Aren't there tax implications for forgiving the debt?
Yes there is, in the video, Oliver mentions how they hired a company that specializes in handling the tax implications so they wouldn't have to pay the full amount.
John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'
201–210 of 292 posts
Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're under the impression that all that matters is the final number. They're still spending that money, regardless of whether they make it all back. Let's say I win some lottery and I MAKE $100k. I decide to SPEND $90k of that by giving it to charity. My gesture doesn't count because I'm still in the net positive by your logic. Yes, he runs a profitable show. Nobody said he's a career humanitarian. But you said, qu…
So you don't question the motivations of a televangelist minister with private jets as long as he spends some money on what appear to be altruistic purposes? If I said that guy is just using peoples emotions and beliefs to generate revenue would that be "offensive to just about everybody".
I don't think it's fair to compare John Oliver to a televangelist minister with private jets.
Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ok slow down there. They don't SPEND hundreds of thousands on those topics, they MAKE hundreds of thousands on those topics. Comedy Central/Viacom is not UNICEF and John Oliver is not a career humanitarian. They entertain people. When that is too hard they just pander to the most prominent demographic to gain viewership because that's how they generate revenue.
> Comedy Central/Viacom is not UNICEF and John Oliver is not a career humanitarian His show is on HBO, not Comedy Central.
I didn't make the jump with him and quit watching Comedy Central after Colbert signed off.
Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'
#204You went all aspie on it and missed the point.
Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thats the reason why I stopped watching it too. No doubt it has something but it's just too one sided IMO. It's bashing from a very specific political angle. I.e. it always possible to know what side of critique he is going to fall down on, and that for me isn't interesting.
Somehow, comedians falling on the "political right" side of the argument are rarely funny or insightful...
Milo seems good.
Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'
#206Earlier quoted context omitted.
The only other show that comes to mind is The Daily Show, of which John Oliver is an alumnus.
Last Week Tonight is a direct spinoff of The Daily Show. Oliver took the Comedy Central format and applied HBO to it to rid it of its problems (commercials, crappy celebrity interviews).
And now he can swear!
Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you explain neurostatic precepts? I'm unfamiliar with the term and a bit of googling didn't turn up much.
After some googling it seems very likely he just made the term up. The entire comment seems to be quite a bit of "I am very smart."
Welcome to HN...
Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'
#208Earlier quoted context omitted.
Jesus. The guy creates and hosts a weekly political comedy show, researches topics, has a network spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on those topics, and you think it's a fair comparison to someone whose activism extends to "clicking the Like button on facebook". And you're the one calling his attitude "holier than thou".
Ok slow down there. They don't SPEND hundreds of thousands on those topics, they MAKE hundreds of thousands on those topics. Comedy Central/Viacom is not UNICEF and John Oliver is not a career humanitarian. They entertain people. When that is too hard they just pander to the most prominent demographic to gain viewership because that's how they generate revenue.
Doesn't making all that money also undermine the slacktivist label?
No one's going to tell Oliver that the bums lost...
Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'
#209As a non-american guy that has never seen John Oliver before, I found it very hard to sit through the entire thing until the end, though the payoff was definitely worth it. This guys looks to me like he's been in TV for a little too long and tries very hard to find a audience with very simple jokes (that feel kind of forced) amplified by background laughter. He has the right idea and did the right thing but I persona…
I feel relatively well versed in American "culture", but I still don't get a lot of the references he makes. On the other hand, I still laugh at many jokes and his rants on Trump are just epic.
That's how people feel when watching Silicon Valley on HBO to be honest.
To me is perfect cause I like programming, music, politics and weed.
Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'
#210As a non-american guy that has never seen John Oliver before, I found it very hard to sit through the entire thing until the end, though the payoff was definitely worth it. This guys looks to me like he's been in TV for a little too long and tries very hard to find a audience with very simple jokes (that feel kind of forced) amplified by background laughter. He has the right idea and did the right thing but I persona…
Yeah. He could tone down a bit with the off the top jokes. Factual material he presents is morbidly funny enough.