John Oliver did not hold back on Sunday's 'Last Week Tonight' return, the first episode back since the writers' strike. While catching the audience up on the biggest news stories that happened during the 148-day strike, Oliver blasted studios for prolonging the strike.
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00:00 John Oliver did not hold back on Sunday's Last Week Tonight return, the first episode
00:06 back since the writer strike. While catching the audience up on the biggest news stories
00:10 that happened during the 148-day strike, Oliver blasted studios for prolonging it. "I wish
00:16 so much I could have told you these jokes at the time, but I couldn't because our writers,
00:20 the people who wrote those jokes, were forced to strike for a fair contract for the last
00:24 five months. And it was an immensely difficult time, not just for them, but for everyone
00:29 else working on this show and many others who could no longer do their jobs."
00:33 He continued in part, "The Writers Guild went on strike and thankfully won, but it took
00:37 a lot of sacrifices from a lot of people to achieve that. And while I'm happy that they
00:41 eventually got a fair deal and immensely proud of what our union accomplished, I'm also furious
00:46 that it took the studios 148 days to achieve a deal that they could have offered on day
00:50 f---ing one."
00:52 He said he hopes that SAG-AFTRA and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees are
00:56 able to advocate for fair contracts for themselves as well.
01:00 "Because the truth is, it takes many people working really hard to make film and TV, all
01:04 of whom deserve a piece of the pie, and for the actors in particular, they cannot come
01:08 back to work soon enough."
01:10 Elsewhere on the show, Oliver tackled his take on the news events that occurred during
01:14 the strike, including former President Donald Trump's mugshot.
01:17 "Trump was indicted multiple times, one of which gave us this mugshot in which he looks
01:21 like he's struggling to find Waldo on a crowded ski slope."
01:24 The coronation of King Charles.
01:26 "We also missed a bunch of international news like the coronation of King Charles,
01:31 the world's oldest boy."
01:33 And box office hit, Sound of Freedom.
01:35 "Feel good, child sex trafficking hit that we've all been waiting for."
01:39 For more on this story, head to THR.com.
01:42 And for the latest entertainment news and updates, keep watching The Hollywood Reporter
01:46 News.
01:46 (explosion)