Season 9 is going well enough for “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” earning the late-night host another Emmy earlier this year.
Of course, the name Emmy is nothing new for Oliver and his team. This year’s win marks the show’s 22nd nomination. And that’s probably why we have to wait for several seasons to come. Back in September of 2021 “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” underwent a 3-season renewal, moving the late night show to 2023.
That said, like anyone else, late night hosts take vacations. And if you’re here, you’re probably wondering if John Oliver has a new episode this week, considering Oliver does Surprise days are a habit to take off.
Well, it’s a good call, but the good news is Yes, there’s a new episode of “Last Week Tonight” out this Sunday, October 9th.
Last week, Oliver opted for a longer show than usual, so he had plenty of time to discuss his main topic: museums. More specifically, the late night host spoke about how some antiquities get into museums illegally.
To close the section, Oliver specifically called the British Museum, bringing sculptures that are housed in the Acropolis Museum in Greece. He noted that, in some sculptures, his fragments are much whiter than the rest, as the missing pieces have been filled in with plaster. Those missing pieces are kept in the British Museum.
“Yeah, we got it! Honestly, if you’re ever looking for a missing artifact, nine times out of 10, it’s in the British Museum,” Oliver said. “It is basically the world’s largest lost and found, with both ‘lost’ and ‘found’ in the heaviest possible quotation marks.”
Throughout the segment, Oliver continually excavates in his home country, denouncing the British defense of keeping the artifacts, including reasons such as Britain being able to take better care of it than in their home countries.
The late-night host defended that “it was a different time – everyone robbed and it was totally fine” – especially footage of British Prime Minister William Gladstone’s reaction to the British army stealing Ethiopian treasures to call In it, Gladstone said that he “deeply mourned” that the artifacts were “deemed fit to be brought away by the British Army.”
“We didn’t even know how to cure a UTI without a leech,” Oliver joked. “But we knew it was ‘deeply mournful’ for them to raid other countries, which is British for ‘super f-ed up’.”
You can relive the entire segment here.