Awesome Last Week Tonight

(PG-13 Language) John Oliver looks at the arguably unconstitutional U.S. bail system, where courts often set bail amounts that defendants can’t afford. This leads to harmless people going to jail or turning to sketchy bail bondsmen.

(PG-13 Language) Last Week Tonight returns to look at the indictment and arrest of some of FIFA’s top officials on charges of corruption. Sadly, the organization will live on unless its sponsors pull their funding.

(PG-13 Language) Last Week Tonight took a brief break, but if you’re used to having John Oliver depress and horrify you every Monday, here’s the host with some of the images that they made for the show but were ultimately shelved.

(PG-13: Language) It’s long been known that chicken companies have disturbing practices for growing chickens. But Last Week Tonight reminds us that the contract farmers that grow these chickens are being abused as well.

(PG-13: Language) Last Week Tonight looks at parental leaves in the United States. Or the lack thereof: the US is one of only four countries in the world that don’t have paid leaves for employees to care for their newborn babies.

Last Week Tonight looks at standardized tests in the US. What should be an objective system often appears to be inaccurate, convoluted and unfair to both students and teachers. If they even make sense at all.

Last Week Tonight looks at a well documented yet nigh unstoppable problem: clothing sweatshops. Major name brand companies still make cheap clothes using underpaid laborers working in dangerous conditions.

Last Week Tonight prepared a doomsday video that’s way better than the pathetic clip that CNN founder Ted Turner allegedly prepared. And why would anyone would bother to watch a video when all hell is breaking loose?

(PG-13: Language) Last Week Tonight talks about patent trolls. These ghost companies buy patents – usually vague patents about software – but don’t actually make any products. Instead, they make money by suing businesses.

(PG-13: Language) In his interview with Last Week Tonight, Edward Snowden also talked about passwords. He recommends using passphrases. The right passphrase is harder to crack yet more memorable than a random string of characters.

(PG-13: Language) Last Week Tonight looks at the IRS. No one likes them, but you can’t live without them. The agency is far from perfect, but it’s trying to do its job amidst budget cuts and a rapidly declining workforce.

(PG-13: Language) “If we sacrifice our values because we’re afraid, [that means] we don’t care about those values very much.” Last Week Tonight talks to Edward Snowden and reminds us of the Patriot Act’s impending renewal.

(NSFW: Language) Last Week Tonight is on hiatus, but host John Oliver still dropped by the Internet to condemn one of its denizens’ favorite days, and to try to guilt you into forsaking April Fools as well. Boo.

(NSFW: Language) Last Week Tonight talks about the absurd interest rates and miscellaneous fees added to some municipal violation fines. Violators who are strapped for cash end up paying several times the original fine, or worse.

(NSFW: Language) Last Week Tonight points out how the NCAA, schools and coaches make millions off of collegiate sports, yet deny the same opportunity to the athletes. And if you think their “education” is compensation, you’d be wrong.

Last Week Tonight chimes in on the frustrating pseudoscientific tradition that has us springing forward and falling back. Germany started it in World War I to conserve coal, but whether or not it still saves energy in the modern era is dubious.

Last Week Tonight looks at the plight of the five permanently inhabited U.S. territories whose citizens are not given the same rights as those in the mainland because of an outdated and xenophobic Supreme Court decision.

(NSFW: Language) Last Week Tonight bemoans the state of America’s aging infrastructure. Even though many officials and experts agree that it’s an important concern, politicians are slow to address it because it’s not a “sexy” issue.

(NSFW: Languages) Last Week Tonight talks about the consequences of judiciary elections in the US. It’s just like political elections: at best you get horrible ads, and at worst you get candidates accepting money from questionable sources.

Last Week Tonight is completely baffled at the continued and celebrated existence of Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue, at a time when you can have Google: Swimsuit – or less! – Edition for free 24/7.

(NSFW: Language) While some first world countries have successfully limited cigarette marketing, tobacco companies are delaying the same restrictions in poorer countries using legal loopholes and financial threats. #JeffWeCan

Last Week Tonight talks about the shady practices of drug companies, such as sales representatives that regularly bring food to doctors, making false claims about their drugs and paying doctors to act as their mouthpiece.

The dingo-calling, troll-shepherding and minifig haircut-having John Oliver and HBO’s satirical current events show return on Feb 8. Prepare to laugh and be righteously appalled as the world burns down around us.