiences, and regularly garners healthy ratings for HBO; it has also been lauded for bringing attention on important topics to light, but Oliver has dismissed any evidence of his show acting as an agent of change. During the coronavirus pandemic, the show shut down for a time before spending several weeks being broadcast from Oliver’s home; it has since returned to its studio home.

Last Week Tonight is currently in its eleventh season. This season, the show has controversially offered arch-conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas $1 million USD to retire from the Court; so far, he hasn’t taken them up on it.

Season 1 of Last Week Tonight will be available on YouTube for free starting this Sunday, April 28; the show’s later seasons will follow in the weeks to come. New episodes can be streamed on Max weekly. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.