I would be interested in seeing more on which of his arguments are plain wrong. The net neutrality one, I honestly don't remember. Pretty much every other show, though. Bloody amazing. The lottery and the wealth gap ones were particularly fun. The Miss America one, brilliant.
Comedians should ideally stick to comedy instead of overstepping their abilities. He talks many funny things no doubt but that does not make it true. Miranda Kerr might ask us to buy some perfume claiming it to be the best and millions might even buy it but that does not say anything about the claim.
The Lottery
I completely failed to see his point. It was funny no doubt. But gambling is pretty much common throughout the history everywhere. The only problem with lottery I see is that it is mostly government controlled. A more private enterprise in this field could have given more competition and made the overall business more profitable towards the consumers. But that was not his argument.
The Wealth Gap
I dont know where to start in debunking these idiotic claims that are being circulated by even the educated people. Fact 1 for example: 50% of Americans belong to top 10% at least once in their lives. People do not deserve higher wages, they have to earn it and at the moment US is the best country that gives that opportunity to everyone without bias. That is why the likes of Jon Oliver come to this country from UK and crack jokes about very same things that made him rich.
Haven't see the "Miss America" one personally (and I won't) but I can tell you that that particular institution has been a laughingstock for decades. If he has something new to ridicule about it, kudos, but I doubt it changed any already fully-formed opinions from his viewers.
The Miss America pageant makes some grandiose claims about how they're the world's largest source of scholarships for woman -- 45 million in a particular year.
They showed that
(a) They were using some sleight of hand, and the real number was something like 100 times less than that
(b) That still made them the largest source of scholarships for women
Yeah, just to emphasize oliverthrowaway's point. It was the call to arms to increase donations to other women's organizations that really made that piece brilliant.
And really, I think that is the brilliance of John Oliver's work. It is not all just a mocking of news. Often times there is a call to arms at the end. Even if the goals are ridiculous, it is getting people acting. And that is huge.
I suggest you watch it. I enjoy his show but most of his stances are decently predictable (and I generally disagree with). This is one that surprised me.
