John Oliver was back with a new target on Sunday night, this time taking aim at Dr. Mehmet Oz and his ongoing run for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania. Oliver had just two words to sum up Oz’s campaign: “s— show.”
To kick off his segment, Oliver played footage of Donald Trump’s recent endorsement of Oz because Oz two-decade career on TV is a good indicator that “means people like you.” At that, Oliver had a good laugh, and read out some of the mean the YouTube comments he continues to receive, 16 years into his own television career.
Then, Oliver dug in on Oz’s campaign itself, rather than who’s supporting it.
“Yes, Trump has endorsed Dr. Oz and we’ve talked about Dr. Oz’s daytime snake-oil carnival in detail before so I didn’t think his campaign could surprise me,” Oliver said. “But it has, because it’s been a s— show.”
To bolster his argument, Oliver first homed in on the fact that Oz lives in New Jersey and has mostly worked in New York — but is running for Senate in Pennsylvania. You can watch part of Oliver’s segment in the video above.
“For years, he’s lived in New Jersey and his social media still frequently shows him at his North Jersey mansion,” Oliver explained. “So he is running for office in a state he doesn’t seem to want to live in — a savvy political move known as the ‘Eric Adams special’” — a reference to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, whose primary residency was questioned during his campaign last year since he owned a co-op in Fort Lee, New Jersey. “When he wasn’t in New Jersey, he was often here in New York. And the reason I know that is his show filmed in this studio. His offices were actually right across the hall from us.”
Oliver then revealed that he’s been trolling Oz and his team for years, citing an old bit in which he set up a giant alligator prop — one that is holding up its middle finger — in the reception area right outside Oz’s offices. “It did seem an appropriate way for him to be greeted every morning,” Oliver joked.
As the segment went on, Oliver also scoffed at Oz’s many TikTok videos, in which he complains about inflation and gas prices, blaming Joe Biden for both. “Look, gas prices are a real concern,” Oliver said. “But, Dr. Oz is worth over $100 million, so it’s a little weird for him to act like it’s specifically straining his budget.”
All that said, Oliver did admit that he should’ve been a bit more sympathetic to Oz’s staff, at least.
“This campaign actually has taught me something, because I talked a lot of s— about ‘The Dr. Oz Show’ and I did that because it was unremittingly terrible,” Oliver said. “But what is now clear is that I didn’t appreciate just how hard his staff had to work every day to make sure that it wasn’t even worse.”
He continued, “He had to abandon his show to go run for Senate. And if any of his staff are coming back to our office in the coming weeks to clear their stuff out, we’ve actually left a new special message for them on our alligator: ‘I’m sorry. He seems like a f—ing nightmare.’”