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Comment by dvcrn | Hacker News Reader

As a non-american guy that has never seen John Oliver before, I found it very hard to sit through the entire thing until the end, though the payoff was definitely worth it.

This guys looks to me like he's been in TV for a little too long and tries very hard to find a audience with very simple jokes (that feel kind of forced) amplified by background laughter.

He has the right idea and did the right thing but I personally would have found it more enjoyable without the jokes.

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I too find it too hard to watch without cringing. He has a whole team of writers and the best they come up with is some sarcastic comments at someone's expense. Laughing at people is not 'social commentary', its lowest form of dumb comedy with horrible laugh tracks ( i thought we were done with silly laugh tracks ?)

I always thought this was a dying genre but seems like young ppl are into it?

Vaudeville never dies; it just changes costumes. ;)

I like a lot of his jokes, but I think there are too many of them, and too many are just "hey, here's a meme I remembered!"

But without them, I think his show would fall flat with most of his audience, so I don't think he really has a choice about them at this point.

Yeah, just a bunch of absurd similes does not represent good writing.

I feel relatively well versed in American "culture", but I still don't get a lot of the references he makes. On the other hand, I still laugh at many jokes and his rants on Trump are just epic.

That's how people feel when watching Silicon Valley on HBO to be honest.

To me is perfect cause I like programming, music, politics and weed.

America, a country where politics is a tragicomedy, comedy is about politics, and which is actually a continent.

Two continents, even.

Yeah. He could tone down a bit with the off the top jokes. Factual material he presents is morbidly funny enough.

I think it's addressed to rile up a certain demographic which otherwise would not get involved in issues.

He does the same thing every week, so his audience is jaded.

I just don't find him that funny.

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