John Oliver Shades Jay Leno’s ‘Late Show’ Cancellation Comments

John Oliver and Jay Leno have differing opinions when it comes to political comedy on late-night TV.

In a recent interview with David Trulio, president and CEO of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, Leno criticized late-night hosts for alienating “half the audience” with their personal political opinions. “It’s funny when … you make fun of their side and they laugh at it. I don’t think anybody wants to hear a lecture,” he said, adding, “I don’t understand why you would alienate one particular group … just do what’s funny.”

Oliver, however, told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published on Tuesday, August 5, that he will “take a hard pass on taking comedic advice from Jay Leno.”

When asked if late-night shows should appeal more to both sides of the political spectrum, Oliver stated, “Who thinks that way? Executives? Comedy can’t be for everyone. It’s inherently subjective. 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.”

Referring to his own series, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, he said, “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.”

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Oliver and Leno’s interviews come on the heels of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert‘s cancellation at CBS. The network claimed last month that the decision was purely financial, though some have speculated it was politically motivated. The cancellation occurred shortly after Paramount settled a $16 million lawsuit with President Donald Trump over his claims that 60 Minutes deceptively edited a 2024 interview featuring former Vice President Kamala Harris.

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“What’s happened to The Late Show is incredibly sad for comedy and, obviously, for the staff in that building, Oliver told THR of the cancellation. “It really resonated with me when Stephen said he was hoping to hand this show over to someone else. You hope that the franchise lives on partly because there are generations of teenagers watching those shows and deciding, ‘Maybe I’d like to be a comedy writer,’ and then maybe writing on that show.”

He added, “Just as there are Colbert writers that watched Letterman, there will be future writers that watched Colbert, and you want that to continue. I’m sure it’ll find a way to exist in some form, we just don’t yet know exactly what that’s going to look like for network television.”

Oliver was one of several TV hosts — including Anderson Cooper, Andy Cohen, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and Jon Stewart — to show their support for Stephen Colbert by making cameos on The Late Show‘s July 21 episode. In a parody of the Coldplay kiss-cam scandal, Oliver and his fellow stars each had their own hilarious reactions to being caught on camera in the show’s audience.