John Oliver could do nothing but shake his head and chuckle on “Last Week Tonight” after a Fox News reporter asked a student protestor “the dumbest question ever” earlier in the week.
To kick off the Sunday show, the HBO host zeroed in on the student protests that have been happening on college campuses across the nation, most notably at UCLA and Columbia in New York. Oliver was particularly interested in one clip from Fox News, live from the ground at Columbia.
In the footage, the reporter asked for a student protestor’s thoughts on how things have escalated, before asking what they’d do if the police decided to arrest them. When the student chuckled and replied that they “can’t really do much,” the Fox News reporter pressed further, asking “Will you go with the police if they make an arrest?”
“If they start arresting? Guess so,” the student shot back bluntly.
And at that, Oliver could barely restrain his laughter. Still, he managed to, and immediately applauded the student for staying calm with the Fox News reporter.
“Kudos to that student for giving the calmest possible answer to what might be the dumbest question ever asked on TV,” Oliver mocked, before boiling the down the question a bit. “‘If the guys with guns put you in handcuffs and drag you to the jail, will you go with them?’ ‘Uh, yeah, I guess so.’”
While talking to that reporter, the student noted that things were “f—ing crazy,” and didn’t get censored, which prompted Oliver to also send his condolences to some Fox viewers.
“Thoughts and prayers to the loved ones of the one boomer who was killed by hearing that student say f— on Fox News,” Oliver joked. “Somewhere, a family is writing pee-paw’s obituary: ‘Paul John Roberts passed away in his home when his eyeballs, heart and butthole exploded at the same time. He is survived by his wife and three adult children who no longer speak to him.”
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” airs every Sunday at 11 p.m. ET on HBO.