India doesn't deserve its own version of 'Last Week Tonight' and here's why

If you’re one of those spending more than half your day on the internet logged into the numerous social networking sites while at the same time ensuring you’ve watched every video that Youtube has to offer, the name John Oliver shouldn’t be too unfamiliar. Neither would the show ‘Last Week Tonight.’

An American late-night talk and news satire television progamme, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver burst into our lives a little over a year ago. Modeled slightly similar to Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ where Oliver himself was a correspondent, Last Week Tonight quickly became popular due to John Oliver’s impeccable wit relentlessly pushing the boundaries of comedy and him not shying away from taking on massive topics.

From wastage of food, FIFA to playfully taking down the National Security Agency and exposing the sham in Miss America Organisation’s claims that it makes $45 million available in scholarships to contestants every year, John Oliver is hardly afraid of making hot-button issues the subject of his half an hour show.

His show’s reputation of giving a riotous bend to daily news isn’t lost on Indians either. It’s safe to say his fan base in India is increasing at the rate of the number of twists in the Indrani Mukerjea-Sheena Bora case.

Oliver has returned the love for the country too. His take on the madness of the general elections and the recent porn ban, featuring a cameo by our beloved Subramanian Swamy have been watched on repeat and lapped up veraciously by lovers of intelligent comedy.

The show’s high esteem in the country can be attested by the recent Reddit thread which asked the question that all of us secretly asked in our heads, ‘Why don’t we have a show like Last Week Tonight in India?’

I get why we’re endorsing the thought of wanting our version of Last Week Tonight. To start with, Indian television news is a joke, we’re perennially deprived of good humourous content, and we’re a country where absurd policies and government laws gets passed faster than a court judgement, so undoubtedly we’re brimming with content for a satire show.

However, this doesn’t erase the one tiny detail we desperately need to come to terms with- Indians aren’t worthy of their own version of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.



I’ll tell you why.

To start off with, we’re horrible at imitating or reproducing/stealing. The countless Pritam/Anu Malik compositions and endless Hollywood remakes being churned out as fodder for Indians to lap up in the name of Hindi cinema is enough proof. We’re capable of degrading something as splendid as Last Week Tonight into a mess of a show with no vision, script or humour. That’s an insult the show really doesn’t warrant.

Suppose, we do replicate the show- the ‘burning question’ then, is who will be India’s answer to John Oliver? Shekhar Suman? Kapil Sharma? Karan Thapar? Let’s face it. We don’t have anyone who is worthy enough of taking on the responsibility of filling in John Oliver’s Shoes. And, no, the AIB guys do not count.

Thirdly, even if we DO find someone to take the burden of replicating the best satire show in the history of TV, are we forgetting that we live in India? The very country where there are restrictions imposed on humour itself. One segment of mocking the ridiculous ideologies of our beloved politicians and the host would not only require Z+ security while his house and offices are vandalized but he would also face the wrath of never-ending threats and will have to leave the country if he ever wants to breathe again.

Despite the fact that we’re hungry for good content which does not border on informing us that an accused has eaten a sandwich, we have to admit that Indians are a bunch of sensitive people who get offended faster than Miley Cyrus sheds clothes. We don’t know how to joke or to take a joke. All we know is ‘that hurt our sentiments’. What unfolded after the AIB Roast is evidence to this fact. It goes without saying that due to a horde of fringe outfits taking advantage of the secular nature of our country, offense is taken with regards to anything and everything and the existence of a sense of humour is long forgotten.

We will never have a show as awe-inspiring as Last Week Tonight with John Oliver but what we will have is the mental image of seeing the insides of Archana Puran Singh’s mouth everytime she went on a laughing vacation in Comedy Circus.

Image credit: Indiatimes