John Oliver: ‘It’s Massively Frustrating’ HBO Waits Almost a Week to Have ‘Last Week Tonight’ Clips on YouTube

John Oliver doesn’t want his talk show title “Last Week Tonight” to be too literal.

The late night host said during The New York Times‘ “The Interview” podcast that HBO delaying the release of his episode clips online makes “Last Week Tonight” stale. In fact, with the four-day delay that HBO rolled out starting with the Season 11 premiere, it’s almost like “Last Last Week Tonight” for audiences watching on YouTube. The show airs on HBO Sunday nights, with clips going online the following Thursday.

More from IndieWire

• 10 Cameras (and One Dog) Helped 'Only Murders in the Building' Blow Up Episode 6

• How Horror-Streamer Shudder Is Gearing Up for Halloween

“It’s massively frustrating to me,” Oliver said. “I was not happy with it at all.”

Warner Bros. Discovery opted for HBO to delay Oliver’s segments online to get more people to sign up for streaming platform Max. Oliver is just thankful HBO can still share content on YouTube, too.

“What I love about having the show on YouTube is that we can reach beyond HBO subscribers. That feels really important to me,” he said. “I really, really appreciate the fact that they do that. I would rather they did it straight after the show the way we’ve always done it, but I’m very grateful that they are willing to still do it at all.”

Oliver added as to why “Last Week Tonight” will not be covering the 2024 election debates that “it feels like to a certain extent, our show has moved into an area where we are very much slow cooking.”

HBO issued a statement upon the announcement in early 2024, saying, “When ‘Last Week Tonight with John Oliver‘ premiered on HBO, the convenience of watching on Max did not exist so YouTube allowed flexible viewing for the main story as well as promotional exposure. We are now delaying that availability and hope those fans choose to watch the entire show on Max.”

Oliver said on Twitter at the time, “I know I usually share a link to our main story here on Mondays, but HBO has decided they’re going to wait until Thursday to post them to YouTube from now on. I hope they change their mind, but until then, you can see our piece about the Supreme Court on HBO, on MAX, and on YouTube in a few days.”

“Last Week Tonight” has won a total of 30 Emmys over the course of its decade-long run. The series recently won the 2024 Emmy for outstanding scripted variety series.

Best of IndieWire

• Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See

• 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie

• The 55 Best LGBTQ Movies and TV Shows Streaming on Netflix Right Now

Sign up for Indiewire's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.