An insight into the world of the politically incorrect.
Political commentators, or as their more commonly known as political satirist, address important issues or use freedom of speech to make fun of world issues. Comparing three of them, Jon Stewart, John Oliver and Bill Maher, gives insight to those not interested in politics. Adding comedy to serious, every day current political events appeals to more people who don’t invest in following changing government policy.
John Oliver is a British comedian who became more widely known when he was the third host of the Daily show with Jon Stewart. As his popularity grew, he was given his own show on HBO called Last Week Tonight, which airs on Sundays at 11 pm. His stories are more focused on getting the information out there, with a couple of jokes sprinkled throughout. Most of the stories he covers are more or less about American politics and democracy. The staff on the show work on stories months in advance. Most of the staff, have some form of comedic background.
“Campaign ads are the backbone of American democracy if American democracy suffered a gigantic spinal injury,” Oliver said. This is just an example of how he addresses the issues, as well incorporating humor to get the point across.
Jon Stewart was the first host of The Daily Show that John Oliver hosted for a couple of years. He has given many comedians the opportunity to expand, and become better known, such as John Oliver and Trevor Noah, who currently hosts The Daily Show. When he was on the Daily Show his focus was more on comedy than the news. Last year he retired from The Daily Show and television. However, he still does some appearances on TV shows such as Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show and his original show, The Daily Show.
As for Bill Maher, he does stand up before every show introducing the events that happen before airing the episode, then moves on to interviews, and shares his thoughts on the focus of the story. He also had a show on ABC, and Comedy Central called Politically Incorrect, which was a parody of the show Meet the Press. During Politically Incorrect, guests sit around and talk about what is happening in America. Maher first started in the political satire business 27 years ago. He has had the opportunity to publish many books, and appear in plenty of specials. His new show “Real time with Bill Maher” is on Fridays at 10 pm on HBO.
All of them are popular with those who follow political satairism. John Oliver focuses on the story as well as Bill Maher. Whereas, Jon Stewart targets the humor of it all. Both Jon Stewart and John Oliver are the most similar when it comes to humor but John Oliver and Bill Maher are closely related when it comes to getting the story out there. The ratings for the show differ between each show with John Oliver leading the packed with 9.1/10 on IMDB and 9.3/10 on TV.com, Bill Maher going in second place with a 7.7/10 on IMDB and a 8.3/10 on TV.com