S2 E17: Torture, Jack Warner & Putin: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Season 2, Episode 17, June 14th, 2015. With the help of Helen Mirren, John Oliver discusses America's enhanced interrogation program, Jack Warner responds to John's message on Trinidad TV, and Ukraine expects a Russian invasion.
Connect with Last Week Tonight online...
Subscribe to the Last Week Tonight KZbin channel for more almost news as it almost happens: / lastweektonight
Find Last Week Tonight on Facebook like your mom would: lastweektonight
Follow us on Twitter for news about jokes and jokes about news: lastweektonight
Visit our official site for all that other stuff at once: www.hbo.com/lastweektonight

[@thefob9675]

"And I raise you ... FIRE!" Chills. xD

[@Charlie-uf4ko]

I HAVE BEEN WONDERING WHERE "FIRE" FROM THE TRAILER COMES FROM!

[@zdelrod829]

1:08 "Even people who live in Russia don't want to visit Ukraine in the winter." Oh boy, John was ahead of the times by around 6.5 years.

[@jaredknapp8886]

They invaded Crimea and annexed it in 2014. He wasn't far off.

[@Rowsy91]

it definitely wasn't 6.5 years later that russia invaded

[@stoodmuffinpersonal3144]

John has been right about a few things. Not everything. But a few. Because He has what conspiracy folks think they do. Evidence. From researchers. Predicting the future is possible, if you have a falsifiable premise, and have the evidence/ precedent to back it up. And the resources and team of competent staff and researchers.

[@TheNinthGeneration1]

@@jaredknapp8886they didn’t lead a full scale border invasion until 2022

[@TheNinthGeneration1]

@@Rowsy91this aired in June of 2015, they invaded in February 2022, that’s about 6.5 years

[@jessejaimyhecker3350]

i am blown away by the fact that a lot off problems are still going on or repeating and this is like 9 years ago

[@Rowsy91]

Most of the issues they talk about have been around waaaaay longer than 9 years also

[@KaladinVegapunk]

Sadly, this applies to like every episode. Ongoing issues, problems, healthcare, police, global issues, infrastructure..most of his subjects are still very pressing problems no matter when you watch it

[@tranha3616]

Because a lot of world problems have been around for decades, centuries or even milenniums. I doubt any of the things he reports will go away any time soon.

[@Twowings2fly]

Started as a show, ended as a Rammstein concert. Well played.

[@crapshot321]

Good call.

[@forgiveman]

This is the start of the bombastic retorts that John Oliver does for his opponents. Good Job Mr. Turner for bringing the avengeful John Oliver to the scene.

[@zizinnnn]

the classic "we tortured some folks"😂

[@jhonsmith5093]

23:22 Did anyone else need to pause the video and look at that list of candidates and just think WOW?

[@tee_es_bee]

Yup, same.

[@malachichampion]

Came looking for this comment

[@LyonsM]

Yes wow, does time fly!!

[@jhonsmith5093]

@@LyonsM Not just that, I just had to stare, and then laugh, and then cry. To think, at that moment, no one has any idea that not a single one of those candidates were going to win.

[@tanman99]

I don’t remember anymore. When did Trump enter the stage.

[@kt9166]

Thank you for the whole of Season Two. So many topics, handled so well, and many still relevant. Kudos all around.

[@rjpittman4510]

23:20 "We asked all 14 declared candidates" (None of them won)

[@edwardskerl5774]

How different it would have been...

[@neonradius]

“Torture does not provide reliable information” is one of those facts that some people refuse to believe even when provided with ample evidence. I once had someone tell me, in the same five minute span of time, that American soldiers won’t give in to torture because they’re trained to give as much conflicting information as possible, so even if they do give in and give real information it’s surrounding by bad information, then say that torture gives reliable information on terrorists, not realizing that if that’s true and American soldiers are easily trained to not give in, terrorists would be trained to do the same thing. That person was my mom, who’s dead now, so I feel bad making fun of her stupid opinion in a comment section on youtube. But it was stupid, so I have to (sorry mom).

[@lenaeospeixinhos]

If death brings any clarity, she forgives you for speaking the truth. If not, if this is all there is, then she can't mind. Don't feel bad, I'm sure you loved her and that's what matters. My condolences ❤

[@serendipidus8482]

I won't even tell you the things my mom and aunty have said untill they pass 😂

[@tranha3616]

People dont really like to to what they dont already believe in. I have the same annoying experiences with my dad on a lot of different topics. The worst one is when he kept trying to convince people that there are ghosts and his last defense was "can you prove that ghosts dont exist?". That man was a professor of a prestigious university in my country. Yet he leaves me baffled from time to time because of the things fixated in his mind.

[@agiar2000]

When John says that it was rude for Putin to keep the Pope waiting for over an hour, he knows of which he speaks! Remember that Edward Snowden kept John waiting for over an hour too! 😄

[@DrewSavo]

Being late isn’t just rude, it’s a power play. They get a sense of inflation from the knowledge they are keeping someone else from doing other things because they’re waiting for them.

[@suzidickinson7783]

Excuse me, "Five hockey rinks surrounded by bears"? As a Canadian, I have to inform you that you forgot about the Tim Hortons at the centre!

[@violetsteele350]

And you forgot that there is a guy in the Tim Hortons screaming that it's called a toque (I don't French, desole) and not a beanie.

[@suzidickinson7783]

I wish they had filmed the conversation where they asked Helen Mirren to record that "Beatrix Potter" bit 😂

[@joannejohnson7006]

Helen is absolutely fabulous And you pretty good too John😂 Thank you x

[@Weiner-Worm]

Take me back to 2015 😭

[@felonius_punk]

Wow the russia/ukraine stuff went exactly how it seemed

[@victoriaeads6126]

It was a long time coming, but it wasn't unforeseeable. I have a background in Russian, Central, and East European culture and politics. Within the group of people with that background, we were predicting this conflict even before Crimea was occupied. Look at the history with Abkhazia, North Ossetia, and the Republic of Chechnya. He's been slowly seeing how far he can push the global West for decades.

[@Hayanomie]

It helped that the world did absolutely nothing to stop him in Syria ​@@victoriaeads6126

[@aclashoffireandice4084]

How the heck did they get Helen Mirren? In season 2? I guess that dragon money was working for them already.

[@victoriaeads6126]

He figured out by around the middle of season 1 that HBO was giving him an almost blank check, and he's made no secret that he's tried to push that as far as possible. He's essentially been trying to see when they will say no, and not really finding that line to cross 😂

[@ByllionBucks]

@@victoriaeads6126the musical of eat shit bob was one of the lines John can cross

[@BR1TTA1N]

@@ByllionBucksI was telling a mate about this exact thing earlier at the pub haha. A guy who always tried to bully people with money getting shown what a guy who doesn’t care about the money he’s spending can do haha.

[@megamihestia4049]

As it turned out, Putin was about 7 years late

[@Rowsy91]

no he invaded not that long after He invaded in 2014

[@alexpage4355]

@@Rowsy91 Except the video was from 2015... _after_ Russia had already annexed Crimea. This is in relation to a larger invasion of Ukraine, which, yes, he was about 7 years late for.

[@TurtleLover69527]

I never realized when I was watching this 9 years ago in college how influential John Oliver was and would become. He focuses on the hard-hitting issues that no one else is talking about and sometimes makes a real difference in getting powerful people to solve them.

[@rachelgallagher6214]

Love this guy ✌️💚 from Montana

[@DanielWilkie-dg4kp]

You bloody fool

[@artreleaf]

the library certainly is open

[@LyonsM]

“We tortured some folks, Op”. Lmao

[@anjelitamalik9763]

John was having so much fun with the fire

[@kevinmcqueenie7420]

LWT: Hey everyone, here are a bunch of our old episodes for free that you couldn't otherwise watch. Enjoy! The internet: Give us the original air date! Why are they not in a playlist? You mean I have to search myself for the episodes I want? Thanks a lot for messing up my recommendations, you [expletive bleeping bleep]!

[@cloudbrooks]

strawmanning /j

[@michaelf8221]

The release dates are in the description of every video

[@kevinmcqueenie7420]

@@michaelf8221 for season 2, sure, after a bunch of people complained about them not being there for season 1!

[@theteob689]

Season 2, Episode 17, June 14th, 2015. or you can just google "last week tonight episodes wiki" and get it from wikipedia.

[@Onigirli]

@@michaelf8221 I wasn't watching these until they had this info, but I assume those complaints were from before they added it to the video description

[@ZT1ST]

@29:22; Wait; seriously, how is it that it took until SLAPP Suits to get a lawsuit against Last Week Tonight?

[@carlairving]

My guess is that most organizations have at least 1 person who's heard of the Streisand effect. And I sincerely believe FIFA's direction appreciated someone openly acknowledging their efforts to be recognized as super villains...

[@LyonsM]

Wait, I’m curious. Are you saying that’s a good thing or are you being sarcastic??

[@denverarnold6210]

​@@LyonsMi think more in disbelief

[@Onigirli]

@@LyonsM How does sarcasm even make sense there?

[@Rowsy91]

It was the Coal episode that got a lawsuit against LWT The SLAPP suit episode is where they discuss it finally, as they could not while it was in progress

[@NefastusJones]

The FDNY Explosive Unit, everybody!! They do good work.

[@eggtarts286]

I want to know- is the audiobook for that report still available?

[@jacobgallant8902]

And where to find it

[@bluebelle8823]

I went back and looked at comments from the time, mostly reddit and on some articles that still had visible comments. It is believed that the audiobook was fake. Which is kinda disappointing.

[@unknownavailability]

I took it as only being made for that person that he was referencing

[@katia.anderson]

I looked and there is a real audiobook recorded by others, but the Helen one isn't available.

[@hullutsuhna]

7:30 simple, Canada simply out-Britained Britain

[@charleswentworth1530]

I think the Caspian sea bit's been the greatest of the geography gag

[@judy2007]

Why didn't it become a tradition that every show would end like this... I loved it! (Would also be cool if everyone's workday always ended that way... 🔥⚡️🔥)

[@21pandas_]

I raise you fire 🔥 😂 That was the most perfect thing I have ever seen! 😂😂

[@Tukaro]

16:53 This is an interesting episode to watch after seeing Jacob Geller's recent "Analyzing Every Torture Scene in Call of Duty - All 46 of Them" episode.

[@jennyjohns2012]

John Oliver, you crack me up😂😂😂😂🎉🎉🎉🎉🧢🧢🧢🧢

[@FloatingSpark]

I think we just witnessed one of the happiest moments of John Oliver's life

[@birbluv9595]

Oh, those halcyon days. John McCain and Dianne Feinstein working together to do some good in the world.

[@MusicfromMarrs]

2:55 - in Morgan Freeman's voice: John did not, in fat, get tired of this game. ;)

[@birbluv9595]

Why do people even watch TV shows like “24”? Who wants to watch fellow humans in pain? Is there an innate cruel streak in humanity that i seem to be missing?

[@Onigirli]

We all tuned in because we loved the ticking sounds

[@Rowsy91]

Because it was a really good show

[@BirdsNNVA]

I agree. I cannot stand to see cruelty and violence.

[@Rowsy91]

@@BirdsNNVA it’s a tv show it’s not real 😂

[@stephenrobinson8244]

Lmfao the Canada bit 😂 24million spent to find 1million of expenses maybe wrongly claimed

[@skyteus]

I remember finding that dramatic music like over 10 years ago

[@heyysimone]

"forced rectal feeding with no medical necessity" Im sorry, is there ever a time when feeding someone rectally is a medical necessity?!

[@forgiveman]

Maybe it can be a "Centipide Man" issue.

[@redgreen2453]

I’d imagine pretty often, it’s the second most direct access to the digestive system so I’d imagine it’s the go to when the most direct access is blocked for any reason. Beats going in through the nose or front hole, I’d imagine I’d imagine in a medical setting they’d put you under for the process though and that it would be actual suppositories rather than just blended up cafeteria food (Edit: I don’t think I said “I’d imagine” enough. Clearly I like thinking about butts 😅)

[@TheRealEvilkitten3]

yes! if you live in the 19th century and tube feedings haven't really gotten effective yet

[@SoraShadowdancer]

My assumption would be that they would use a feeding tube instead.

[@serendipidus8482]

That was exactly the opposite of food going into bums. Exact opoosite. Not that ive ever watched it since that is the epitome of fruggen gross ...​@@forgiveman

[@mydogis_olaf3274]

Jun 14, 2015 - wow how this has aged 😂

[@shazarahramesar6395]

I love you so much John 😂😂🎉

[@stuartsmith8155]

John, I am proud to have a failed engish comic giving the world the news from one of englands failed colonies.

[@glenjennett]

That's not very nice.

[@TheRealEvilkitten3]

@@glenjennett no i think john oliver would approve of that remark

[@glenjennett]

@@TheRealEvilkitten3 I doubt he would approve of someone insulting him. Besides, if he's such a failure, then why do so many people enjoy watching him and think he is funny, including you and the one who made the comment?

[@TheRealEvilkitten3]

@@glenjennett john oliver has historically been pretty down with self-deprecating humor, and he frequently seems to think other people insulting him is also funny. moreover he himself has referred to his pre-america career in negative terms before, so i don't think he'd really mind all that much. for the record, i'm a huge fan of john oliver and have been for years; i'm not trying to be a jerk to him. i just genuinely think he'd be fine with this joke.

[@Onigirli]

Grr.. you need to show him some respect

[@BittaSweetJP]

Torture, is not what thanking every s2 feels like when you realize there is more to thank

[@Onigirli]

wot

[@ArsyaUtomo]

I RAISE YA FIYAH

[@vishaloberoi6710]

Bill taught me a lot in this episode. I must be one with the mango.

[@Jcewazhere]

Wow, Feinstein...

[@silvestrewilson4644]

This aged interestingly….

[@michaelvelasquez3988]

You RULE John 😅

[@snapecharmer]

THE FIRE 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Rowsy91]

5:55 Speaking as a Canadian we no longer claim Drake, John haha. Not like us

[@Rowsy91]

Does John know that Sutherland is Canadian?? lol

[@cbmirada]

😂😂😂they have a scandal with a million dollars, but the US just turns an eye to Drumpfs many golf trip expenses 😂😂😂

[@squirrelbusken-cv4wy]

This Absolutely.Petty and high production shit is exactly why I would like john oliver so much. He never just does a bit throws it out there, then ignores it. If someone is foolish enough to strike back he is petty enough to do so ten times harder. And I love him for it.

[@PremierCCGuyMMXVI]

1:15 yeah…7 years late lol

[@anand3623]

5:52 even John was dissing Drake

[@ryanhiggins1902]

You almost irish mr alllover. Hilarious :) 🌟☝️😜 🗽🇺🇲🧜🏼‍♂️🏰🏰🏰♦️🦏🧙‍♂️🧞‍♂️

[@ryanhiggins1902]

🎄

[@Malachi_Marx]

Imagine a world where, the worst possible 2016 presidential election would have been Lindsey Graham...

[@Ravus_Sapiens]

19:56 To be fair, you could actually enrich uranium like that. Although I doubt anyone can swing a bucket hard enough to act like an enrichment centrifuge, never mind for solid matter... Most natural uranium is U-238, which is very weakly fissile and so, not very useful in nuclear bombs. What is useful is "highly enriched uranium" (Uranium samples composed of more than 20% U-235, and weapons grade uranum is usually around 60-80% U-235), unfortunately U-235 and U-238 have the same chemical properties, so the only way to seperate the two is to make use of the fact that U-238 is slightly heavier than U-235, so what you do is you vaporise it inside a spinning cylinder and filter away the stuff on the outside. Then you let it cool and repeat until you've removed around 98% of the initial mass. Congrantulation, you now have a small amount of weapons grade uranium. Of course, you'll need about 10kg of the stuff, so you better be able to get your hands on about half a metric tons of raw uranium. Plutonium is significantly easier to make into a weapon since you'd only need about a 10th of the mass to achieve the same result, but it's also significantly harder to get hold of; you either need a neutron enrichment reactor to turn U-238 into Pu-239, or you need literally all the plutonium in the Earth's crust. Of course, if miniturisation was the goal, you'd want Californium, but Cf-252 is so hard to make that not even the nuclear nations are using it in their weapons programs, never mind terrorist organisations. It's also way too dangerous to mass produce even if we could: the critical mass of a sphere of Cf-252 is 5kg!

[@johncorman8715]

Good luck getting Helen Mirren to read your comment.

[@Elataki]

Fire 28:45

[@tomking2613]

SO late upoaded.. Yet so present. Quite upsetting, yet truth. lets be better.

[@dragonfan8647]

8:38 Anyone reminded of that X-Files episode? "Bleeping alien"

[@somestormchaseridjitwithwi2024]

18:16 WTF LMAO

[@richwiebe8084]

Reggie Watts is from Montana

[@gayahithwen]

Seriously, though, if he really did get Helen Mirren to read the whole thing, where can people find said audiobook? Like, release it? Upload it to youtube? The book is public domain, and I assume if Mirren did in fact read the whole thing, she'd love for people to actually listen to it?

[@businessmanager2780]

😂 spectacularly stupid. Love me some Last week with JO.

[@burneggroll]

7:04 cost $23.6 million to conduct this audit 7:07 which only found less than $1 million of 7:09 questionable expenses a source tells

[@peterkotara]

Beatrix Potter so so ahead of her time.

[@MasterOfViewership]

To be fair, beach soccer sounds fun

[@destonlee2838]

John Oliver will show jack Warner "the life of the mind"

[@jacobharvill469]

john oliver has joined a prodigious making fun of babies club! lets see if he responds

[@michaeldoef198]

People will say what you want under torture it is not reliable

[@Chaun1998]

I forgot how fun reality used to be

[@AshrafAnwar-e7s]

America's image overseas? What image? Imagine the rest of the statement...

[@wta1518]

This originally aired 2 days before the apocalypse.

[@Jeepscreeps90210]

I fucking love his job.

[@ericherde1]

15:00 No need to apologize to them. Apologize to other hummus, but Sabra is made with blood.

[@JinxTheLooneyToon915]

25:08 28:45

[@lileos2837]

a) thank you for pointing out the astoundingly stupid things scalia always said in his opinions b) thank you for covering torture, which our scotus has now sanctioned for executions by using the family dog as the most reliable expert, ignoring the real experts, and saying that prisoners prefer to be tortured (which makes no sense since those prisoners sued). they aren't worried that it would still be crimes against humanity in international law. so ppl should pay attention. it is no longer an easily reversible exec order.

[@jensmoons]

Wait. Trump wasn’t even a candidate yet. I am furiously ravaging my brain trying to remember when that happened.

[@stoodmuffinpersonal3144]

Man. Wouldnt it be wild, that someone who was a member of the highest courts in the land, be dumb enough to use a fictional TV show as evidence of effectiveness? Wouldnt it be wild for someone that unqualifed to be that powerful? Man. These really were simplier times.

[@dustinshuh972]

I lost a hang nail in my ear... Qtip or hospital? Please respond with urgency

[@UltimaPowers]

Push a Q-tip into your other ear until you find the factory reset button.

[@letitiajeavons6333]

Dianne Feinstein was sharp and ballsy. She should have quit while she was ahead and retired at the top of her game.

[@consterned]

Did anyone say Rob Ford died in 2016? I imagine so

[@heyysimone]

Did Helen Mirren actually read the whole thing?

[@hinoakuma6386]

I've been searching for it but have found nothing. So my assumption is she didn't.

[@steveshehan5291]

When one thinks that Louis the 16th forbid any form of torture !! The french guillotined the wrong king !!!

[@cb7pwn]

the time lime on these uploads is confusing as hell! uploaded 3 weeks ago video from 9 years ago...

[@Leviajohnson]

And same Russia Ukraine story in the news

[@WOLFFMAAN8714]

Fire

[@edwardskerl5774]

This has aged interestingly...

[@doitdiddy]

Too funny!🇨🇦

[@miskabednjak5141]

Eastern euros know what we never did colonizers don't get me wrong we fight amongst our selves but unlike western powers we never colonized native peoples African Indian Asian

[@TheRealEvilkitten3]

did you just like forget about russia or...???

[@citizenenak]

The cost is worth it if you can further clamp down on unlawful/personal expenditures. Just imagine how much money the American citizens paid during the free cor all during COVID. It was epic in the fraud committed.

[@citizenenak]

This fraud happened under Donald and Biden hasn't seen fit to give a voice to the millions embezzled if reporting is to be believed.

[@heatherdowhaluk2128]

Yep🇨🇦 sorry

[@findingpeacedailyfpd6064]

Props too all the "Comedian fools".

[@Julian_Wang-pai]

Why is this (vintage) edition in my feed..?

[@emiliskog]

Because they're uploading one season per week off, since they now own their back catalogue

[@TillyOrifice]

Because God loves you. Seriously. He loves you and he's making you the gift of John Oliver every week. You lucky devil.

[@JimmyUndead-V7]

*Breaking the Battle Mode Seal* “Look out! This guy has only one gear, battle mode and hard life. Most people shift and have information and engineering as a complete gear set.” -Anonymous Comic Book Once a person shifts into battle gear there is only one outcome and either way, anyone who breaks that seal is going to pay for it. Dead human bees, man. Still buzzing around. You can’t shift out of battle mode once you break that seal. You just buzz around until you die from it.

[@mattmas32]

Turns out Drumpf's butt-buddy Putin was nearly 7 years late.

[@lesliewilker412]

Niagara Falls is the American side.

[@vulcanfeline]

if people would just get over it and admit shit is not swearing and even if it were, fuck is just a word