John Oliver used Sunday’s episode of “Last Week Tonight” to try what most would consider a fool’s errand: Make Americans sympathize with the IRS.
Fortunately, he had the vocal support of Michael Bolton, who joined Oliver on stage to serenade what is, perhaps, America’s most hated government agency. And thanks to Bolton, it might go down in the history books as the “anus of our country” — but that’s a good thing.
“We need you real bad/though it’s clear nobody really likes you,” Bolton sang. “You’re the anus of our country, don’t you know/Tell me how are we supposed to live without you?/We couldn’t functionally survive.”
Before Bolton sang about the importance of the IRS, Oliver said he understands why people dislike the tax agency so much.
“Dealing with [the IRS] is obligatory. It often functions badly,” Oliver said. “And it combines two of the things that we hate the most in life: Someone taking our money and math.”
But Oliver hoped his viewers would look past the seemingly endless tax code and focus on the people that make up the agency.
“On the IRS YouTube channel, there are videos where employees talk about their job,” he said. “And they don’t seem evil, so much as unbelievably boring.”
Indeed, being a data transcriber for the IRS was probably nobody’s dream job as a child. Oliver goes on to remind viewers that the IRS has nothing to do with the amount of tax an individual pays, Congress does. Congress also has control over all changes to tax law. Last year alone, Congress enacted 579 changes to the laws.
“The only document that should change that often is the Wikipedia page for Bill Cosby,” Oliver said before noting the importance of the agency. “Think of our government as a body. The IRS is the anus,” Oliver said.
“It’s nobody’s favorite part, but you need that thing working properly or everything goes to shit real quick,” he said.
