Skip to content
News

John Oliver Used to Think Trump Running for President Would Be Funny

John Oliver takes over as summer guest host of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on June 10, 2013 in New York City.

The strongest comedic voice of the election season is no longer Jon Stewart, but his British apprentice. Viewers of HBO’s Last Week Tonight are well acquainted with John Oliver’s ability to knife through the absurdities of current events with surgical, hilarious precision, regardless of how convoluted those topics might be. But no one’s perfect, and on Sunday night’s episode, Oliver copped to something embarrassing he said on television a few years ago—that time he urged Donald Trump to run for president.

During Last Week Tonight‘s opening segment, Oliver brought up a clip from his 2013 tenure as The Daily Show‘s summer host. Back then, a floppy-haired Oliver joked about the idea of Trump running for the most powerful office in the land. He was riffing off of a news clip in which the current Republican candidate confirmed that he was looking to mount a campaign in 2016.

“Do it. Look at me. Do it,” Oliver said in ’13. “I will personally write you a campaign check now on behalf of this country, which does not want you to be president, but which badly wants you to run.”

He also threw to another old Daily Show clip where he said that the Chicago Cubs will never, ever win the World Series. So, yes, smart people make mistakes all of the time. Watch John Oliver admit to a few of his own below.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=XndcZgxxXPs