John Oliver is looking for a new gig.
During tonight’s installment of Last Week Tonight, the political comic and late-night host set aside a good chunk of his program to lobby earnestly for a “juicy” guest role on a daytime soap opera. While the main story concerned the Donald Trump administration and DOGE’s gutting of USAID, Oliver spent just over 10 minutes fervently discussing his love of sudsers.
The ask was spurred by the discovery of TV personality Stephen A. Smith’s own recurring role on General Hospital as “Brick,” which admittedly made Oliver “jealous.”
“To all the soap operas out there, let me say this: I am officially offering myself to you. Write me a role, and I’ll be on your set so fast, it’ll make your head spin. I only have a few conditions: First, I don’t want to play myself, I want to be a character. And I want his name to be ridiculous. Also, I want to do something juicy — like murder or slapping or being slapped or being someone’s long-lost something — and, ideally, I’d like a dramatic closeup of my face. But in return, trust me, I will give my all to this performance.”
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To prove his dramatic acting chops, Oliver then reenacted a scene in the vein of Smith’s own hospital shootout in the ABC soap. He enlisted the help of none other than 30 Rock alum Jack McBrayer, who played Colonel Sanders — a reference to George Hamilton portraying the KFC founder on GH back in 2018.
Elsewhere on Last Week Tonight, Oliver commented on the U.S. and Israeli strike on Iran, which Trump admitted could lead to a worst-case scenario of a new leader being propped up who may not be much more benevolent.
“It is jarring to hear such a lucid analysis of his own actions in the Middle East there. You don’t expect that from him. It’s like hearing him say, ‘Have you read the latest issue of The New Yorker?’ Or seeing him in the Criterion Closet,” Oliver quipped.