John Oliver Slams Jay Leno Over Late Night Show Criticism: ‘Hard Pass’

It comes after Leno said he believes late-night shows are alienating viewers by being too political, adding that he tried to keep his ‘Tonight Show’ jokes “politically neutral.”

John Oliver is not looking for advice from Jay Leno.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Oliver clapped back at Leno’s view that current late-night talk show hosts are alienating viewers by highlighting their political views.

“I’m going to take a hard pass on taking comedic advice from Jay Leno,” Oliver told the publication in an interview published on Tuesday, before explaining how “comedy can’t be for everyone.”

“It’s inherently subjective,” Oliver explained.

“So, yeah, when you do stand-up, some people try to play to a broader audience, which is completely legitimate,” he continued. “Others decide not to, which is equally legitimate. I guess I don’t think it’s a question of what you should do because I don’t think comedy is prescriptive in that way. It’s just what people want.”

Oliver has hosted Last Week Tonight since 2014 and emphasizes that he doesn’t only focus on political issues during the HBO show.

“I think our show clearly comes from a point of view, but most of those long stories we do are not party political,” he said. “They’re about systemic issues. Our last few shows were about gang databases, AI slop, juvenile justice, med spas, air traffic control.”

“I’m not saying that these don’t have a point of view in them. Of course, they do,” he conceded. “. But I hope a lot of them actually reach across people’s political persuasions. You want people to at least be able to agree on the problem, even if you disagree on what the solution to it is.”

During an interview in July with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute, Leno shared his view on the current late-night show roster.

He claimed that he aimed to keep his jokes politically neutral during his tenure on The Tonight Show, which he hosted from 1992 to 2009 and again from 2010 to 2014.

“It was fun to me when I got hate letters: ‘You and your Republican friends’ [or] ‘Well, I hope you and your Democratic buddies are happy’ … over the same joke,” he said.

“I go, ‘Well, that’s good.’ That’s how you get a whole audience. Now you have to be content with half the audience because you have to give your opinion,” he continued, arguing that late-night hosts are too one-sided.

The 75-year-old doesn’t believe “anybody wants to hear a lecture.”

“I love political humor, don’t get me wrong, but what happens is people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other,” he explained.

His views come after CBS announced The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will be ending next year.

In a statement released on Thursday, CBS announced its plans to “retire” The Late Show franchise in May 2026 after more than three decades. The network claimed it’s “purely a financial decision,” and not “related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” seemingly referring to Paramount’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump, which Stephen Colbert criticized and called “a big fat bribe” just a few days earlier.