John Oliver Claps Back at Jay Leno Over Late Night TV Criticism

John Oliver is sharing his reaction to Jay Leno’s criticism of late night television shows.

The former Tonight Show host, 75, recently said he feels the current crop of late night talk show hosts are alienating viewers with apparently partisan politics.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Tuesday, August 5, Oliver clapped back, “I’m going to take a hard pass on taking comedic advice from Jay Leno.”

The Last Week Tonight host elaborated further that “comedy can’t be for everyone” after Leno remarked that late night hosts should aim to attract the widest audience possible.

“It’s inherently subjective,” Oliver, 48, explained. “So, yeah, when you do stand-up, some people try to play to a broader audience, which is completely legitimate. Others decide not to, which is equally legitimate. I guess I don’t think it’s a question of what you should do because I don’t think comedy is prescriptive in that way. It’s just what people want.”

He added, “I think our show clearly comes from a point of view, but most of those long stories we do are not party political. They’re about systemic issues. Our last few shows were about gang databases, AI slop, juvenile justice, med spas, air traffic control. I’m not saying that these don’t have a point of view in them. Of course, they do. But I hope a lot of them actually reach across people’s political persuasions. You want people to at least be able to agree on the problem, even if you disagree on what the solution to it is.”

Speaking in an interview with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute in late July, Leno looked back at his tenure as host of The Tonight Show — which he fronted from 1992 to 2009 and again from 2010 and 2014 — and said he tried to maintain political neutrality on his show.

“It was fun to me when I got hate letters: ‘You and your Republican friends’ [or] ‘Well, I hope you and your Democratic buddies are happy’ … over the same joke,” Leno said. “I go, ‘Well, that’s good.’ That’s how you get a whole audience.”

Comparatively, the late night television veteran said, “Now you have to be content with half the audience because you have to give your opinion.”

“I don’t think anybody wants to hear a lecture,” Leno continued. “I love political humor, don’t get me wrong, but what happens is people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other.”

“Why shoot for half an audience? Why not try to get the whole? I like to bring people into the big picture. I don’t understand why you would alienate one particular group,” he said. “Or just don’t do it at all. I’m not saying you have to throw your support or whatever, but just do what’s funny.”