'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'

British comedian and political satirist John Oliver has added himself to the line up of late-night show hosts.

After leaving “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” where he hosted last summer during Stewart’s absence, Oliver has started his own work with “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.”

While adding more criticism of news media and politics to the scope, Oliver seems to have simply replicated in the mold of talk shows.

Advertising itself as a weekly show that covers the relevant topics of the previous week, “Last Week Tonight” premiered April 27 on HBO.

The network, known for no filters and good old-fashioned political mockery, has not failed the new host in devolving in a show of criticism.

Through a quick 30-minute session, Oliver pointed out the flaws of the news media’s coverage of India’s upcoming election, made a crack at the misleading advertisements of food companies and interviewed the former NSA director Keith Alexander.

Though the sarcasm is enough to make any cynic happy, Oliver fails to bring anything new to the table.

His style definitely resembles that of Jon Stewart’s, and while it’s disappointing to not see fresh material, hope still remains for this newbie.

He appears to be more interactive with the audience but also searches for the same viewers of “The Daily Show.”

Hopefully, his younger age will bring with it a closer connection to the youth of talk show audiences.

Dialogue between Oliver and HBO programming president Michael Lombardo has suggested that the half-hour show may be extended to a full hour and air more often than Sunday night.

The nature of this idea seems to be that HBO just wants Oliver to get his feet wet before fully launching him into the big leagues.

If you’re looking for a weekly dose of sarcasm and criticism of the failures of America’s media and political system, this show is for you.

But don’t expect anything special, as Oliver still needs to work out his performance’s
kinks and could turn it into something else entirely.

Oliver’s previous works don’t go unnoticed, like his part in NBC’s “Community,” and he honestly pulls out a good amount of jokes.

But humor we’ve all seen before isn’t going to cut it, and Oliver must truly think about “reinvention” if he wants to make this work.