{"id":503492,"date":"2026-06-30T23:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T23:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/503492\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T23:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T23:07:08","slug":"last-week-tonight-host-john-oliver-checks-in-to-general-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/503492\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Week Tonight&#8221; host John Oliver checks in to &#8220;General Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hosting an award-winning late-night comedy show simply was not enough for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/topic\/john-oliver\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">John Oliver<\/a>. On Thursday, the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/topic\/last-week-tonight\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Last Week Tonight<\/a>\u201d host kicks off a guest-star arc on ABC\u2019s long-running daytime soap \u201cGeneral Hospital,\u201d which continues through Friday and then Monday, July 6.<\/p>\n<p>Why? Because he noticed ESPN sports commentator <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2025\/02\/22\/old-curmudgeon-stephen-a-smith-back-at-carville-after-being-told-to-stick-to-sports\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stephen A. Smith<\/a>\u2019s multiple appearances on the show over the years as a minor character named Brick, crime boss Sonny Corinthos\u2019 ruthless fixer, and thought, \u201cWhy not me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Oliver announced his guest appearance on the June 28 episode of \u201cLast Week Tonight,\u201d the final episode before the show\u2019s midsummer hiatus. But as he reminded the audience, his campaign to appear on a soap \u2014 any soap \u2014 began in March when he confessed his love for the genre and his \u201cscorching hot jealousy\u201d that Smith got to play in that world.<\/p>\n<p>His only conditions were that he wanted to play a character with a ridiculous name and wanted to do something juicy, \u201clike murder or slapping, or being slapped, or being someone\u2019s long-lost something,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cCall me, soaps. I am available, I\u2019m willing to travel and I want this more than you can possibly understand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nearly four months later, Oliver triumphantly revealed that not only is he visiting Port Charles, the hometown of \u201cGeneral Hospital,\u201d he\u2019s also swinging by Salem, Illinois, to appear on Peacock\u2019s \u201cDays of Our Lives\u201d on Aug. 11, 12 and 14. \u201cBecause what is funnier than appearing in one soap opera? Appearing in two!\u201d he said. Based on that photo ABC shared with Salon, he\u2019s certainly giving his all to the role.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Want more from culture than just the latest trend? The Swell highlights art made to last.<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/newsletter?utm_source=onsite&amp;utm_medium=organic&amp;utm_campaign=the-swell-edit-signup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Sign up here<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Oliver\u2019s guest appearances <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2009\/11\/23\/franco_soaps\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">carry forth a legacy<\/a> that includes stars like Betty White, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2011\/12\/17\/james_franco_ive_done_the_work\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">James Franco<\/a>, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dick Van Dyke, who became the oldest person to be nominated for and to win a Daytime Emmy for his \u201cDays of Our Lives\u201d turn in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>New episodes of \u201cLast Week Tonight with John Oliver\u201d resume on July 26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hosting an award-winning late-night comedy show simply was not enough for John Oliver. On Thursday, the \u201cLast Week&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":["post-503492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}