As Vice President Mike Pence’s family got ready to release a children’s book about the adventures of their family pet, John Oliver and the staff of Last Week Tonight published their own parody version. In an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Tuesday, Oliver was able to celebrate the news that his picture book — Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Presents a Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo — scored the number one spot on Amazon’s best-seller list.
“Mike Pence is a man who I think has few qualities to his name,” Oliver told DeGeneres. “However, one thing I love about him is his rabbit.”
The rabbit, Marlon Bundo, is the subject of both the Pences’ and Oliver’s book. The Last Week Tonight host’s book goes beyond telling the story of Marlon Bundo’s adventures in the White House, and includes a narrative of the rabbit falling in love with and marrying another male rabbit — a nod to Pence’s ultra-conservative views on same-sex marriage.
“He [Pence] clearly, to put it in the nicest possible terms, is not a friend of the LGBTQ community,” Oliver said before celebrating the book’s top Amazon spot.
Oliver also revealed that the book had sold out because he wasn’t anticipating anyone would actually purchase it.
“They’re doing a reprint, so you can still buy it,” Oliver said. “You can buy the second printing, so it’ll take a few weeks.”
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Meanwhile, as of Tuesday, Marlon Bundo’s A Day in the Life of the Vice President — written by Pence’s 24-year-old daughter, Charlotte, and illustrated by Second Lady Karen Pence — sat at number four on Amazon.
DeGeneres told Oliver that the book made her happier than she could even tell him. The HBO host added that all of the book’s proceeds would be donated to the Trevor Project and AIDS United.
During the rest of his appearance, Oliver opened up about covering the “soap opera” of the White House, and how it’s hard to focus on one story at a time because “life is a roller coaster of pain at the moment.”