In his first episode since his friend Stephen Colbert’s final “Late Show,” John Oliver promptly called out CBS’ replacement, Byron Allen, daring him to try and compete with the HBO host’s own bit.
The moment came after an odd debate Oliver had with himself during Sunday episode, in which he toyed with whether he would ever have sexual relations with any of the animated characters he’s voiced. Yes, really. It was a question that came up as Oliver made fun of a January 6th rioter, who was pardoned.
“He looks like what had happened if Steve Carell f–ked Gru, which must be something that Steve’s thought about, right?” Oliver joked. “Doesn’t every voice actor wonder what it’d be like to have sex with the cartoon character that they voice? I know I have.”
From there, Oliver launched into his entire thought process, specifically referring to Vanity Smurf from the 2011 film “The Smurfs,” and Zazu from Disney’s live-action “The Lion King.” Eventually, he determined that he would, in fact, have relations with his characters, “but I’d feel really guilty about it afterwards.”
“Anyway, I would love to talk about this more, but we don’t have time, so I’ll just conclude by saying this: Let’s see Byron Allen do that on ‘Comics Unleashed,’” Oliver finished.
Indeed, Allen and “Comics Unleashed” took over Colbert’s time slot on CBS just over a week ago, the night after Colbert’s final show. Allen debuted to lackluster ratings, dropping 87% from Colbert’s finale the night before. In his first show in the time slot, Allen gave a quick shoutout to Colbert and other predecessors.
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” airs Sundays at 11 p.m. on HBO.
