John Oliver jokes about Skydance takeover on Last Week Tonight

MUMBAI: John Oliver has welcomed his new corporate overlords the only way he knows how: with a joke at their expense. The Last Week Tonight host took a couple of pointed swipes at Skydance on Sunday, poking fun at the company’s growing media empire and hinting at possible budget cuts following its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns HBO.

Oliver had not addressed the takeover on the previous week’s episode. This time, however, he worked in references to Skydance, which also acquired Paramount last year, while tackling a subject seemingly far removed from Hollywood boardrooms: generic medicines.

During his main segment, Oliver discussed how the US Food and Drug Administration inspects overseas manufacturers of generic drugs. He explained that, unlike inspections at US factories, many overseas inspections are announced in advance, giving manufacturers time to prepare and potentially conceal problems.

Citing a study, Oliver said the odds of a facility receiving the most severe inspection outcome were more than 250 per cent higher when inspections were unannounced.

He then turned the scrutiny towards his own workplace, joking that the Last Week Tonight studio was clean only because he knew the audience would be arriving.

“Otherwise this place will be a complete pigsty,” he said, before adding that he literally ran a wet market in the studio for the rest of the week. The punchline? He was simply trying to get ahead of any Paramount budget cuts.

The gag offered a glimpse of Oliver’s response to the changing corporate landscape around his show, using the prospect of cost-cutting as material rather than addressing the takeover directly.

Oliver saved another dig for a segment featuring Liberty Mutual’s advertising mascot, Liberty Biberty, a fluffy, round yellow character. He showed the mascot in several suggestive poses and encouraged viewers to share similar images in an effort to get the character dropped from the insurance company’s campaign.

After the images appeared, Oliver turned his attention back to his new corporate parent.

“I’m thrilled to be part of the Skydance family! Hope you’re happy with what you bought, guys! We’re never gonna change! … Never, we’re never changing!” he said.

The sarcasm was unmistakable: Skydance may have acquired the company behind his show, but Oliver was signalling that its irreverent tone was not about to be traded in.

With the takeover reshaping the corporate structure behind HBO, Oliver’s jokes put an entertainment-industry twist on a familiar question surrounding media mergers: what changes when a new owner takes charge, and what stays stubbornly the same?