John Oliver admonished Republicans for ducking their constituents during his monologue on Last Week Tonight, tearing into party leadership’s recent decision to advise members of Congress to stop holding town halls after a series of hostile face-offs with anti-Donald Trump and anti-DOGE attendees.
The HBO host in particular ripped into Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, who told his voters before fleeing his event: “You know, this is one of the rudest audiences I’ve ever had.”
“Grow up!” Oliver retorted. “Your job is to listen to people complain and act on their concerns. If you’re not doing that, people don’t owe you politeness. You know who gets to complain about a rude audience? Patti LuPone when someone’s texting, and end of list. So shut the f--- up!”
Oliver also singled out Missouri congressman Mark Alford, who, faced with suddenly out-of-work federal employees, argued instead: “I think you’re living in the greatest time in American history,” before telling his laid-off voters that “There are jobs available. God has a plan.”
“OK. I think relying on God’s plan when Elon Musk is part of the equation is a little hard to swallow, especially since if Elon himself was following God’s plan, he’d clearly be bald by now,” Oliver quipped, showing a years-old photo of a balding Musk.
The comedian also begged to differ about whether this is America’s greatest moment, countering: “For the record, the greatest time in American history was when Ted Cruz liked a porn tweet on 9/11. Name a greater moment. You can’t do it. Case closed.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, whom Oliver described as “Keebler Elf middle management,” tried to dismiss the backlash as a liberal conspiracy flooding GOP districts with “paid protesters” to disrupt the DOGE-related town halls.
Oliver was having none of it.
“We’re basically back to this s--t again. Look. The only reason anyone wouldn’t like me is if they were being paid to hate me would, admittedly, be a pretty iconic Housewives intro. But it’s an utterly transparent political move. Did you seriously get into this line of work expecting zero haters?”
Oliver added that though it might seem like Democrats should’ve harnessed this outrage, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries responded instead with a video message claiming the American people were with him—despite his decision to film the video while completely alone.
“What’s wrong with you?” Oliver wondered. “That kind of performative nonsense just is not matching the moment that we are in right now, and while it can be dispiriting to watch, it is worth remembering the last couple of weeks have also demonstrated there are effective ways to push back against what is happening right now”
Whether it works or not, he added: “I still believe making those people in power answerable and uncomfortable is worthwhile. So scream at them! Flood their phone lines. Make your voices heard.”
