How good is John Oliver?
Not only did he expertly guest host The Daily Show for a summer, not only did he move to HBO, where he’s started to outshine Bill Maher — on Thursday’s The Daily Show he also banished his old boss Jon Stewart from the desk to host the show himself.
Yep, Oliver was back, and for one night only. Why? The episode was dedicated to Stewart’s directorial debut Rosewater, and Stewart didn’t feel comfortable plugging his own movie as host.
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So, he did what anyone with a British BFF does. Stewart took out a tea pot with the likeness of Queen Elizabeth II, rubbed it like a genie’s lamp, and out popped Oliver from backstage.
Stewart asked if Oliver could do the show, to which Oliver replied, “I think we’ve already seen that I can do that.”
Oliver went on to interview Maziar Bahari, the journalist whose arrest and torture in Iran led to Stewart directing Rosewater.
“You’re welcome,” Bahari told Oliver. “If it was not for my arrest, Jon would not make a film, you would not host the show and you would not have your show now.”
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Oliver welcomed Stewart back at the end of the show, allowing him to pitch the film. When Stewart began to wax philosophical (something about the triumph of the human spirit) Oliver interrupted him, urging Stewart to wrap it up, and reminding people Dumb and Dumber To was also out this weekend.
Oliver was a correspondent and writer on The Daily Show from 2006 to 2013. He guest-hosted during the summer of 2013 while Stewart directed Rosewater, leaving in December to host Last Week Tonight for HBO.
Email: Aaron.Couch@THR.com
Twitter: @AaronCouch
