John Olivers satirical HBO news showLast Week Tonightwrapped its acclaimed first season earlier this month, but not even a production hiatus can keep the host frommaking fun of presidential turkey pardons. In the aboveweb exclusive, Oliver takes aim at Thanksgivings strangest tradition no, not sitting through a Detroit Lions game and cooks up a delicious alternative.
There is something profoundly strange about the president making a show of pardoning one turkey to mark a holiday on which everyone, the president included, consumes an estimated 46 million birds, Oliver says.If were going to pardon one turkey, we should pardon them all. Or we should put them all on trial.In Olivers eyes, all of these turkeys deserve edible justice theyre guilty of having delicious bird parts that should be serving time in the prison of my mouth.
Oliver ends the clip with a rallying cry of Death to turkeys! and a strong holiday suggestion to future commanders-in-chief:If you want the world to respect you just once, show up at a White House turkey pardoning with a cleaver and administer the justice these birds so clearly deserve.
Last Week Tonightwill return with new episodes in February. Itll be a challenge to top the balance of hilarity and insight they unleashed in their first 24 episodes, tackling hot-button topics civil forfeitures, the terror of drone strikesand the NFLs unclear policies toward domestic abuse. The series wrapped up its first season with an especially silly gag, firing a Salmon Cannonat guests likeJon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, R2-D2 and Homer Simpson.